Gazing at Our Big Blue Sea

Hi, this is Tinker and I want to tell you about the oceans.  June 8 is World Oceans Day and we have much to appreciate about our oceans.  It is a worldwide celebration and this year's theme is "Heathy Oceans, Healthy Planet". Lae Lae and I want to challenge everyone to do one thing to help our oceans in honor of World Oceans Day. 

Most of our earth is covered by water and the oceans connect the world.  All living things need water to survive and ninety seven out of every 100 drops of water on earth are seawater from the oceans.  People who study the oceans think that as many as two million kinds of animals may live there and the oceans and waterways of the world are a source of life for our planet.

​But our oceans are in trouble.  For one thing, plastic trash is choking our oceans and most of it comes from us on land.  Scientists estimate that there might be more plastic than fish in our waters by 2050. People sometimes think that, if you leave something on the beach, it will just get covered by sand or it will dissolve, but that's not the case and at least 8 million tons of plastic end up in the ocean every year.  Fish can't tell plastic from their normal diet and they eat the plastic and choke and die.  Each foot of coastline contains an average of five bags full of plastic.  There are now half as many fish and sea creatures in the oceans as there were in 1970 largely because of all of our trash and especially our plastics.

One thing that you can do in honor of World Oceans Day is to organize a beach, or if you don't live by an ocean, a river cleanup and give prizes for the person who cleans up the most plastic and trash. Another thing you can do is to use recycled or reusable bags when you shop and you can remind other people to do the same.  Let's all work together to keep our oceans clean and help them stay our beautiful Big Blue Sea.

​With love from Tinker and Lae Lae,

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