It has come to my attention that as the world develops more technology and becomes more tech savvy, we tend to forget about ongoing, life-threatening issues such as the contamination of the ocean. We should be using our newfound technological skills to invent something that will help clear up all of the contaminants in the water, but instead we turn our heads the other way and allow the problem to persist.

The degree of this problem has increased significantly over the years. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, billions of pounds of trash are put into the ocean each year.The saddest part of all of this is that humans are the main source of this contamination. Through our daily trash, our cars, and our air pollution, we are poisoning the waters that many creatures call home. This needs to change. As time has gone on, I think that many people have forgotten just how important the oceans are in our everyday lives. Well, I am here to remind you of a few of these reasons.

Because of the ocean, we have air to breathe, transportation means, food, medicine, recreational activities, and climate regulation. If our oceans are contaminated, then our oxygen will be contaminated, our food will be contaminated, and our medicine will be contaminated. The oceans are our literal source of life, and we are treating them as if they are just big splotches of water. To add to this, these are just the effects on human society, but we really need to consider what is happening to the animals and creatures who call the ocean home. It is a fact that over 100,000 sea mammals are killed by some sort of ocean pollution each year. This is an outrageous number, and we need to find a solution to dramatically decrease it.

There are multiple solutions to help keep our oceans clean, but one easy solution that anyone can easily contribute to is to pick up trash whenever it is seen laying around. A good number of people turn the other cheek when they see trash on the ground, mostly because of pure laziness. This is incredibly sad because most of this litter does make its way into oceans and can end up harming the animals living there. If we would all step up and complete this one little task, we could contribute to the solution of de-contaminating our oceans.

The ocean may not be our home, but it is home to over one million different species of animals and creatures. Just because these creatures are not human does not mean that they do not deserve the home protection that we are fortunate enough to have. We must speak for those who do not have a voice and partake in the obstacle of de-contaminating our oceans, if not for these creatures then for the better of society as a whole.