Marine pollution is a sad yet integral part of the 21st century reality. A range of technological advances and solutions for economic issues pose a tangible threat to environment, and oceans are by far the most vulnerable element of the latter. A recent marine pollution issue shows in a very graphic way that the safety of the current technology should be definitely reconsidered (Lutgens and Tarbuck “Oceans: The Last Frontier” 314).
Though tourism is often blamed for increasing rates of marine pollution, the recent report has revealed that unregulated and destructive fishing poses the most tangible threat to the safety of the marine biodiversity at present (Nuclear Science and Ocean Acidification para. 4). Aquaculture practices, as the report shows, are the second most significant negative factor (Nuclear Science and Ocean Acidification para. 3–4).
A part of the Atlantic Ocean, including the Mediterranean Sea, particularly, the coastal area, has recently been subjected to the ocean acidification caused by the CO2 emissions from plants and the Monaco transport. As a result, not only the ocean species, but also the local people, who depend on these species as the basis for their income and diet (Nuclear Science and Ocean Acidification para. 13).
The effects of the aforementioned instance of ocean pollution are truly drastic. Not only do the emissions affect the biodiversity in the Mediterranean Sea by changing the natural habitat of the species, but also the lives of people inhabiting the coast of Morocco, particularly, fishermen, slowly leading to poverty and desolation of the area. The given instance of ocean pollution, though clearly accidental, is very hard to deal with, since it will require that the plants in question should be either removed or reconstructed completely. At this point, the conflict between the necessity for sustainability and the needs of the state economy become painfully obvious (Lutgens and Tarbuck “The Restless Ocean” 349).
Though, luckily enough, I have not yet witnessed any of the weather events of epic proportions (as far as the history records show, these usually do not have many survivors), there have been a few weather events that have left quite a tangible trace on my life. The most memorable one, however, concerns a rapid and quite explicit temperature change in 2000–2010; nearly every year over this decade, summer was very hot. According to the official records, in the summer of
2008, the temperature went above the 20th century average (60.1° F) by 0.85° F and made 60.95° F (2008 Temperature Summaries and Spin para. 3).
The unexplainably hot temperature had mostly negative effects on me. Though my type of skin does not allow me to get sunburns easily, this summer, I had to be especially careful about staying under the sun for long. In addition, the quality of my nutrition dropped impressively, since a number of fruits and vegetables were unavailable due to inordinately hot conditions for their growth.
It should be noted, though, that the increase in temperature also had a little of positive impact on my life. First and most important, sun baths were available in the morning. After a short period of an exposure to sunlight, I refilled my reserves of Vitamin D; as a result, there was no need to take medications for maintaining the proper rates of Vitamin D that summer. Apart from that, though, the increase in temperature had no positive effects on my body.
Works Cited
2008 Temperature Summaries and Spin.
Lutgens, Frederick K. and Edward J.Tarbuck. “Oceans: The Last Frontier.” Foundations of Earth Science. 7th ed. 2014. Harlow, UK: Pearson. 2014. 311-338. Print.
—. “The Restless Ocean.” Foundations of Earth Science. 7th ed. 2014. Harlow, UK: Pearson. 2014. 339-372. Print.
Nuclear Science and Ocean Acidification. “One Planet, One Ocean – Together, We Must Protect Them,’ Urges UN on World Oceans Day.” UK News Centre. 2014.