UN Sustainability Goal 14 - by Liam Reese
Life
Below
Water
UN Goal 14:
Life Below Water
Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources
The world’s oceans – their temperature, chemistry, currents and life – drive global systems that make the Earth habitable for humankind. Our rainwater, drinking water, weather, climate, coastlines, much of our food, and even the oxygen in the air we breathe, are all ultimately provided and regulated by the sea. Throughout history, oceans and seas have been vital conduits for trade and transportation.
​
Careful management of this essential global resource is a key feature of a sustainable future. However, at the current
time, there is a continuous deterioration of coastal waters owing to pollution and ocean acidification is having an adversarial effect on the functioning of ecosystems and biodiversity. This is also negatively impacting small scale fisheries.
​
Marine protected areas need to be effectively managed and well-resourced and regulations need to be put in place to reduce overfishing, marine pollution and ocean acidification.
​
Source: https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/oceans
​
Facts and Figures
Sources:
​
-
https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/14.pdf
-
https://www.sas.org.uk/our-work/plastic-pollution/plastic-pollution-facts-figures
​
What can you do?
What everyone can do:
Eliminate plastic usage from our lives as much as possible and organize or attend beach clean-ups.
​
​
Make ocean-friendly
choices when buying products or eating food derived
from oceans and consume only what we need.
Selecting certified products
is a good place to start. Look for foods labeled by MSC.org, Ocean Wise, Seafood Watch, and, SeaChoice.org to name a few.
​
Taking public transport and unplugging electronics saves energy. These actions reduce our carbon footprint, a factor that contributes to rising sea levels.
​
​
Most importantly, we can spread the message about the importance of marine life is and why we need to protect it.
What we can do in Seattle:
Locally, in Seattle, there are a variety of actions we can take to protect our beloved oceans in order from most effective to least effective:
​
​
The Northwest Straights Foundation has been extremely successful in pulling derelict fishing gear out of Puget Sound. They’ve been able to remove more than 5,800 derelict fishing nets from Puget Sound—restoring more than 870 acres of precious marine habitat. Donate here:
https://nwstraitsfoundation.org/derelict-gear/
​
Microplastics make up a large part of ocean pollution and you can easily do your part by filtering out microplastics out of your laundry water. Heres an article on where to buy the best one:
​
Volunteer with Puget Soundkeeper to analyze water samples they've collected from over 45 sites in the Puget Sound watershed to look for the presence of microplastics. They document the extent of microplastic pollution in Puget Sound to help inform future policy proposals, technology solutions, and restoration efforts that protect our northwest waterways.
https://pugetsoundkeeper.org/event/microplastic-analysis-6/
​
Help Environment Washington keep plastic out of Puget Sound by supporting a state-wide single-use plastics ban:
https://environmentwashington.org/programs/keep-plastic-out-puget-sound#
​
​
Thanks for reading!
Download
the posters!
