How to Be an Ocean Hero this Summer - Oceana USA
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June 8, 2011

How to Be an Ocean Hero this Summer

It’s World Oceans Day, so what better time to take a moment to think about doing your part to help protect our water planet?

Don’t worry, you don’t have to be a Peter Wallerstein or a Sophi Bromenshenkel to be an everyday ocean hero. This summer, we’re asking everyone to take small steps in their lives to help the oceans. Those little things all add up to heroic efforts.

When you pledge to be an ocean hero with us, you can choose between three options — clean up your local waterway, eat sustainable seafood or recycle. Here’s the skinny:

1. Clean up your local beach or waterway.

There’s a lot of litter on beaches and riverbanks, and much of it could end up in a sea turtle or sea bird’s stomach, or in the Pacific gyre. Picking up garbage on the beach is an easy way to help the oceans.

Extra credit: Take pictures of your clean-up on your iPhone and post them to Instagram. Make sure to tag your photos #ocean and check www.oceana.org/heroes to see what other ocean heroes are up to this summer.

Double extra credit: While you’re cleaning up, support Oceana’s cause by wearing Nautica’s World Oceans Day t-shirt, made from 100 percent organic cotton. The proceeds will benefit our work to protect and restore the world’s oceans.

2. Eat sustainable seafood.

Use the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch guide at the seafood counter or restaurant to make smart and sustainable seafood choices.

Extra credit: Check out our sustainable seafood guides on Foodspotting. The next time you’re eating fish at a restaurant, share pictures from your smart phone on Foodspotting and let others know where they should (and shouldn’t!) go for seafood.

Double extra credit: Check out “For Cod and Country,” a guide to casual, sustainable cuisine by acclaimed Washington DC chef and National Geographic Fellow Barton Seaver.

3. Reuse and recycle.

Take a hint from junior ocean hero finalist Wyatt Workman and don’t be a trash monster – reuse as much as possible, and when you can’t, recycle.

Extra credit: Nix bottled water and get the Oceana water bottle from Nautica. (I have one and it’s the best water bottle I’ve ever owned, hands down.)

Double extra credit: Check out sunglasses from Revo’s Eco Collection; they’re made from Revo Re-Use™, a frame material made from 100 percent recycled pre-consumer polymer resins.

Have you taken the pledge yet? Don’t forget to share it on Facebook and Twitter. Got any other ideas for how to make a difference for the oceans this summer? Let us know in the comments. And thanks to the hundreds of you who have already pledged!