OUR OCEANS, OUR FUTURE

First of all, I want to make myself clear that this is not a professional article, just sharing my thoughts in brief in a formal platform in an informal way to create a little bit of awareness among the future scientists/technologists on the importance of the ocean on our daily lives. I am sure you are shocked thinking how the ocean (which covers more than 70% of the earth’s surface) can be important for our daily lives because you used to know that it a place for recreation or tour or excursion beside the sea-beach.  Well, I can change your mind now by giving some information.

Photo by Muhammad Tarik Saifullah on Unsplash

👉 When CO2 is released into the atmosphere from the burning of fossil fuels, approximately 50% remains in the atmosphere, while 25% is absorbed by land, plants, and trees, and the other 25% is absorbed into certain areas of the ocean. That means both plants and oceans are equal participants of absorbing CO2. You participate in seminars on tree plantation and write essays on the importance of it. Ever cared to participate in an ocean literacy program?

👉 You have seen maybe there are numerous people working at sea, maybe on big merchant ships or coastal ships or fishing boats or offshore platforms like oil rigs, ever wondered what they do there? Are they going on adventure trips there like the legendary Sinbad? No, they are there because of you, your country. Shipping is responsible for 90% of global trade. And the rest is carried out by air and by land. Because regarding volume, safety, cost, etc. of the cargo shipping is the most convenient from an early age till now. That is why you can drive a Toyota car manufactured in Japan, that’s why industrialists get the necessary raw materials for their production, that’s why you are getting the necessary medical equipment which was made in another country. That is why people of other countries can receive our homemade products and contribute to our economy. There is an old saying that, if all the ships on international waters stop for a day, one half of the world would starve, and the other half would freeze.

👉 In 2007 1.4 billion tonnes of oil, the equivalent of about 37 percent of annual oil production, was derived from the ocean. It indicates that much of the oil we use in our daily lives is extracted from the bottom of the ocean. It is important to mention that much of the ocean is yet to explore or discover until now. So, we can imagine what more oil and gas we can find from the ocean upon exploration. Such amount of oil and hydrocarbons are deposited on the ocean bottoms because many living things, plants, animals die and are getting decomposed in the ocean from millions of years. Since living, things are made of proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, and lignin and ocean bottom being a perfect anoxic environment, they break down strangely and create a high energy slop. This slop undergoes chemical processes that produce hydrocarbon chains. These eventually become petroleum or natural gas, depending.

So, we came to know that oceans are very important for human survival. I have mentioned only 3 points for this article because if I tend to write about all the points on how the ocean is serving humans, I cannot but complete this article. Like- Coral reef plants and animals are important sources of new medicines being developed to treat cancer, arthritis, human bacterial infections, Alzheimer's disease, heart disease, viruses, and other diseases.
Despite this importance, how is our behavior towards the ocean? Have you ever eaten a packet of chips beside Patenga or Cox’s Bazar sea-beach and just thrown it there? If you did that, I could tell you are ultimately polluting the ocean, because it will wash up with the tide and enter the ocean. Even if you have not done that, somebody is doing somewhere, because in the North Pacific Ocean there is already a thousand-mile-wide belt of plastic trash, there is already a dead zone which is formed each summer in the Gulf of Mexico prohibiting underwater life. This hampers the ecosystem and life beneath the ocean, ultimately disrupting the total ecosystem of the planet. Moreover, some of the seafarers or the mariners, working at sea, are also not showing proper professional diligence despite so many strict maritime conventions or regulations, which ultimately disturbs the ocean, and which ultimately hampers the normal ecosystem. A perfect example is the recent grounding of the ship MV Wakashio beside the coast of Mauritius, whose fuel tanks leaked, and thousands of tons of fuel oil were spilled in the ocean. Findings showed the grounding was due to the navigating officer’s faults, for which the Indian Captain of the ship is already taken to legal actions.
We all should show proper respect and diligence towards oceans. Among the 17 Sustainable Development Goals set by the UN to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all within 2030, number 14 is ‘life below water’ which has numerous agenda within it, realizing that a sustainable future cannot be built without sustainable oceans. So, we all should be ocean literate, realize its importance and work from our respective places so, that ocean and its ecosystem are not disturbed by our activities so that our own future is sustained.