Did you know that almost all of Earth’s water… about 97% is found in the oceans? Believe it or not, it’s true. These vast salty waters flow through endless seas and bays surrounding our continents. What’s left, a tiny 3%, is freshwater. And even that isn’t easy to access, it’s mostly frozen in glaciers and ice caps, or hidden deep underground.
A Day to Remember
Each year, June 8 is marked as World Oceans Day… a reminder of the vast, living presence that surrounds and sustains us. And perhaps also a moment to pause and reflect on the quiet ways the ocean has touched so many lives.
Also Read: We need the oceans, more than they need us…
There is something about seeing the ocean for the first time. It stays, quietly, somewhere inside. It lingers, soft and steady. A bit like that song that haunts you. Not in a scary way, but as if it’s trying to say something you have almost forgotten. But at the shore, that noise drops away. There is just stillness, wrapping around your shoulders like an old shawl. You notice you are breathing — slow, deep, almost surprised by the ease of it. The wide horizon stretching out ahead. The waves arriving one after another. Salt-laced air brushes your skin. And the breeze. Always moving, as if carrying stories from far-off lands. Somehow, it all stays with you, long after you have walked away.
More Than Beauty: Perspective
The ocean doesn’t just offer beauty. It offers perspective too. It reminds us how small we are, how long things last, and how some things keep going, even when everything else feels chaotic. It has, for generations, absorbed our joys, our grief, and our silence.
As people grow, their relationship with the sea often deepens. Children run into its waves, both scared and thrilled. Teenagers walk its shores sharing secrets and dreams. Adults return with burdens, memories, or both, finding gentle comfort in its presence. Elderly visitors sit by its edge, watching tides that have kept their rhythm far longer than any of us. For many, the sea becomes a silent companion… never demanding, always present.
A Quiet Sustainer
This year’s World Oceans Day theme — ‘Wonder: Sustaining What Sustains Us’ — is a fitting one. Because the ocean has been a quiet sustainer. It has shaped our weather, fed communities, inspired poets, and supported the growth of civilisations. Even for those who do not live near it, the sea makes its presence felt… How? In the rains we receive, the food we eat, the air we breathe.
Under Threat
And yet, despite everything it gives, the ocean is under threat.
Plastic now litters many shores that were once clean and quiet. The numbers are shocking. UN reports say over 11 million metric tonnes of plastic end up in our oceans each year. That’s like throwing a truckload of waste into the sea every single minute. These are not distant statistics. Traces of that plastic have begun to appear in fish, in salt, even in our drinking water. Fisherfolk on the Kerala coast tell stories of changing tides and seasons, of strange patterns and vanishing marine life.
The sea hasn’t changed as much as we have. The waves still arrive, one after another, with the same rhythm and grace. But the way we live has changed. We have become louder, quicker, and sometimes a little too careless in how we treat the world around us.
Care Every Day
It’s easy to forget that the ocean, for all its might, can still be harmed. It needs care… quiet, consistent care. Not just on a commemorative day, but every day. In the choices we make at home, in how waste is managed, and the thoughtfulness with which we use and speak of water.
The wonder of the ocean lies not just in its size or strength, but in its silent ability to hold stories, to offer calm, to stir something deeply human. That sense of wonder must not be lost. It must be passed on gently, intentionally… to the generations that follow. They deserve to stand before the sea, wide-eyed and thankful.
Small Actions, Big Impact
To sustain what sustains us isn’t about grand gestures. It begins in everyday choices like using less plastic, disposing waste responsibly, choosing wisely, teaching our children to value nature not for what it gives us, but for what it simply is.
Because the ocean has always shown up for us.
Maybe now, it’s time we showed up for it too.
