What Students Can do to Save their Oceans

I recently attended the Colorado Ocean Symposium, an event promoting the conservation of the world’s oceans, which featured presentations by many of today’s leading advocates. While I learned a lot about ocean acidification and the world’s marine protected areas, the most important take-aways for me were presented by Sylvia Earle, an oceanographer and “explorer-in-residence” at National Geographic, and Louie Psihoyos, a photographer and director of award-winning documentary “The Cove”. When I asked Sylvia Earle what young people could do to advocate for the oceans, she told me to simply “keep learning”. As tomorrow’s policymakers and activists, today’s youth need to be fully educated about the state of our oceans and small daily changes they can make to reduce their own impact. While discussing his purchase of an electric car, Louie Psihoyos was not worried about what the car cost him; rather, he reflected on what it could cost to our planet if people don’t start taking action to reduce their carbon footprint. By learning more about the oceans and taking small everyday steps to reduce their personal impact, youth across the globe can advocate for the 70% of our earth that is water, and can become tomorrow’s effective environmental leaders.

Emma is a junior in Boulder, Colorado and is a member of her school’s active Net Zero Environmental Club. She is an IB Diploma Candidate and plans to study Marine Biology in college. Emma is also a drum major of her school’s competitive marching band, and is a member of the school swim team.

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