If you’re a person who surfs, or even just a person who eats and sleeps and breathes, you should be aware of just how important the ocean is. Without it, we’d all be dead, or we’d have evolved to be decidedly not human; perhaps some strange beings who don’t require oxygen and really like hot weather. But as fate would have it, the ocean is here, and we are us, which, I think we can all agree, is a pretty nice thing to be. That’s why the World Surf League started the We Are One Ocean campaign, which encourages world leaders to protect 30 percent of the world’s oceans by the year 2030.
Since we started burning fossil fuels — according to facts, anyway, which seem to have falling out of relevance for a lot of people — the ocean has absorbed somewhere around 90 percent of the excess heat and about a quarter of the carbon dioxide we’ve belched out. That, of course, saves us from a whole lot of pain, but it’s not like the ocean is getting away without a scratch. Far from it, in fact. Overall, it’s warmer than it’s ever been since we started recording its temperature. It’s more acidic than it’s been in 14 million years. It’s pumping out less oxygen, which, as I said previously, is something we all need. It’s not only us who are suffering, either. Everything from the tiniest of plankton to the largest of whales is being affected, and not in good ways.
“The World Surf League’s (WSL) fans, staff, and Championship Tour surfers know as well as anyone how important the ocean is to our global surfing community,” the WSL wrote. “The ocean is our office, our playground, our place of worship, and whether you live on the coast, or thousands of miles inland, its health is vital to the health and well-being of everyone.”
To drive a bit of awareness to the campaign, the League put together a series of short films featuring surfers explaining the obvious: why the ocean needs to be protected from our filthy, grasping fingers, and how the ocean adds a bit of pleasure to their life. And since pro surfers make up a very small percentage of human beings, the WSL is asking for all of us average Joes to show our support, too.
“If you haven’t already, SIGN the petition to show your support,” the WSL wrote. “After you’ve signed, tell your friends and encourage them to do the same by creating a social media post with your personal reason for signing, like Italo or Mikey, or share one of these videos or images from the WSL. Don’t forget to tag #weareoneocean and @wsl for a chance to be featured.”
Read more about the campaign (there’s a lot more to it, I promise) on Worldsurfleague.com. Sign the petition here.
