海洋重要吗??

In Franklin Theater on the evening of April 8, Waynflete will host the fifth annual 海洋状况系列讲座. 我教了二十多年海洋生物学, I have developed a deep passion for the ocean and the organisms that live within it. I have grown keenly interested in how people respond to the question, Why does the ocean matter? So I asked a variety of students this question, and here are some samples of what they said:

• “The organisms in the ocean can give us new insights on medical and behavioral research.”

•“如果没有海洋，人类就不会存在。”.

•“它有助于控制地球的温度.”

•“海洋为地球上五分之一的人提供蛋白质, 和个人, 我喜欢水上的户外活动。”.

•“它提供食物、就业机会，并有助于维持稳定的环境.”

• “There are so many discoveries that still need to be made in the ocean. 对我来说，它是bet365官网最宝贵的资源，也是真正的终极前沿.”

• “The ocean matters because it sustains life and has been a crucial part of evolution”.

• “In a practical sense, it provides food and a home for most life on earth. 从更抽象的意义上说, it symbolizes the vastness and wonder of life and the endless possibility of evolution.”

• “Without the ocean there would be no evaporation which would mean no precipitation”.

• “It is home to a huge portion of earth’s life that is essential to earth’s ecosystem”.

•“它是所有生命的基础，它影响着bet365官网所有人.”

• “We have to take good care of the ocean for our health and safety as well as the earth’s”.

这些陈述表达了深刻的洞察力和理解力. 考虑到地球表面的70%被海洋覆盖, that every second breath you take comes from oxygen produced by phytoplankton in the ocean, 冰盖正在融化, 珊瑚礁正在死亡, 海洋正在酸化, 大多数大鱼都从海洋里消失了, 一次又一次地询问海洋为什么重要，变得越来越重要. 作为一个学校, bet365官网致力于成为负责任的环保公民, and one of the ways we do this is to host the State of the Ocean Speaker Series. 在过去的四年里, 与各种关注海洋的组织一起, we have brought in a speaker who has dedicated his life to the ocean by capturing remarkable images in still photos, 用遥控潜艇探索最深的地方, 用视频捕捉到最后5%的真正原始区域, or raising public awareness about the ocean-related challenges that each country in the world currently faces. 布莱恩礁, 大卫•加洛, Feo说皮特克恩, and Steve Katona each brought compelling messages to their audiences about why the ocean matters. 他们的共同信息可以归结为:无论你住在哪里, 你的生命取决于海洋. 此外, we are on a path that could result in irreversible consequences to the health of this vital aspect of our earth.

对bet365官网很多人来说, 当bet365官网从海岸线眺望大海的时候, bet365官网看到它有多大，知道它非常深. Most of us understand that on some level we generate a lot of waste that ends up in the ocean. 然而,, our ability to see beneath the ocean surface and to truly understand the impact that humans have on it is significantly limited. In the right frame of mind, however, we can learn valuable lessons about our throw-away tendencies. 例如, 在宏观层面上, of the top 10 types of trash found in beach cleanups monitored by the Center for Conservation since 1986, 其中7个是某种类型的塑料. (http://www.takepart.com/oceans/plastic-pollution).

这一统计数据本身就令人担忧, but add to it the following pieces of information: The average American will throw away approximately 185 pounds of plastic and use more than 1,一年200个塑料袋. Plastic in the ocean breaks down into such small segments that pieces of plastic from a one liter bottle could end up on every mile of beach throughout the world. And plastic is durable, it takes about 1000 years to degrade completely (http://www.takepart.com/oceans/plastic-pollution).  Sea Education Association (SEA) scientists studied plastics in the Atlantic and calculated there are 580,每平方公里有一万块塑料. Many of the plastics are slowly breaking down in the ocean and releasing their own toxins, 例如底部钻具组合, 在许多塑料中用作抗氧化剂的是什么. 如果你感兴趣，你可以通过 点击这里.

 

There has been a lot of press in the last few years about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, 位于太平洋几大洋流的汇合处. One scientist who has helped to publicize it with the scientific community and the general public is oceanographer and chemist Charles Moore, 现在就职于Algalita海洋研究基金会. “塑料对海洋生物造成了双重打击，”摩尔说 接受《bet365官网》杂志的采访. “Along with the toxic chemicals released from the breakdown of plastic, animals also take in other chemicals that the plastic has accumulated from outside sources in the water. We knew ten years ago that plastic could be a million times more toxic than the seawater itself, because plastic items tend to accumulate a surface layer of chemicals from seawater. 他们是海绵.” Most of us also probably know that many marine organisms inadvertently ingest plastics while feeding or mistake plastics for their food source. 无论哪种情况, marine organisms that ingest plastics are not only taking in the plastics but also all of the chemicals that have latched on to the surface of the plastics.

So, 因为所有的原因，海洋很重要, it is crucial that we understand the impact of plastics pollution in the ocean. 为此目的, the Gulf of Maine Marine Education Association (GOMMEA) has organized an event to be held at Waynflete entitled “Plastics at SEA” featuring oceanographer and Sea Education Association research scientist Dr. 卡拉·拉文德·劳. SEA students and scientists began collecting data on floating plastic debris in the 1980s. Dr. Lavender Law will review the state of scientific research on marine debris in the world’s oceans and share her in-depth look at research carried out 更多的 than 25 years by undergraduate students and faculty scientists on sailing oceanographic research vessels at SEA.

It is my sincere hope that you will take a moment to answer the question for yourself: “Why does the ocean matter”? 然后, I hope that you demonstrate your understanding of why the ocean matters by joining us at “Plastics at SEA” on Tuesday, 4月8日.  有关活动详情，请浏览 点击这里.