New resources launched to raise awareness of links between ocean and human health

Did you know that the ocean provides half of the oxygen we breathe - enough for every second breath we take? Or that the majority of marine litter is indestructible plastic which lasts virtually forever? Many European citizens are not aware of the ocean's influence on us and our influence on the ocean. In other words, many of us lack a sense of "Ocean Literacy".

If you want to increase your Ocean Literacy, the newly launched Sea Change website (www.seachangeproject.eu) is a good place to start. Sea Change is an EU Horizon 2020-funded project which aims to raise European citizens' awareness of the intrinsic links between ocean and human health, and to empower us, as Ocean Literate citizens, to take direct and sustainable action towards a healthy ocean and seas, healthy communities and ultimately a healthy planet.

The Sea Change partnership are already hard at work designing Ocean Literacy related activities and materials focused on education, community, and governance actors, and directly targeted at citizens.

The project website will be the central information hub for the project and is the place to go to stay informed about and get involved in Sea Change activities that will be taking place across Europe, including public consultations, competitions, citizen science projects, talks, training opportunities and much more. The website will also act as a repository for key outputs, materials, tools and resources that will be developed during the project.

The first of these outputs is a short video introducing the concept of Ocean Literacy and outlining the medical, economic, social, and environmental importance of the sea to Europe and indeed to the rest of the world. The video highlights the importance of protecting the ocean by making choices that are more "ocean-friendly". An accompanying booklet has also been produced and will also shortly be available on the Sea Change website. You can watch the "Sea Change: Increasing Ocean Literacy" video and subscribe to the Sea Change Vimeo channel at www.vimeo.com/seachangeproject.

"I am really pleased and excited to announce the launch of the Sea Change website and our first video on Ocean Literacy," said Jon Parr, Sea Change Coordinator, "The website will grow over the lifetime of the project and we hope that the planned collection of free, publicly available Sea Change materials will be of tremendous value to educators, Ocean Literacy advocates and anyone interested in learning about and communicating the links between the ocean and human health."