The Ocean
Unveil the ocean's wonders: its past, allure, and vital significance.
The Source of Life
President Kennedy was once quoted as saying:
“ ... when we go back to the sea ... we are going back from whence we came.”
- Yes, life on our planet originated in the ocean.
- The earliest life forms on our planet were microscopic organisms that existed in the ocean at least 3.7 billion years ago.
- Around 530 million years ago, centipede-like animals emerged from their oceanic home, and plant life followed them and other animals onto land 100 million years later.
- Amazingly, the earliest shark ancestors swam the ocean more than 400 million years ago – yes, long before the dinosaurs (by 150 – 200 million years)!
Beautiful and Abundant Biodiversity:
The ocean accounts for 98% of our planet’s habitable space and contains 94% of its wildlife – from tiny zooplankton to the largest animal ever, the blue whale, and millions of species in between!
- Today, scientists have only identified or described 240,000 of the estimated 2.2 million species living in the ocean.
- The health of the ocean and the health of our planet are dependent upon this rich and abundant biodiversity.
- As alarmingly noted by the National Geographic Society, “With fewer ways to seek refuge from warming, ocean-dwelling species are disappearing from their habitats at twice the rate of those on land.” Sadly, overfishing, poaching, and trafficking of ocean wildlife is severely compounding the negative effects of climate change.
- Some of this magnificent and vitally important biodiversity is best captured in this trailer for the BBC docuseries Blue Planet & Blue Planet 2.
"I really don't know why it is that all of us are so committed to the sea, except I think it's because we all came from the sea. And it is an interesting biological fact that all of us have in our veins the exact same percentage of salt in our blood that exists in the ocean, and, therefore, we have salt in our blood, in our sweat, in our tears. We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea - whether it is to sail or to watch it - we are going back from whence we came.”
SEPTEMBER 14, 1962
Interconnected Ecosystems and Interdependent Species:
Ocean ecosystems like mangrove swamps, coral reefs, kelp forests, the deep sea, the icy waters of our polar regions, and many others, are all home to a broad array of plant and animal species whose very existence is dependent on one another.
- Together, these interconnected ecosystems and interdependent species create a planet-wide web of life whose health is critically important to us all.
- World-renowned ocean and whale researcher, Dr. Roger Payne shared his view on the importance of interconnection and interdependence in a Time article just prior to his death last year: “The way I see it, the most consequential scientific discovery of the past 100 years isn’t E = mc2 or plate tectonics or translating the human genome. These are all quite monumental, to be sure, but there’s one discovery so consequential that unless we respond to it, it may kill us all, graveyard dead. It is this: every species, including humans, depends on a suite of other species to keep the world habitable for it, and each of those species depends in turn on an overlapping but somewhat different suite of species to keep their niche livable for them.” Here is a link to the full article
Our Life Support System:
No matter where we live on this planet, the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the food we eat, are all dependent upon a healthy ocean, and a healthy ocean requires healthy populations of its diminishing wildlife. And it’s not just for us, the ocean is the life-support system for all life on this planet!
- In addition to generating two-thirds of the oxygen we breathe, the ocean absorbs massive amounts of the excess heat and carbon dioxide we are creating, and plays a key role in distributing heat energy, regulating weather and climate, and cycling vital nutrients and gases.
- The ocean directly affects our lives each and every day, all 8 billion of us. Therefore, we must protect and preserve the ocean because its future will determine the future of us all.