Activities Studying Ocean Health
A wide range of concerns are being raised about the condition and health of the worlds oceans, locally, regionally and globally. These concerns are about topics such as ocean acidification, ocean currents, raise in ocean levels, ocean warming , regional impacts on global ocean condition and pollution from the land. While these topics are global in nature, students can be actively involved in a number of ways. Students can establish local monitoring activities including recording salinity and pH levels, monitoring intertidal zones, monitoring and counting shore line pollution, recording marine spills in the vicinity, study and counting specific shore line and shallow water populations. Many of these are described under the marine section related to monitoring marine environments.. Collecting data is a valuable measure for students who become informed to initiate actions related to an ocean related topic. The data collected, if done using standardized protocols, give young people credibility. They may well be heard. Students involved in such monitoring will probably want to be informed about the big picture. The Center for Ocean Solutions at ( http://centerforoceansolutions.org/climate/impacts/ocean-warming/) provides a number of overview videos that will help inform students get the big pictures. More detailed information may be found at the following links. Organizations such as the Ocean Health Index provides many resources and evaluations from exploring large questions related to the worlds oceans. http://www.oceanhealthindex.org/ Many of the topics listed below include action plans in which students may become involved. Click on the topic you wish to explore.
Rise in Ocean levels
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Pollution in Oceans
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Ocean over harvesting
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