{"id":16348,"date":"2022-05-24T14:32:02","date_gmt":"2022-05-24T03:32:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.educationperfect.com\/?post_type=article&p=16348"},"modified":"2023-04-24T13:17:46","modified_gmt":"2023-04-24T02:17:46","slug":"empowering-education-for-sustainable-oceans-written-by-shane-smith","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/www.educationperfect.com\/article\/empowering-education-for-sustainable-oceans-written-by-shane-smith\/","title":{"rendered":"Empowering Education for Sustainable Oceans | Written by Shane Smith"},"content":{"rendered":"
The founders of Education Perfect, Shane and Craig Smith have always sought to influence positive change. Their new focus has become the ocean, with Craig qualifying as a scuba diving instructor, and Shane developing an interest in underwater photography – experiences that have opened their eyes to the importance of sustainability in our oceans, and just how crucial it is to act before the damages are irreversible. In this article, Shane discusses the pressures on the oceans, and what we can all do to contribute to making positive changes.<\/span><\/p>\n
Our oceans are beautiful, magical places. From the vibrant colours of warm water coral reefs to the gracefully swaying underwater cathedrals of cold water kelp forests, our oceans are teeming with life. All these creatures are connected in an intricate web of interdependence, where the actions of one can have complex consequences for the rest of the ecosystem.<\/p>\n
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It’s easy to forget, but we too are a part of this ecosystem. This means both that our actions have far-reaching consequences for our oceans, and also that what happens in our oceans has significant consequences for humanity.<\/span><\/p>\n
Over the last 50 years we have put increasing pressure on the oceans from a number of fronts:<\/span><\/p>\n
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Our release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere has raised ocean temperatures and made our seas more acidic, causing numerous mass coral bleaching events and large-scale die-offs of kelp forests.<\/span><\/li>\n
We have discarded an estimated <\/span>5.25 trillion<\/b> pieces of plastic into the oceans, which have broken down and entered the food chain, with dire results for ocean inhabitants -, particularly seabirds.<\/span><\/li>\n
Our increasingly sophisticated fishing technology has allowed us to seek out and harvest fish stocks from every corner of the planet. It’s estimated that we’ve fished out 90% of the large predatory fish in the ocean and that 80% of global fish stocks are either fully exploited or over-exploited.<\/span><\/li>\n
As well as harvesting these fish, we have degraded or destroyed significant tracts of their habitat, reducing their ability to recover. The primary culprits here are the clearing of mangrove forests, destructive fishing techniques such as bottom trawling and dredging, and runoff from cleared land and agriculture.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
We’re at a crucial juncture with our oceans. At the dawn of the industrial revolution 150 years ago, the oceans were seen as boundless resources – anything we did was “but a drop in the ocean”. Our technological advances since then mean that this no longer holds true, and we need to act rapidly to avoid doing permanent harm. The United Nations has realised this urgency and has declared 2021-2030 to be ‘The Ocean Decade’.<\/span><\/p>\n