Student Spotlight: Lela George, '26
Only about 5% of Earth’s oceans have been explored and recorded by humans (“Exploration and Development of Earth’s Oceans”). This number is insanely low, especially given the fact that our oceans cover nearly 71% of the Earth. Historically, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has received billions of government-given exploration dollars less than NASA per year. The difference is striking: $3.8 billion government funded dollars to NASA a year and only 23.7 million dollars to NOAA in 2013 (Conathan). This means that our oceans are being neglected. The very thing giving our planet life is suffering from many harmful factors, all caused by humans, while space is being explored and planets that are inhospitable to living organisms are being recorded. It is absolutely vital for the integrity of the planet that the oceans are more cared for or this will be the beginning of the end for Earth. Putting extraterrestrial exploration before aquatic exploration is a huge mistake on the part of the United States government because of the abundant opportunities that hide under the surface of the ocean.
There are only a few countries that are currently focusing on capitalizing on the countless resources that the ocean has to offer, even though the economic gains are irrefutable. The ocean is a vast terrain rich in many places with deposits of precious metals, gems, chemicals, metal ores, and more, making it a perfect place to mine materials that are harder to come across on land. The only drawback is that it is underwater. This is one very good example of why the government should invest many more millions into ocean exploration and oceanic technological developments, because with the right funds, more efficient and less harmful methods of mining this far under the surface could undeniably be discovered and the payback would soon outweigh the original investment for the government (“Ocean Resources”). Next, healthy ocean ecosystems look like beautiful, vibrant coral reefs, abundant with fish of all kinds. These kinds of ecosystems are the things that draw in tourists from all over the world and function as a massive source of revenue for many countries. That tourism, however, could be harmful and even cause the death of many reefs due to contaminants like boat fuel and sunscreen. An increased amount of publicly advertising ocean care and safety could benefit the health of the ocean’s ecosystems greatly. This would positively affect so many coastal cities’ individual economies, and could even affect the nationwide economies of small or struggling countries. Lastly, the unknown. Although it may sound cliché, the ocean is after all, barely explored. Who could possibly know what secrets lie beneath the waves? It could be anything. The cure to cancer, plants and animals beyond our wildest dreams, or maybe nothing at all. Whatever it is, however, is completely untapped, and the world has always been interested in novel things, so who knows what economic or political power could be gained by the discovery of something groundbreaking right here on our own planet? Although it could be argued that space could also have things like this available, the ocean is easier to access, therefore is cheaper, and it is uniquely underwater. Earth is the only known planet to have “consistent, stable bodies of liquid water on its surface” providing an exclusive set of circumstances that can’t be found anywhere in our known universe (“Are there oceans on other planets?”).
The ocean is the paramount contributor to the health of the Earth and the people living on it. Many medicines like penicillin and aspirin have been derived from nature in many unexpected places and have saved countless lives. To this day, many medicines such as ecteinascidin, discodermolide, bryostatin, pseudopterosins, and w-conotoxin MVIIA have been derived from the sea and have saved lives and improved life quality for many people around the world (“Do medicines come from the sea?”). Imagine how many medicinal secrets are still yet to be discovered under the sea– something revolutionary, something life-altering, or something to tell about the world around us? Did you know that around 50% of Earth’s oxygen comes from the ocean? (“Ocean Resources”) This number is extremely high. High enough to make or break our planet if something were to happen to our great oceans. With the ocean’s vast kelp forests and coral reefs, it really is no surprise. However, this number is steadily decreasing. Global warming, unhealthy coastal tourism, oil spills, and pollution all work together to damage the once-thriving ecosystems of the deep. If this pattern of destruction continues, the effects will no doubt be detrimental to the planet and the people that live on it. The ocean provides the world’s largest source of consumable protein: fish. The world’s economy and welfare would be in shambles if anything were to harm this vital resource. Many economies are kept alive by the seafood industry, and many people even survive off of having that seafood. With Earth’s dwindling resources, we must do all we can to preserve our oceans to stay afloat.
Ocean exploration seems to be a great goal to turn our eyes towards due to its many benefits, however, space exploration is perhaps more endearing to many people who argue that technology could be revolutionized, and space could be used to gather resources, and explore past our galaxy. This viewpoint is understandable when there could be almost instant internet spanning farther across the planet than ever before with a greater amount of more developed satellites in space. This would change the world, making people more interconnected than ever before. This increase in communication could boost economies and dodge conflicts started by miscommunication. There is also the argument that space could be used for mining valuable minerals and even water to give to the international space station (“Reach for the stars”). This point doesn’t seem very credible when the prices for, even something as small as delivering water to the international space station, are as high as they are. This cost would quickly depreciate the value of space mining for how much transportation costs take from the overall profit. Also, there is a prospect of farming in space, which hasn’t been proven to work as of now, but if it is a success, the Earth’s atmosphere would greatly benefit due to the reduction of the production of greenhouse gasses emitted from farming if more of it were moved to space. Many farming and production economies would be boosted through the roof with the increased production. Lastly, there is such a glow surrounding the exploration of the unknowns of space due to many movies, like Star Wars, that people are willing to throw any amount of money at exploration. However, should we really be exploring outside our galaxy when we still haven’t explored even half of our own planet? Vital mining sites can be found in the oceans and aquatic plants can be farmed on its vast floors, showing that space exploration for those reasons is not a necessity.
In conclusion, the ocean is vital for the health of the world’s economy, people, and ecosystems, and retaining its welfare should be the government's number one priority, not exploring the vast, inhospitable void of space. Ocean exploration is the first step in understanding, and then being able to care for our planet. We must be able to take care of this planet before we should even start to think about inhabiting another.