What have the oceans done for you lately? Well, lots actually.
For starters, they've been keeping you alive every day with the world's oceans generating most of the oxygen we breathe. In fact, marine plants produce 70 percent of the oxygen in the world's atmosphere.
National Geographic Explorer has estimated that just one type of marine plant provides the oxygen for one in every five breaths we take. Think about that the next time you go for a jog.
The World Economic Forum says if we protected half the coastal wetlands we lose every year, the carbon dioxide these areas store would absorb the same amount of carbon emissions as Spain produced in 2013.
Our humble oceans have quietly taken care of over 90 percent of the heat generated by man-made greenhouse gases since 1955, according to Ocean Scientists for Informed Policy.
The oceans are like huge cauldrons, using waves, tides and currents to relocate heat to cooler and deeper waters. They store it for us to protect the earth's surface from global warming and as a result we get to live relatively normal lives.
So, while we go about our daily routines, casually pumping carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, our planet's marine system is hard at work trying to combat climate change for us.
Australian scientists recently found that seagrasses of The Great Barrier Reef are absorbing carbon dioxide at a relatively impressive rate, storing in the vicinity of 30 million tonnes of the global killer in The Great Barrier Reef region alone. But even the world's largest living organism can't keep this up forever.
Sir David Attenborough recently gave us a reality check on the Aussie icon when he said: "The Great Barrier Reef is in grave danger. The twin perils brought by climate change, an increase in the temperature of the ocean and its acidity, if this continues to rise at the present rate the reef will be gone within decades and that would be a global catastrophe."
But, all is not lost. Rafferty Laight, an 11 year old World Oceans Day Ambassador says: "There's still plenty of the reef left to save".
So, we at LADbible Australia are committed to protecting the Great Barrier Reef by convincing the Australian Government to make her an Australian citizen. Show your support here to grant the Great Barrier Reef her citizenship and get her the same rights that every living being on this planet deserves - the right to life.
Featured Image Credit: The Ocean Agency / Coral Reef Image BankTopics: Environment, Australia, Citizen Reef