On the 8th June each year, people from around the world come together to celebrate and raise awareness of the importance of our oceans on Worlds Oceans Day. This year the focus is on plastic pollution; sharing inspiring solutions and taking action to limit its impact.
Why are oceans important?
Earth is truly a “blue planet”, with over 70% of it covered by water. Our oceans provide countless benefits to us and all life on earth.
The Air We Breathe
The ocean produces over half of the world’s oxygen and stores 50 times more carbon dioxide than our atmosphere.
Climate Regulation
The ocean transports heat from the equator to the poles, regulating our climate and weather patterns.
Food & Medicine
We get more than just seafood from the ocean. A surprising number of ingredients sourced from the seas are found in foods such as peanut butter and soy milk. Many medicinal products also come from the ocean and its inhabitants which are helping us to fight cancer, arthritis and heart disease (among other things).
Livelihoods & Economy
Over 60% of the world’s population lives along the coast, where the ocean provides livelihoods for millions of people. It’s estimated ocean-based businesses provide more than US$500 billion to the world’s economy.
Recreation
From sailing, to whale watching, water sports and of course SCUBA diving, the ocean provides us with an environment to enjoy, explore and admire.
World Oceans Day at Atmosphere
At Atmosphere we are integrally linked to the ocean – we quite literally wouldn’t be here without it! Although we enjoy being in and on the ocean each day we are aware of our potential impact and are committed to “doing our bit” for the marine environment.
With the focus this year on plastic pollution Kirsty, our Marine Biologist, has been hosting awareness-raising events and presentations, including a World Oceans Day beach clean. 30 guests and staff took to the beaches adjoining Atmosphere and collected over 46kg of trash in 40 minutes! Over 1,000 individual items were collected ranging from piping, to paint rollers and face masks. Unfortunately, and unsurprisingly, the overwhelming material was plastic, making up 74% of everything collected. Data collected today will be submitted through Clean Swell to the Ocean Conservancy’s global data set on beach pollution.
Beyond World Oceans Day we will now be conducting beach cleans on the first and third Friday of the month, if you happen to be with us please come along and join us! Additionally, through our joining of Mission 2020 at the start of the year, we are continuing to remove single-use plastic products from the resort, starting with our front of house areas (update coming soon).
Look how much trash we collected! 46 kilos was found along the Dauin coastline during Atmosphere’s beach cleanup on Worlds Oceans Day 2019
Wherever you are in the world we hope you have the chance to do your bit for the oceans this World Oceans Day!
