A Distillation of Purpose for the Ocean

What are the five key reasons for ocean conservation? What are the five areas where progress matters most?

Can we distill the essential reasons why the ocean is central to human survival?

With the world in a kind of off-axis state, of turmoil, political confrontation, intellectual contradiction, anger, technical influence and impact, and a manic need for instant gratification and action, maybe it’s time to take stock, to review premises and purpose, and refocus and re-establish our priorities and values.

Distillation is a process of purification. How to condense through narrowing focus the essential reasons/justifications for the ocean as locus for human survival? What are the 5 key reasons for ocean conservation? What are the 5 areas where progress matters most? I have attempted a distillation, a reduction of the argument for conservation of the ocean in the face of all the other questions and challenges that confront us.

Let me share my thoughts:

First, THE OCEAN/FRESHWATER CONTINUUM: The ocean begins at the mountain-top and descends to the abyssal plain. Through the planetary water cycle, by evaporation, condensation, and distribution through the aquifer, watershed, and coastal zone, the most essential system, natural and worldwide, every crisis on earth can be revealed, rectified, and reversed through its power for connection and rejuvenation. Just as the human body cannot endure without freshwater, so can our global community not survive without a hydraulic continuum, the ocean, the reservoir of life

Second, ENERGY: The ocean collects and refines the energy of the sun, as a climate controlling functionality for the biology, chemistry, physics, and all other aspects of the marine contribution to the survivability of all species worldwide. The solar heat stored in the ocean, influenced by human enterprise, drives temperature, circulation, and all other resultant natural responses and social conditions on land and sea. We are experience these phenomena today, first-hand, to tragic, destructive effect. Thus, that reality must be recognized, accommodated, and advantaged by changing values, structures, and behaviors on behalf ocean of ocean conservation and sustainability.

Third, FOOD: The ocean has been, and must remain, the most important renewable resource for human vitality, through the preservation of its diverse species at every scale, to include, beyond fisheries, microscopic plants and animals which contain through harvest, aquaculture, aquaponics, bio-synthesis, and other methods of maintaining and applying their potential for future use.

Fourth, HEALTH: The ocean represents the continuity of human health, at all levels of being, from clean air and water, to hygiene and sanitation, to medical treatment, disease control, and longevity, to personal security, family, and community, and to optimism and commitment to the sanctity of life. The ocean biome and human genome are directly connected through bionomic and social connection.

Fifth, EXCHANGE: The ocean connects the continents through exchange of people, goods, and ideas. The ocean facilitates international trade, financial transaction, communication, knowledge transfer, integrated governance, knowledge and cultural achievement. It enables a system as advantageous as the cycles of water, energy, food, and health, through inter-action and the potential for renewal, harmony, and peace.

We live in a hydraulic society. The ocean is the process for distillation, the great equalizer and unifier, the great provider and sustainer at every level of human endeavor. The ocean is water, energy, food, health, exchange: the five key functions that enable human endeavor. It is the antidote to everything that ails us. It is as complicated as it is invaluable; it is as sacred as life itself. It is the dynamic path for our future.

The stated, now re-stated purpose of the World Ocean Observatory and World Ocean Radio is to articulate, educate, and communicate that purity of purpose. The sea connects all things. Hold fast. Lean forward.

Peter Neill is host of World Ocean Radio, a series of 5-minute audio essays on ocean issues. Distillation of Purpose is transcript of World Ocean Radio episode that aired January 23, 2025. FMI: WorldOceanRadio