Public Servant Lifestyle

A brand new marine environment at the National Maritime Museum sets out to inform, dazzle and empower visitors.

Your Ocean at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich.

‘Your Ocean’ - opened in September last year at the National Maritime Museum (NMM), Greenwich - is the latest element of the Museum's 'Planet Ocean' initiative, launched three years ago. The focus will be on key issues facing the marine environment in the 21st century, showing how human life depends on the health and survival of the world's oceans.

The displays and themes have been chosen to show how each of us is connected to the sea by our lifestyles, actions and choices, emphasising that we all have a role to play in marine conservation. The gallery will explore current thinking on such issues as climate change, over-fishing, pollution, conservation and the use of renewable energies, and debate these subjects in the context of local, national and international situations.

Your Ocean seeks visitors' opinions on how current issues should be addressed. Visitor feedback will be displayed for others to share and respond to, and will be used to fire enthusiasm, encourage debate, and shape the gallery. Aimed at a younger audience, the ideas and general approaches of Your Ocean have been evaluated with the help of family groups and teenagers. The gallery aims to inform and empower visitors to help them to make their own choices and decisions about the environment.

Facts in Your Ocean include:

The ocean covers 70% of the Earth and helps to control the entire world's climate.

Oil spills get a lot of media attention – but did you know that three times more oil ends up in the ocean from cars?

We drink the same water today that the dinosaurs drank.

Each UK household takes home 323 plastic carrier bags a year. These, potentially lethal, plastic bags can last for over 400 years in the ocean. Dolphins, whales and turtles eat plastic bags and wrappers mistaking them for food.

We eat about 90 million tonnes of fish and shellfish every year. Over-fishing is widespread, with many stocks near to collapse. Some 20 million tonnes of unwanted fish and other sea animals are also thrown back dead as 'by-catch'.

For every kilo of tropical prawns you buy, 15 kilos of unwanted sea-life may be thrown back dead as 'by-catch'.

The energy we use in Britain to light and heat our homes and to run appliances adds 41 million tonnes of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere each year. This represents 28% of Britain’s total carbon dioxide emissions.

The Your Ocean website, asks: 'It is your ocean, what will you do to save it?' The ocean supplies us with an amazing amount of things; it controls our climate and powers our lives. But are we doing enough to protect it for future generations? This website gives you the facts, challenges your thinking and encourages you to consider 'How green are you?' With games, images, animations, quizzes, actions and lesson plans to follow it's a vital resource for the teaching and learning of geography, citizenship and science at key stage 3.

Interactive Displays

Your Ocean uses a mix of graphics, text, museum objects and interactive displays. The gallery also shows everyday objects that may seem surprising in a museum context. These familiar objects, often including ingredients derived from the sea, are used to explain sometimes complex and controversial subjects, making them relevant to visitors’ everyday lives.

An important factor in approaching the physical development of the Your Ocean gallery has been how to install a gallery which is 'environmentally sound and reflects the practices of marine stewardship and sustainable development. The exhibition has been produced to be as sustainable as possible - for example, this has included using more environmentally-sound ink and print processes for the gallery text and graphics as well as, wherever possible, using materials that are recycled or are being reused from previous exhibitions.

Roy Clare, Director of the NMM, comments: "The Your Ocean project has drawn its inspiration from the Museum's development of an enhanced environmental policy. For example, a borehole has been sunk and this already provides 'grey water' for the lavatories across the site. Planning permission has been obtained for rooftop photovoltaic cells to help offset energy costs, coupled with widespread use of low-wattage lighting.

"At the same time, among other initiatives, the Museum's retail outlets are giving priority to products from sustainable sources. We have especially appreciated the whole-hearted response from our visitors and stakeholders, many of whom have participated in the research that makes this gallery possible and meets the demand from our public."

The Museum has worked with a range of subject specialists and informed organisations to produce the gallery. Among these are: The Crown Estate , Maritime and Coastguard Agency, National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, Surfers Against Sewage, WWF-UK, Southampton Institute, the Marine Conservation Society, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

Dr. Mark Green, Head of UNEP's Marine and Coastal Programme, said: We are delighted to support the National Maritime Museum's Your Ocean initiative. Our oceans and seas are a vital part of the world’s biodiversity, which provide us with many of the products and services we need to survive and prosper. Building awareness of their value is key to helping people make decisions in their everyday lives which will ultimately maintain these beautiful habitats and essential resources to the benefit of each and everyone of us – now and for generations to come.

National Maritime Museum

Dr Carolyn Heeps, Marine Environmental Manager for The Crown Estate said: We have enjoyed participating in the development of this exciting new gallery. As landowner of over 50% of the UK foreshore and all the seabed out to 12 nautical miles The Crown Estate is pleased that the NMM is at the forefront of creating a better understanding of the challenges and opportunities of marine resource management.

The National Maritime Museum (NMM) is making efforts to reduce its effect on the environment, taking a lead in sustainability issues in the galleries and behind the scenes. The NMM is striving to adopt many of the practices of sustainable development and marine stewardship central to the Planet Ocean initiative. For example, over the last two years the Museum has reduced its energy consumption by 10%, thanks to growing staff awareness and energy-saving measures such as use of low-energy and diachronic lighting and automatic lighting systems in the galleries.

Your Ocean and the accompanying education programme are supported by The Crown Estate and the Maritime & Coastguard Agency.

Opening hours at the museum are: 10.00 - 17.00, seven days a week and 10.00 - 18.00 in July and August. Last admission is at 16.30 (17.30 in July and August). The museum is closed 24 - 26 December.

Your Ocean is a permanent fixture at the National Maritime Museum (NMM), Greenwich. The Museum is the largest maritime museum in the world with a collection of over two million objects related to seafaring, sailing and the navy. General admission to the Museum, Queen's House and the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, is all free to all visitors (see above for opening and closing times). For updated information prior to your visit, see the website: or telephone 020 8858 4422.

More information available in Days Out, United Kingdom