Planet Earth Is Blue And There's Something You Can Do

Today is World Oceans Day! We here at Ocean Alliance have made ocean conservation and appreciation – as well as cetacean research – our core mission. After all, our planet is 71% ocean. The oceans are crucial to the survival of not only the human race, but our entire planet.
Here’s a few things you can do on World Oceans Day – and beyond – to make a difference on our blue planet.
-Ditch the plastic. Try the “better bag challenge”- try to make it an entire year without taking a single-use plastic bag from a store. Keep reusable bags in your car, or in your purse, backpack, or briefcase. Look on labels of cosmetics and toiletries for microbeads, and only purchase ones without polymers as ingredients. Drink tap or filtered water in a washable drinking container instead of purchasing bottled water. 8 million metric tons of plastics end up in our oceans every year – do your share to reduce the impact.
-Take a walk or a bike ride instead of driving. Drilling in or near the ocean for fossil fuels not only results in devastating oil spills like 2010’s Deepwater Horizon disaster, but even at its safest, it affects marine species with acoustical sensitivities.
-Help organize or take part in a neighborhood cleanup! Even one hour is a big help. If you’re here in Gloucester, our own staffers at Ocean Alliance clean up every Saturday morning with Clean Gloucester. Plastic litter that gets picked up won’t become part of our ocean plastics problem!
– Consider donating to worthy causes. We won’t toot our own horns too much, but here at Ocean Alliance, we are dedicated to conserving the ocean – through toxicity testing (for instance, we provided the data for The Cove), STEM and robotics programs like SnotBot and our robotics club, and outreach programs like whale adoptions and whale watch partnerships. If you donate to us, you donate to a local non-profit with local, caring staff.