10 things to protect the marine environment that make you feel good…part 2

This is Part 2 of a 2 part series on 10 things you can do to help protect our marine environments and feel good about it.  Part 1 was out last week in case you missed it.

 6.      Find replacements for single use plastics and disposables

• Use your own water bottle

• Take your own bag when shopping for anything

• Carry your own containers, reusable utensils and straws for take-out food

• Take your own cloth towel so you don’t have to use the paper towels

• If you have to use disposable plastic try to see that it ends its life being recycled

• Refuse plastic straws and lids for coffee cups

Plastics that are not disposed of properly can end up in our land-fills or incinerators, and if you clean beaches you will know better than most that a large amount of single use plastics end up in the oceans, some of which makes its way to our beaches.  And what doesn’t  can end up on the ocean floor, in one of the 5 gyres of plastic pollution floating around the world, or in the stomachs of marine animals.

I received a newsletter from the AMCS this week with a great tip of the month.

Plastic pollution travels easily from land to sea and it never truly goes away – it breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces and adds up to one big problem for our ocean wildlife. The best thing we can do is to REFUSE using plastic. When you can’t REFUSE, remember to REDUCE your use as much as possible, REUSE and RECYCLE

7.      Say no to bottled water

This deserves a category of its own especially if the water comes in a plastic bottle.  Images generally speak loader than words so here are some that will help readers to understand why.

Charles Moore tells us that thousands of km of the ocean floor is like this.

A number of communities around the world have taken the bold step of banning bottled water from their towns.  Lady Elliott Island was the first island in the Great Barrier Reef to do so, replacing bottled water with drinking fountains throughout the resort, providing pure desalinated water with non additives.  Other communities that have done the same here and here.  These places decided to ban bottled water for the obvious reason of reducing waste and pollution which benefits our marine environments as well as land based resources.  Furthermore some of these communities didn’t want to have their own clean water being sold back to them in a plastic bottle.  If you want to know more about being hoodwinked by bottled water companies here is an interesting assessment.

8.      Support Organic Farming and Local Farmers Markets

Organic farming systems work in harmony with nature, keeping harmful chemicals out of the land, water and air creating healthy environments (ACO)

Organic products are grown and processed without the use of pesticides, synthetic chemicals, fertilizers, or Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO).  Organic certification is applied to:

a)     unprocessed products from plants, animals, cultured organisms and approved naturally occurring materials, and

b)     Processed products derived from a) above.

Source: Australian Certified Organic

Chemicals and pesticides run-off through the soil into rivers and coastal waterways and contribute to ocean acidification through excess nutrient inputs creating plankton blooms, effectively sucking the oxygen out of the affected area and increasing CO2, which decreased the ph balance leading to acidification. For a brief informative explanation of ocean acidification and its effects listen to Richard Feely PhD of NOAA.

9.      Do not dump or dispose of anything in your marine environment

If you participate in beach cleanup events you will notice that there is a wide variety of matter that washes up on beaches, and you will nearly always find yourself asking this question:  how on earth could this have ended up on this beach?  The reason is often dumping.  Here are some of the things we have found in abundance on our beaches in Discovery Bay that we suspect were dumped.

Image via Tracey Read

Image via Tracey Read

But just as important, do not dump food waste, cigarette butts, plastic, paper, oil, chemicals, or anything at all!

The oceans and our marine environments are for our enjoyment and living habitats for marine and land animals.  As we like to keep our house clean so too do they deserve a clean place to live.

10. Use bar soaps over liquid soaps

Although there are more options for environmental and marine friendly bar soaps than  liquid soaps, liquid and anti-bacterial soaps have been increasing popular since SARS and bird flu outbreaks.

In fact bar soaps are generally better for us and the environment.  Antibacterial rubs and liquid soaps contain triclosan and synthetic colors, oils and fragrances that accumulate in our bodies with some known to be hormone/endocrine disruptors.  When hormone disruptors get into the marine environment because these soaps are being washed down our drains, strange things happen to all sorts of marine life.  Triclosan is actually a registered pesticide, now why are they putting pesticides in liquid soap I wonder!  Actually the US authorities will be issuing a long overdue report later this year on this chemical and its safety for use in soaps and other household  products, as many doctors and scientists who specialize in the hormone system, flagged triclosan …. as an ingredient that alters levels of thyroid hormones and reproductive hormones like testosterone and estrogen.(Huffington Post)

Here is another informative article on the question of bar or liquid soaps.

A couple of great bar soap alternatives I recommend are:

Miessence Tea Tree and Geranium soap bars made from ACO certified organic coconut oil and essential oils.

Do you have something you would add to this list?  Join the conversation and let’s talk about how we can all take action to protect our blue environments and improve our wellbeing at the same time. 

Be well, live well and do a little to help our marine environment be well

Angie

Print Friendly