Living Waters: Emphasising the need to protect life's breath on this planet
A virus has caused us to scramble for oxygen but our chokehold on the environment is slowly strangling the very waters that breathe life into us. The virus is a timely reminder: We are merely consumers, not producers of life's breath on this planet
Curated By: Madhu Kapparath
A kelp forest flanks a sea lion in the Pacific Ocean off San Benito Island, Mexico
Land plants evolved from green marine algae, so we owe the ocean for all of the oxygen that comes from them as well. These submerged algae raised their heads above water once the atmospheric oxygen levels were high enough for the ozone layer to form, protecting them from lethal levels of UV radiation that pervaded the planet. Only one-third of the Earth’s oxygen comes from the green cover on land.
