This weeks ‘Thought for the Week’ was delivered by Charlie R and Isabel S to our pupils during assembly with the focus being on the ocean.
Read their report below
This term's prefect talk is on the environment and sustainability. For this reason, Charlie and I thought it would be appropriate to talk about the ocean and ways to look after it, especially considering how our school has a strong naval heritage.
The ocean covers 71% of our planet’s surface and contains vital ecosystems that are currently under threat from human activity. Overfishing, oil leaks, plastic, and CO2 emissions are the main contributors that have had deadly, catastrophic effects on marine wildlife and coral reefs. Unfortunately, this is an ever-growing issue worsened by governments not cooperating to protect our oceans in their time of crisis.
We thought it would be a good idea to let you know what you can do to save our oceans as an individual, to make a difference, and to learn how to save the world's largest climate regulator that is already being compromised by climate change.
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To start off, you could reduce your single-use plastic consumption. For example, water bottles and reusable bags. If you don’t know where to buy a water bottle, you can always get the RHS metal bottle on the RHS online store.
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Secondly, you could reduce your carbon footprint. Carbon emissions are a major contributor to climate change, which can ultimately interfere with the ocean's behaviour. Ways you can do this include turning off lights and appliances when you leave a room, using carbon-zero transportation, and reducing meat consumption.
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And finally, dispose of waste products properly, as this can be harmful to marine life when hazardous items end up in the ocean. Ways to do this include not flushing baby wipes down the toilet, recycling cans and plastics, and not throwing batteries into the ocean.
To put things into perspective on how the damage to the ocean affects you, you can look at the ocean as part of a large system called the water cycle, where all the water on Earth is circulated and recycled over a long period of time. Ultimately, the water in the ocean will eventually evaporate to become the water that rains from the sky, which we then drink and consume today. Therefore, the more we pollute our oceans, the more we pollute ourselves. A recent study showed that the average person consumes over 80,000 microplastic particles every year, due to the rising plastic content in the oceans from littering. Additionally, another study showed that the chemicals in these microplastics we consume are carcinogenic, which means they can cause cancer. To conclude my point in bold terms, the more you litter, the more likely you are to develop cancer.
We hope you've taken in the importance of keeping our oceans clean. From a fresh personal perspective, please consider these options as the more people who contribute to cleaning the oceans the larger the impact will be on our futures, health and generations to come.