11th Symposium on Education

P1.6

Ocean Planet- We all Share the Same Water

Beth A. Jewell, West Springfield High School, Burke, VA

We may call it Earth, but ours is truly an ocean planet. The vast oceans cover most of the earth's surface yet we tend to look at the substance we walk on and forget that that we truly do live on an Ocean Planet. We're all sea people, in the sense that our lives or livelihoods take us to the beach or sea. The world ocean exerts multiple and profound influences over our lives. Our reliance on the seas goes far beyond the 15 pounds of seafood each person in the United States eats, on average, every year. From the alginates in beer that help keep the foam from collapsing, and diatoms for filtering swimming pool water, to crab shells that are used to produce absorbable surgical sutures, the oceans provide many of our lives' necessities and luxuries. Wetlands cleanse water and provide nurseries for fish, and coastal vegetation and coral reefs buffer the margins of land from violent storms. Ocean waters are constantly moving and, as they collect and distribute heat from the sun, they influence climate in every corner of the planet. This poster will remind us that in ways we may never have even considered, we're all seafarers, and it offers us ways to become more seaworthy--to think about what our connection is with the ocean.

Poster Session 1, University Outreach Activities and K-12 Educational Initatives
Sunday, 13 January 2002, 4:00 PM-4:00 PM

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