Six Reasons to Care About the Ocean's Well Being

The dire state of our oceans goes well beyond the scope of the Gulf Oil spill; major pollution, rising sea levels, and the encroaching extinction of much of the ocean’s wildlife have long been problems. But those issues can be difficult to connect to tangible aspects of our everyday lives. To bring home some of the more immediate costs of an imbalanced ocean, Treehugger asked Andrew Sharpless, CEO for the Oceana ocean protection organization, to pitch six concrete reasons why protecting our oceans should be important to us all.

Those who care about bolstering the economy and jobs should care about the sea, Sharpless says, as he links the declining state of the ocean to the declining state of the economy:

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"Hundreds of millions of jobs around the world—ranging from fishermen to lifeguards—depend on healthy seas and fisheries," Sharpless said. The current economic situation in the Gulf, where jobs are being lost and businesses are folding due to the ongoing oil spill, is proof positive that a body of water is only an economic engine when it stays healthy. Sharpless says over 200 million people worldwide rely on the ocean's bounty for their livelihoods.

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For five more of Sharpless’s reasons, including one lobbed at bacon fans the world over, head over to Treehugger.

Photo (cc) via Flickr user europhication&hypoxia