How Rolex Is Making Sure We Can Continue To Celebrate New Years In Perpetuity!

As 2021 winds down, one company is taking giant strides to make sure we can continue to celebrate New Years in perpetuity. That company is Rolex

- Jonathan Ho

SOME 70 PER CENT OF THE PLANET’S SURFACE is covered by water. The oceans make up 97 per cent of all the water on Earth, the equivalent of approximately 1.3 billion cubic kilometres. This can seem like an infinite amount and man, has long thought of the oceans as something that could not be damaged regardless of what we did, but damage it we have.

The ocean drives climate and weather, most of the oxygen in the atmosphere is generated by the sea, most of the planet’s organic carbon is absorbed and stored in microbial and algae life, forming the foundation of Earth’s biosphere: water from the seas form clouds that return to the land through rain, sleet and snow.

According to the United Nations World Ocean Assessment, climate change is heating the oceans and altering their chemistry (making the seas more acidic, thus threatening coral reefs and oxygen producing plankton) so dramatically that it is threatening seafood supplies, and supercharging cyclones and floods that put hundreds of millions of people living along coasts at risk. However, that is merely the tip of the proverbial iceberg, after returning from the biggest-ever expedition to the Arctic in June, scientists warn the point of no return on global warming may have already been reached.

An essential life support system for our world, oceans absorb more than 90 per cent of the excess heat trapped on Earth by carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. Many commercially exploited species of fish have declined by 90 per cent; about half of the coral reefs have disappeared or experienced serious decline; and hundreds of coastal “dead zones” have developed. With marine ecosystems already facing threats from seaborne plastic waste, unsustainable fishing practices and other man-made stresses, an integrated effort needs to be made to keep our planet alive.