Thingamabobs Here’s something I drew to mark World Oceans Day (8 June). The reality isn’t quite as cute, of course. Do you know about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (Google it!) swirling in the Pacific Ocean? It has supposedly increased ten-fold each decade since 1945! The theme for this year is The Ocean: Life and Livelihoods. Whether you live near the sea or in a landlocked country, we all depend on the ocean for our survival and wellbeing. The ocean produces more than half of the oxygen we breathe, absorbs carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, regulates our climate, and provides us with food (not just fish but also sea vegetables) and even drinking water for some countries, like Singapore (after going through desalination). Billions of people rely on the ocean for their livelihoods — those in the fishing and shipping industries, the marine science and conservation industries, the water recreation and tourism industries. The ocean also supports the mental wellbeing of those of us who gaze at it from time to time. It inspires songs and poetry, myths and legends. It calms us and reminds us of how small are troubles are in the grand scheme of things. It also reminds us of how connected to the the world we are, especially in a time when we aren’t allowed to travel. Although the ocean seems to separate lands, it really connects us all. When you dip your toes in the sea, you are instantly connected, through an unbroken chain of water molecules, to the Himalayan peaks, the Euphrates and the Amazon and the Mississippi, the canals of Venice and the sandy shores of Hawaii. Although we draw boundaries to split up the ocean into the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Southern and Arctic, there is really only one ocean. #worldoceansday #UNOceansDay2021 #worldoceanday #ocean #protectouroceans #oceanlife #marinelife #nobluenogreen #littlemermaid #mermaid #plasticwaste #pollution #seapollution #marineconversation #aquaticlife #planet #biodiversity #environment #nature #noplastic #plasticfreeoceans #oneocean #ecofriendly #lessplastic (at The Great Pacific Garbage Patch) https://www.instagram.com/p/CP17n2Rnn2m/?utm_medium=tumblr
