Did you know that Saturday 8th June is World Ocean Day? It is a day to celebrate the vast, expansive beauty of the ocean and its intrinsic connection to us as human beings, but it is also a day to reflect on what we can all do to help preserve and protect this delicate and threatened environment.  At Edible Beauty, we are passionate about making sure that our daily choices are ones that promote sustainability and caring for our amazing planet. 

You Are Connected to the Ocean Every Minute of the Day

Although it is not our natural habitat, humans have long felt a strong affinity to the ocean. Aside from its clear beauty and power, this mesmerising body of water is actually a diverse and interconnected global ecosystem that functions as a life support system to the rest of the planet. In fact, the ocean covers 72% of Earth and produces half its oxygen. This means that you are connected to it every time you take a breath, every minute of your life.

Unfortunately, we are living in a time when the ocean desperately needs our help. Due to human impact, the precious ocean is essentially dying. The rapid rate of pollution and its catastrophic effects tells us there is no time to waste.

We can and we must act before it’s too late. Change in our lifetimes is imperative. Together we can make waves to save our incredible blue planet and beginning the process is as simple as following these small yet significant ways in which you can help keep the ocean clean and marine life safe. 

Tread Lightly When it Comes to Your Carbon Footprint 

The first thing to do is to look at your lifestyle and consider how to make some simple changes to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide emissions you are contributing as an individual. You should think about your food and drink choices, the energy you use, your choice of transport and also the things that you buy. 

For example, everyone can conserve a little energy. Small actions make a huge difference, for example, switching off lights when you’re not in a room saves energy.  Take a look at your lightbulbs and if you haven’t done so already, switch to energy saving light bulbs.  Did you know that an energy saving bulb only uses 1/10 of electricity compared to regular bulbs?  They also last far longer than regular light bulbs so they give you a cost-saving over time.  You can also dim your lights when they’re on, this saves on energy too. 

For more easy and effective ways to minimise your green house gas emissions, check out our tips in How to Reduce Your Carbon Footprint.

Use Ocean Friendly Skincare, Cosmetics, Personal Care & Household Items

A huge amount of our skincare, sunscreen, makeup and other personal or household items ultimately go down the drain and end up in the ocean. You can help to change that by going greener and cleaner with your choices (which has lots of added health benefits too).  Only buy environmentally friendly beauty and cleaning products, throw out bottles of toiletries that contain phthalates, parabens and sulphates and go out of your way to purchase natural products that don’t contain harmful chemicals. Look at your beauty products and make sure they use natural ingredients because they are far better for your skin as well as protecting the environment. At Edible Beauty, our range of pure, botanical skincare is 100% ocean safe!

If you're getting started on a toxin free lifestyle, you can check out The Ultimate Guide to Toxin Free Beauty  and How to Detox Your Cleaning Regime, which are great resources of information.

Make Sustainable Choices to Vote with Your Dollar

Global fish populations are being rapidly depleted. If you consume seafood, when shopping for yourself, your pet's food or when dining out, take care to only purchase sustainable options. This also goes for saying no to items that exploit marine life, such as products made with coral, shells and shark which are too often used in jewellery, hair accessories and ornaments. 

Refuse, Re-Use & Recycle

This is something that is so easy to do.  Re-use plastic and paper bags, never throw them away, they always come in useful.  Split up your rubbish into plastics, paper and food waste.  Avoid buying heavily packaged items because many plastics don’t decompose and sit on huge landfills for years, polluting the environment.  Much of that plastic waste ends up in the oceans and slowly, those plastics floating on our seas kill marine life.  Fish swallow plastics, choking to death, the same plastics also poison the water and thousands of fish and other sea life are washed ashore, dead or dying every day.

Get Involved in Beach Clean-Ups & Support Ocean Protection Organisations

A massive amount of plastic trash ends up in our oceans every year. Recent studies indicate that at least 5 trillion pieces weighing in at over 250,000 tons are now contaminating and floating through the world’s oceans, with a significant percentage of it washing up onto our coastlines daily and oxygen-depleted dead zones growing as a result of nutrient run out.

It's easy to take a hands-on approach by looking up beach clean ups happening in your local area and joining in (or even just doing your own little trash collection each time you go to the beach). 

There are also plenty of incredible organisations dedicated to keeping our oceans clean and protecting endangered species, which you can support by volunteering or donating to. 

So as you can see, just a few little lifestyle changes can make a huge difference to the world we live in and particularly taking care of the ocean.

Happy Ocean Day!