Won Choi
Seoul, South Korea
2016, Junior, Creative Writing

Have you ever seen a “black sea shore”? On Sunday, December 9th, 2007, I was at home flipping through channels on TV, searching for anything interesting. My eyes widened when I saw that one of my country’s most famous beaches was completely black! Gone were the beautiful blue water and white sand. Everything was pitch black. All day, every broadcasting station in South Korea aired that scene. The huge patch of black that covered the beach turned out to be the heads of volunteers trying to clean up the beach. Soldiers, fishermen, and volunteers struggled to clean up an oil spill from the day before.

People picked up rocks and seashells, scrubbing off the oil. Even famous celebrities, out of their fancy outfits and high heels, rushed toward the beaches of the west coast to save our nation’s ocean. The spill had completely blackened the once beautiful beaches along the west coast, and driven away thousands of tourists with its stench. It was the worst oil spill in Korean history. As a seven year old who loved going to the beach, I was devastated to see my country’s west coast soaked in black. Now, the beach’s water is still too dirty for people to swim. Even though I was only a little girl back then, I remember clearly how this incident inspired not only the citizens in my country, but also people all around the world to help save our oceans.

Oil spills are one of the most disastrous types of Ocean Pollution. Crude oil and refined fuel spills from tanker ship accidents have damaged vulnerable ecosystems in not only Korea, but also Alaska, the Gulf of Mexico, the Galapagos Islands, France, the Sundarbans and many other places. It is different from other kinds of ocean pollution because it can affect the environment in the blink of an eye. According to the International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation (ITOPF), Oil spills can affect the Oceanic environment both directly and indirectly: the spill directly pollutes our oceans, and the clean-up process itself further pollutes the ocean. Having two different ways of contaminating Earth increases the speed of harming our environment, making it one of the most threatening types of pollution.

Oil spills affect our oceans directly by ruining the habitats of organisms living in water. These spills pollute our oceans to the point that once an oil spill takes place, the ocean in which the spill occurred will never be able to recover completely. No matter how hard we try to help the ocean recover, that ocean will never be the same again because the oil spreads much faster than we can clean it up. Once it expands rapidly, aquatic organisms are affected almost immediately.(noaa.gov) The Oceans near the west coast of South Korea still have not recovered fully from the oil spill in 2007 despite the efforts of thousands of Koreans. Scientists say it is unlikely that these oceans will be the way they were before because once an oil spill occurs, the ocean is exposed to toxic materials immediately, and the oil will spread at a deathly rate. The lighter the oil, the faster it will spread. According to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, even heavy oils can spread quickly in a major spill, spreading out as thin as the layer of paint on a wall in just a few hours. Therefore, by the time we start cleaning up the spill, it will already have been too late.

Furthermore, aquatic animals and birds will mistake the oil slicks from spills for food and get attracted to it. When a bird’s feathers get covered in oil, they lose their ability to trap air and keep out water, leading to problems in maintaining body heat. (hypothermia).(livescience.com) Other aquatic animals that depend on clean fur coats to maintain heat, such as marine otters, can also become hypothermic.(The Oiled Wildlife Care Network) Moreover, the toxic materials in oil will make respiration harder for these creatures. It has also been proven scientifically that if oil is ingested, it will cause sickness or even death. After the oil spill in 2007, citizens of my country witnessed thousands of floating dead fish. For a while, almost no birds were seen near the beaches that were affected from the oil spill.

Once species start to become extinct due to oil spills, they will lead to the deaths of other species as well. Eventually, the death of these animals affects us too. As we all know, our ecosystem is a cycle that keeps going around and around. Everything we do will one day come back to us. This phenomenon can be explained easily by using the example of the food chain. Let’s say the Salmon becomes extinct. With no more salmon to eat, predators of the salmon will die out as well. Therefore, the extinction of one certain species can lead to the extinction of other species. If this phenomenon continues, human beings will be in danger of becoming extinct as well, because soon enough, we will have nothing to eat. Even if the fish survive from oil spills, what would happen to us if we eat them? The toxic materials inside the body of fish will damage our health.

Almost everyone thinks that cleaning up the ocean after an oil spill will only contribute to recovering our oceans’ health. However, we may further pollute the ocean during recovery process; we may exacerbate pollution. For instance, pollutants such as gases and fuel will be released from the ships or boats we ride on while cleaning up the oil spill, causing further contamination. Thinking that we are helping our oceans, we do not realize we make matters worse. Unfortunately, these are not the only ways oil spills can put us in danger. There are several other problems oil spills can cause such as respiration problems and irritation of certain organs in aquatic species. Ocean pollution caused by oil spills can also cause pollution of air that we breathe.

Ocean pollution from oil spills is much more problematic than one might think. It causes problems in our environment directly (making respiration harder for aquatic species, extinction of organisms) and indirectly (causing pollution in the process of trying to clean up after oil spills). According to conserve-energy.com, Oil spills penetrate into the plumage and fur of birds, breaks down the insulating capabilities of feather which makes them heavier, disallow them to fly and kill them via poisoning or hypothermia. We must be careful of oil spills especially because oceans will never recover completely after an oil spill. As a person who witnessed the direct effects of an oil spill, I am aware of how terrifying oil spills can be. That is why I will do everything I can do to help people realize the dangers of oil spills, and prevent any more oil spills from occurring. Recently, on May 13th, yet another major oil spill occurred. According to federal authorities, an oil company’s oil well has leaked nearly 90,000 gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. Although it has been reported that the oil spill has been secured, nobody knows for sure whether or not the spill has been stopped completely, meaning that it may still have the capability to contaminate its surroundings, and eventually the whole ocean.

There are several measures we can take in order to help our environment recover from oil spills, or even prevent them. We can help our oceans recover by cleaning up the ocean ourselves. This will make us feel proud. We can also donate money to campaigns that help animals injured from oil spills. Supporting these campaigns would not only help organisms in danger, but also help campaigns earn more money for developing methods to help our ocean. Meanwhile, government should enact laws specifically on restricting the use of energy and oils each day. This way, people will begin to use less oil, and eventually, this will lead to the decrease in ocean pollution. Since excessive dependency on oil has caused environmental problems, we should also make efforts to minimize the amount of energy and oil we use each day. Finding more alternative and natural resources certainly helps. For instance, we could use more solar or wind energy. However, we must always remember that using natural methods to obtain energy is not a complete solution to pollution. Over development and rapid civilization undoubtedly ruin the environment.

There are other ways we can help our ocean, but I think it is most important that we understand how oil spills can affect our oceans. In order to do this, everyone should try their best to inform the world about oil spills and their effects. One of the best ways to inform people is writing essays or creating artwork about oil spills. I once designed a mural with the topic “save the bay”, and the mural was sold for $200. All the money was donated to the Chesapeake Bay campaign. While designing the mural, I learned how much we were ruining our oceans, and how urgent saving our waters is. I felt proud that the money my mural earned was donated to help the ocean. Creating artworks or essays about the environment is not only beneficial to creators, but these creations can also become an inspiration for others who want to help the environment. Not only that, since everyone has creativity and talent, any average person could help save the environment by using this method. If everyone makes effort to save our ocean, it might be possible for my family to go for a swim in the beach that is still polluted. We must keep in mind that any kind of effort, regardless of how small, will contribute greatly in helping our beautiful oceans.

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Saving the Black Beach