Did you know that the ocean covers 71% of the Earth's surface and contains 97% of all of Earth's water?

The ocean is the most essential building block for life, it produces 50% of the oxygen in the atmosphere and is home to 80% of the world’s organisms – from enormous whales to microscopic plankton and bacteria. 

The ocean truly is a fantastic place,  which is why we know that it must be protected for the future of our planet. In 1992, in Rio de Janeiro, at the Earth Summit, Canada’s International Centre for Ocean Development (ICOD) proposed the concept of a “World Ocean Day.” This is now an international United Nations (UN) event, recognised by all UN Member States on 8th June.

At OSRL we also recognise this day and this year we’ve been celebrating World Ocean Day across the company and out in the community.

Released today at 6pm BST, an OSRL article has been featured in the New Scientist magazine (available online and in print), the article is a great honour recognising the hard work and efforts of everyone in the organisation.

As well as the article, we also took a trip out into the local community this week, with some of our team from the Equipment Hire Services delivering an engaging presentation to year 6 pupils at Fryern Federation School, Chandler’s Ford. 

The presentation introduced the history of oil, oil in everyday lives, and of course oil spills! The importance of “Blue Spaces” on our planet and the need to protect them was also highlighted, and we showed the children how we play a vital part in keeping the oceans healthy. 

The children were very engaged and enjoyed the demonstration of the dispersant tubes, recovery of cooking oil with sorbent pads, and the mini oleophilic disc skimmer. 

World Ocean Day is celebrated on 8th June, but every day we have a part to play in protecting our oceans for future generations.

Happy World Ocean Day!