Oceans are essential to all life on Earth, yet many of us remain unaware of their importance and how they affect us.
To help bridge this gap in knowledge, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) created ocean literacy principles to help people understand the critical role that oceans play in our lives.
What is Ocean Literacy?
Ocean literacy entails an understanding of the major concepts about the ocean, including its connectedness with other Earth systems, its role in sustaining life on Earth, and its vastness and diversity.
In addition, ocean literacy encompasses knowledge of the ocean’s physical features, its chemical and biological properties, and its interaction with humans.
With this foundation, individuals can make informed and responsible decisions about the ocean and its future.
The Seven Principles of Ocean Literacy
The principles of ocean literacy are designed to provide a foundation for understanding how humans interact with and depend upon the ocean.
They are as follows:
1. The Earth Has One Big Ocean with Many Features
This principle conveys the idea that oceans are connected and can affect each other, even when they’re thousands of miles apart. It also highlights the diversity of marine life that exists within them.
3. The Ocean and Life in the Ocean Shape the Features of the Earth
This principle emphasizes how much influence oceans have over landforms and climate patterns across the globe. It is also a reminder that all life on Earth has evolved from water-dwelling organisms over millions of years.
3. The Ocean is a Major Influence on Weather and Climate
Oceans have a significant effect on global weather systems, which directly affects climate patterns around the world, especially in coastal areas like hurricanes or El Nino events.
4. The Ocean Makes Earth Habitable
Oceans absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store it in plant matter at its depths, thus regulating air temperatures and making conditions more hospitable for living creatures on land as well as sea creatures.
5. The Ocean Supports a Great Diversity of Life and Ecosystems
From coral reefs to hydrothermal vents, there is an immense variety of marine habitats that support complex webs of sea life, each playing a vital role in maintaining balance within our oceans’ ecosystems.
6. The Ocean is Largely Unexplored
Despite being home to an incredibly diverse range of species, only 5% percent of our oceans have been explored by humans so far, leaving 95% still unknown to us, including some potentially undiscovered species or ecosystems!
7. Humans Affect the Ocean
Humans have had both positive and negative impacts on our oceans, from pollution to fishing practices to protecting endangered species; all these things affect our oceans in different ways and can either help or hurt them depending on how we choose to interact with them.
Conclusion
If you want to learn more about why oceans are important, then you should familiarize yourself with these seven principles of ocean literacy!
By understanding these core concepts, from how oceanography shapes landforms to how human activities impact marine ecosystems, you will gain insight into why oceans play such an integral role in sustaining all forms of life on Earth today!
