50 Ways to Save the Ocean is a handbook which offers 50 actions which, directly or indirectly, have a great impact on the health of the oceans. This practical guide includes action steps and resources for any level of participation, from mindful home maintenance to global environmental activism, from reducing toxicrunoff to keeping oil rigs off our shores. Despite the handbook format, with cartoons by Jim Toomey, the book conveys the beauty, magic, and necessity of oceans.
This personal and sometimes whimsical book addresses daily choices we can make to contribute to the health of the seas: what fi sh we should and shouldn’t eat; how and where we vacation; maintaining storm drains and driveway run-off; protecting our local water tables; proper diving, surfing, and tide pool etiquette; supporting local marine educa- tion.The actions and organizations listed are almost entirely American, but the structure of the handbook and the suggestions are still useful in Canada. Many of the environmental campaigns in fact already “play” on both sides of the border in the Pacifi c Northwest. For this review, we’ve picked and adapted ten top ac- tions that we think Watershed Sentinel readers should be, can, and are already doing. Check your record against this sample of the 50 actions, and then get the handbook for use in a wide variety of situations!
ENJOY
1. Find Joy and Solace in the Sea
The spiritual connection we feel with the ocean is a sacred trust. “After all, our bodies, like the planet, are 71 percent saltwater and our blood is as salty as the sea… Along with moments of transcendence and joy, the ocean can also provide solace, giving you a sense of of being part of a larger whole, even when great parts of your own soul have been torn away. In looking from the tide pools to the stars, you can’t help but recognize patterns of creation that refl ect a profound sense of connectedness. This is the stuff of religions and hope.”
2. Be an Ocean Friendly Boater
The number of recreational boats is getting overwhelming, and it’s time to make sure those boats lower their impact. Get a direct-inject two stroke engine and some oil absorbent rags for inevitable spills; (better yet, get a kayak!); use marina pump outs for your sewage; keep that plastic aboard and return it to land; use only legal bottom paints, and collect the sandings and debris for disposal away from the tide.
3. Eat Seafood That’s Healthy and Sustainable
Eating the right fi sh protects your health; eating the wrong fi sh may leave the plate empty for the next generation. You can download the Sierra Club of BC’s handy wallet-sized Citizen’s Guide to Seafood at http: //www.sierraclub.ca/bc/programs/marine/index.shtml Complain to the managers of stores and restaurants that carry endangered species like Orange Roughy, or west coast rockfi sh or farmed (Atlantic) salmon which is a spe- cies unsustainable for West coast farming.
CLEAN
4. Maintain an Ocean Friendly Driveway or Green Roof
Create surfaces that help rainwater soak back into the earth and reduce pollution. Water quality begins to dete- riorate when more than 10 percent of a coastal watershed is covered in impermeable surfaces like the pavement of driveways and asphalt roofs. One inch of rain on a typical driveway will create 900 gallons of runoff water, contami- nated with oil and other waste, to enter local streams and the oceans. Best practise is to use gravel, crushed seashells or woodchips on the drive. Choose a living roof which has a waterproof layer and then soil and plants.
PROTECT
5. Live a Reasonable Distance from the Beach
In the US, the Federal Emergency Management Agency predicts that, within 50 years, erosion and rising sea levels from climate change will destroy one out of four homes built within 500 feet of the sea. Best practice is to live well above sea level, protected by islands or dunes, near the beach rather than on the beach, and in current housing stock rather than newly created sprawl.
6. Work to Create Marine Wilderness Parks
Marine scientists have suggested since the 1990s that as much as 20 per cent of the ocean needs to be set aside in no take zones (marine protected areas) to conserve biodi- versity. That means no consumptive uses of the sea: no fi sh- ing, no harvesting of sand, shellfi sh or kelp, and no drilling for oil and gas. To work with organizations on these issues in Canada, contact: Georgia Strait Alliance, Orca Pass International Stewardship Area http://www.georgiastrait.org/ 201 – 195 Commercial St., Nanaimo, BC V9R 5G5 Ph: 250-753-3459 Fax: 250-753-2567 Email:gsa@georgiastrait.org Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, BC Chapter, Marine Spaces Campaign http://www.cpawsbc.org/marine/index.php 410 – 698 Seymour St., Vancouver, BC V6B 3K6 Ph: 604-685-7445 Fax: 604-685-6449 Email: info@cpawsbc.org
7. Use Less Plastic
So much of the plastic in our everyday lives, from food wrappers to Styrofoam pellets, winds up in the ocean, sometimes as lines that wrap or entangle or suffocate birds, sometimes as toxic remnants. The Algalita Research Foun- dation found that plastic dust inparts of the North Pacifi c weighs six times more than zooplankton, the tiny animals at the base of the marine food web. When consumed by fi sh, this toxic plastic dust becomes part of the food web, fi nally reaching humans as well. Researchers believe that plastic in the ocean may be one of the most alarming and least known environmental stories of our time. Recycle, use a cloth carry bag, leave the packaging at the store, and tell everyone why.
LEARN AND SHARE
8. Keep Oil Off the Shore
In BC, and Canada, that means working on your lo- cal politicians to get them to stand fi rm in support of BC’s offshore Oil Moratorium. The Living Oceans Society is one of the prime organizations in this campaign, and they need your help. See www.livingoceans.org Living Oceans Society, PO Box 320, Sointula, BC, Canada V0N 3E0 Phone: 250-973- 6580 Fax: 250- 973-6581 Email: info@livingoceans.org
9. Don’t Exploit Sea Creatures for Vanity
From coral jewelry to shark liver oil, a range of deco- rative and health products are creating profi table margins while depleting the ocean’s natural bounty. More than 100 million slow-breeding sharks are killed each year for their fi ns, used in a tasteless but expensive high status soup popu- lar in China. Dietary supplements such as Vitamin A, found in shark liver oil, can be acquired by eating dark green leafy vegetables. Corals are living animals, not decorative rocks. Become an eco-savvy shopper and beachcomber, knowing which marine products are at risk.
10. Be a Seaweed Rebel
A marine grassroots move- ment of concerned citizens – a seaweed upsurge – can help fi ght for healthy, bountiful oceans. Through organizations and citizen actions we can build a broad and effective voice for our living seas.
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