Dear Future President,

I applaud you, being the president would be a very big job to acquire. I know that being the president is very challenging, and you have a lot of things you might be concerned about. There are many things you could be paying more attention to, but what if I told you we lost one of the most beautiful things in the ocean to pollution, or if where corporations pump waste into the ocean it creates areas of lifelessness. Would you be concerned? Would you take this problem and resolve it? How does this affect me? Well i’m from Iowa, but I take a large interest into the ocean. Weather it be the beautiful coral reefs, or the various types of aquatic animals swimming and making a living there.

An estimated 14 billion lb of waste is dumped into the ocean every year, plastic is one of the most common and harmful elements found in the ocean. People don't recycle and clean up things like they are supposed to and this is causing irreversible damage to our oceans. If you encourage recycling more, and fund it there would be more recycling centers built. If this were to happen, there would be more jobs available.

One of the main sources of pollution in the ocean is shore stationed sources. Like oil, septic tanks, farms, ranches, and vehicles and corporations dumping waste straight into the ocean. If you create a law forbidding or limiting the amount of waste the corporations dump into the ocean. This will keep the ocean clean and healthier. If people clean the ocean and keep trash from getting put in it, it would make a world of a difference.

If we fund alternative energy, America could become less dependant on oil. Meaning less oil spills because less oil transportation. Oil spills can affect the fishing industry and tourism, no fish, no sales no money. Not a pretty ocean view, not as many tourists. This also affects the marine life, seeing videos and pictures of the spills you can see many dead birds or dead fish. Dead birds? It sounds unusual but birds swoop down to catch their food and get stuck in the oil and pulled under. Other animals are very defenceless to oil spills. The thick layer of oil makes it hard for them to surface and breath. This affects animals such as dolphins, seals, sea lions, sea turtles, and whales.

In all seriousness, giving the ocean environment what it needs to stay alive and be radiant as ever, we need to clean up our ways. Take a stand in making the ocean a place where marine life is safe and not in danger. Not just a place to dump our waste and pollute it. Funding this change will save many species and save us too. The ocean has 70% of our planet's oxygen, which is very amazing, the oxygen coming from various types of algae. If we have a clean up plan we can get our ocean more alive, it won't be easy but it is definitely worth a try.

Sincerely,

Samantha DePriest