CLF staff organized a beach clean-up that removed bags of plastic litter, wrappers, and more from a New England beach. Photo: Jen Felt.
Our ocean gives us life in countless ways. Earth’s ocean produces 50% of the world’s oxygen, providing every other breath we take. Seafood sustains communities around the planet. While climate change overheats the Earth, the ocean has absorbed most of the world’s excess heat and around a quarter of its carbon pollution. We truly owe it to our ocean waters to give back.
It’s never a bad time to support the ocean, but Earth Day feels like an especially good time to take action. After all, the ocean covers about 70% of the Earth’s surface! With that in mind, let’s talk about some of the top ways you can help protect the waters that give us so much.
1. Call Your Legislator
This may not be the first thing that you think of when it comes to saving the ocean – but it’s probably the most impactful. Individual change is important. Systemic change is even more powerful. And our elected officials need to hear from us that the ocean matters!
Speaking up for our ocean doesn’t require a graduate degree or a fancy job. Start by finding an issue that’s important in your community, close to your heart, or particularly timely. Then call your legislator – state or federal (or both!) – and tell them to take action.
Bonus points if you can identify a relevant bill that they’re working on. If you start with researching existing legislation and go from there, you’ll probably have a bigger impact. CLF’s “Action Center” has several ocean-specific petitions to start you off.
2. Organize or Join a Trash Clean-up on Your Nearby Beach
This one’s just for the folks lucky enough to live near a beach, but if that’s you, this can be a great way to make a difference in your community. The last time I joined a beach clean-up, we found everything from tiny bits of plastic that can choke seabirds to washed-up fishing gear that can entangle marine mammals, birds, turtles, and other marine life. Spending an afternoon clearing your local shoreline of garbage will make a visible difference. Check out our guide to community clean-ups to maximize your impact.
(While we’re focused on the ocean here, you can also join a clean-up of your local lake- or riverfront beach or shoreline and have just as much of an impact.)
Bonus points for tracking and reporting your clean-up! Learning what kinds of trash are turning up and where can help researchers craft stronger policies for preventing it from reaching your local beach in the first place.
3. Ditch Unnecessary Plastic
We don’t want any garbage ending up in our ocean, but plastic is pretty much the worst of the worst. Plastic bags can entangle sea birds, plastic wrappers and six pack rings can strangle sea turtles, and many kinds of marine life accidentally snack on tiny bits of plastic that can clog their stomachs and poison them. Plastic bottles can create deadly traps for sea life that poke their heads into them. If you can embrace alternatives, like reusable containers and water bottles, you can help bring down the amount of plastic being produced.
While reducing our plastic usage is an admirable goal, let’s face it – perfection isn’t possible. Plastic is absolutely everywhere, and avoiding it entirely just isn’t realistic. That’s why we also need stronger recycling policies to deal with plastic waste.
If your state doesn’t have a “bottle bill” to improve plastic recycling or your bottle bill isn’t cutting it, tell your legislators to shape up. You can learn more about this issue in our comic on ocean plastic pollution (it features an adorable seal named Sally, if that helps).
4. Be a Responsible Beachgoer
Again – not everyone gets to visit the beach, but if you live near one or get to take a vacation on the water, there are some simple principles to follow. Check local rules around taking home shells, rocks, or other stuff you find on the beach – some of those can be more important to the natural world than you’d think, often providing habitats for all sorts of marine life. There are plenty of other souvenirs to mark your trip.
If you spot marine wildlife in distress, please don’t approach! Without training, that can be dangerous to you and the critters. Instead, look up your local marine animal rescue or rehabilitation center and give them a call. They’ll be able to provide the needed help.
Of course, we can’t rely on eagle-eyed beachgoers to rescue every imperiled ocean animal. We need policies that prevent them from getting hurt in the first place. For some species, like critically endangered North Atlantic right whales, entanglements in fishing gear can give them horrible, sometimes lethal injuries. Can you tell your legislator to protect right whales from this threat to their future?
5. Be a Responsible Boater
If you’re extra lucky, you’ll have the opportunity to go out on a boat. If so, please take this privilege seriously! Make sure any snack wrappers, sunscreen and water bottles, or other items you bring along don’t tip overboard and accidentally turn into marine litter. Check for speed limits in your area, including the “dynamic” speed limits that kick in when there’s an endangered whale nearby.
Of course, ultimately it’s the government’s responsibility to create regulations that allow everyone to share the ocean safely and responsibly. That’s why CLF is fighting back against the Trump administration’s plan to gut a key regulation protecting critically endangered North Atlantic right whales and boaters from collisions. The “vessel speed rule” requires boats and ships to move at safe speeds when a right whale is probably or definitely in the area. Getting rid of it would put both boaters and whales in danger. We’re asking folks to tell the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that right whales deserve protection.
6. Support Organizations Doing Marine Conservation Work
Notice a theme in these suggestions? The ocean needs us all to do our part – but none of us can fix it alone. That’s why we need lawyers, scientists, and other advocates to work together to create systemic change for our waters. When you donate to an organization like CLF, you’re funding a lawsuit to block offshore oil and gas drilling by the Trump administration, a campaign to protect critically endangered North Atlantic right whales, and much more. Thank you for being a champion for our ocean!
