World Oceans Day

World Oceans Day is a day to think about the extremely important role that the oceans play in our lives.

The government of Canada suggested the idea of World Oceans Day at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. In 2008 the UN officially recognised the date, the day is celebrated in a variety of ways all over the world, including some special events, such as beach and river clean-ups and film festivals. On 8 June there are so many things you can do to join in the celebrations, to remind people how fundamental is the role played by our oceans in our planet and to make a difference!

Here below you can find some vocabulary related to the ocean:

Marine life = plants and animals that live in the ocean

Oxygen = a natural gas which is essential to life (you need oxygen to breathe!)

Climate change = the fact that weather patterns are changing all over the world

Global warming = the rise of temperature

Plastic pollution = pollution caused by the big amount of plastic that we produce and that so many times ends up in ocean

Conservation = protection of the natural environment

A clean-up = an organised event to collect rubbish (especially plastic waste)

Biodiversity = the existence of a wide variety of plant and animal species living in their natural environment

An ecosystem = the plants, animals, climate, etc. in an area and how they are linked

Single-cells organism = the smallest living animals

What role does the ocean play in your life? What can you do to make a difference?