The ocean is a beautifully vast and rugged part of our world! We are fortunate to be able to drive our vehicles onto the sand for the best parking place in SLO county. However we can’t take these things for granted and always need to keep our safety and our oceans safety in mind first!

Here are a few tips and tricks to make our ocean a cleaner and safer place:

  • Avoid using sunscreens with several words you can’t pronounce. Chances are they may have chemicals in them that will pollute the ocean. The organic and reef safe sunscreens will be healthier for your childs skin, and our surrounding environment and the mammals living in it.

Look for bottles that say reef safe, and PBA free. Avoid Oxybenzone, this ingredient bleaches coral reefs and degrades the ocean over time. Here are some good brands: Raw Elements, John Wayne, or any organic sunscreens.

  • Utilize clothing items like long sleeve t -shirts, hats and wet suits to avoid needing to use sunscreens all over your body! This will be cheaper in the end too!
  • Try to have your kids pack lunches with reusable tupperware, bags and water bottles. Avoid single use items plastic bags, plastic bottles etc. I know these are often the best and most convenient snacks, but these items often end up back in our ocean and ingested by our mammalian friends. 
  • The average plastic water bottle takes 450 years to decompose!
  • Try to meet with other kids and parents in the program and work out a carpooling system! (Check your emails for the contact list I will provide)
  • Demonstrate the importance of picking up trash on the beach so it doesn’t go in the ocean! (However make sure you are keeping your safety in mind first.)
  • Don’t touch the wildlife! Chances are if a cute looking seal is out of the water and up on the beach they are probably sick and may bite.
  • Don’t feed the wildlife! While it may be fun to collect a flock of seagulls by making it rain bread crumbs, this is how they start going after our trash, as well as the fact that most human food doesn’t belong in their natural diet and will disrupt the ecosystem.  

There are several things you can do at home on a day to day basis to help our human impact on the environment. While all the small things may not seem worthy of causing change, remember they do add up and anything you can do helps! Spread the message and lets keep our planet healthy.