Oceanic Damage: What Have We Done to Our Planet?

Daniel Voisine

Professor Feldman

English 1A – College Composition

October 27, 2014

Oceanic Damage: What have we done to our planet?

Negative press, research, and reports from around the world raised issues regarding our problematic oceans. Misguided and crucial errors humans make harm oceans using unsustainable practices which eventually eliminate many species of sea creatures and destroy the water they inhabit and we need for our survival as well. Countries around the world have been heavily positively praised while some have been lauded negatively, for instance, the United States. A crying shame how most countries on Earth seem in continuing spiraling towards ecological harm in an abundance of forms, regarding ocean garbage, coral reefs and oil spills over a twenty-five year period have caused our oceans’ ecology suffering to escalate. Incidents regarding a floating garbage patch in the Pacific, even cruise ships repeating sewage and garbage dumping are atrocious. The problem is, most people do not pay attention and take situations such as these as non-existent. Evidence documented over decades suggest our oceans’ trouble will continue unless change happens sooner rather than later. Change in how we respond to problems should not take years for resolution, because some of the damage may be minute and builds up over time, while some comes in big bunches that there is not time to waste in resolving. In some of these cases, years elapsed before any significant progress had been made, resulting in more damage than first observed. The problems have similarities and differences, while causes are mostly humans deciding to abuse the ecosystem, and solutions do not come easy. However, we must come together in order to create solutions for fixing oceans and other waterways more quickly than ever to save them, such as our precious coral reefs and the underwater wildlife that they call home..

Less then 0.1 % of the ocean’s surface provides a home for twenty...