Earthling
1. an inhabitant of earth; mortal.
Mortal
1. subject to death; having a transitory life: all mortal creatures.
2. belonging to this world.
In the cycle of life we are constantly finding out that we are more reliant on the survival of other earthlings than we realised. As only one of the many species of earthlings on planet earth, humans are probably the most capable of protecting that survival. To-date our track record has not reflected this capability very well at all.
This Ocean Alert page hopefully provides you with a better insight into what human waste and unsustainable demand is doing to this planet. Plastification, over-fishing, increased effluent and toxic waste discharges are some of these and it is clearly time to take action on behalf of all earthlings that rely on this planet to survive. With a better understanding of what is actually happening to our global environment, we can make more informed decisions about how we affect the planet on an individual basis. We have One World, One Ocean and one chance .......
Please read on, visit some of the websites and pages we refer to and tell all of your friends and colleagues about this page. Lets all learn together and act now to help restore Our World, Our Ocean and our future.
An interesting place to start is to take a small quiz on what your own ecological footprint is. Find out how many planets you probably require to be sustainable based on your current demands. This website also provides ideas on how to reduce your footprint if you need to...
  MYFOOTPRINT.ORG
Our Ocean provides not only a huge percentage of the planets food but is also the major source of the planets oxygen. Ensuring the health of Our Ocean is essential to human survival and should be the world's top priority! We can all do our bit to help. Every resource we take from the sea and every thing we dump in the sea is leading to what some people say is the end of the line if we continue to do so unsustainably. The following is about a new documentary that takes you on a hard hitting voyage of discovery highlighting the world's unsustainable demands on our fellow earthlings that live in the waters of the world.
Plastification is a significant global issue and fast becoming a serious problem right here in New Zealand. The next two websites look into what our waste is doing to Our Ocean. More and more we hear about the environmental impact of plastic but most of us are not taking real action. "Message in the Waves" explains, from an Hawaiin perspective, the impact ocean trash is having on the marine environment and all the way up the food chain to humans. We need to act now! The first video introduces you to "Message in the Waves". On the right hand side of the webpage are the other video clips telling the story of plastification of the sea and all that lives or relies on it. This is a hard hitting documentary and certainly highlights the need for everyone, including every New Zealander, to act now. Please watch and learn!
In a more general light about how we live today and the impact of that, the following website makes a great visit. From its extraction through sale, use and disposal, all the stuff in our lives affects communities at home and abroad, yet most of this is hidden from view. The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world. It'll teach you something, it'll make you laugh, and it just may change the way you look at all the stuff in your life forever.
Roadside debris ends up in the sea. Every time it rains our harbours and coastline are filled with plastics, oils and other waste. We must all deal with our waste correctly! (YES...we all need to think about this, from here in New Zealand and all around the world) Reduce what goes down the drains, cigarette ash and butts, plastic packaging, vehicle exhaust residue and everything else we throw or dispose of down our drains all leads to the ocean - Our Ocean! Everyone must act and take care of their impact on the planet, our life source!
We hold the future and well being of the planets ocean in our hands!
Other threats to earthlings that live in the waters of the world!
• Loss of habitat through reclamation and sprawl, including estuaries and tidal marshes, which then removes spawning and feeding grounds for marine species that depend on subtle marine conditions to complete life cycles.
• Rising ocean temperatures linked to global warming are reducing the ocean's productivity, including the vast stores of plankton and krill at the base of the food web. In other parts of the world, tropical corals die during warm events.
• Sewage - treated and untreated - runs into the ocean from municipal and industrial plants, polluting water with bacterial waste, chemicals and metals. Storm water rushes off city streets and farmlands and into the ocean. That water carries a nasty collection of motor oil, cigarette butts, pesticides and animal waste. Old garbage dumps leak a stew of biological and chemical residue. Sewer and stormwater outlets purge into Our Ocean millions of litres of polluted water every second around the world, increasing algal blooms and deadzones in the sea.
• Refined oil is also a key element of pollution in Our Ocean. More oil reaches the oceans each year as a result of leaking automobiles and other non-point sources than the oil spilled in Prince William Sound by the Exxon Valdez. Oil spills from drilling operations and vessel's contaminate kelp beds and kill fragile life.
• Air pollution is also responsible for 33% of the toxic contaminants that end up in oceans and coastal waters. About 44% of the toxic contaminants come from runoff via rivers and streams.
We can all learn from this and look for change in our own actions and those around us. It is up to us to act now, remember, One World, One Ocean!
Here's a place to start - 7 Reasons to Join a Beach Cleanup
Find a cleanup near you and join in. Even if you don't live anywhere near the beach, every stream, river and lake in the world. eventually spills into an ocean, so cleanups should also be planned far inland.
Here are seven good reasons to join a beach cleanup:
1. Everyone else is doing it. In 2008, 400,000 volunteers worldwide participated.
2. There's plenty of trash to go around. In 2008, volunteers removed 6.8 million pounds of trash. (With 304 million U.S. residents alone disposing an average of roughly 4.4 pounds of trash per day, it's easy to see how it all adds up.)
3. Cigs are king. Cigarette butts -- along with plastic bags and food wrappers and containers make up the largest share of litter collected each year.
4. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch keeps growing. Estimated to be about the size of Canada, the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a debris field in the North Pacific Ocean, roughly 1,000 miles from land that scientists on a recent expedition called shocking.
5. Trash kills. The oceans cover two-thirds of the planet and are home to 97% of all life on Earth, and yet simple litter represents a real threat to that life. Turtles and marine mammals choke on debris, and the breakdown of some products releases toxic substances into the water that affect reproduction, neurological development and other keys to health.
6. You might save an animal. In 2008, US cleanup volunteers found 443 animals, including sharks, stingrays and seahorses entangled in debris -- mostly "ghost nets" from fishing boats, or discarded fishing lines. They were able to save 65%.
7. You can turn the tide. A recent scientific analysis found that the combined threats of overfishing, pollutant runoff, global warming, acidification and habitat destruction are sending the oceans back to a primordial stew. Helping to reduce litter is one small thing we can do to help.
Remember - All drains lead to the sea.
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