The Natural Resources Defense Council has ranked the best beaches in America for avoiding beach pollution, along with the worst.

In the U.S., we take water quality for granted. We don’t think twice about jumping in the ocean no matter where we are, just assuming that it’s safe. But the NRDC has something to say about that–in fact, beach pollution is a big problem.

In a new report released last week, NRDC found that 10 percent of our nation’s beaches aren’t up to snuff. Water quality samples from 3,500 beaches collected last year found that far too many of our nation’s beaches are too contaminated to safely take a dip. In all, 10 percent failed to meet the Environmental Protection Agency’s benchmark for swimmer safety. The 24th annual beach report from the Natural Resources Defense Council confirms that beach pollution that could endanger human health. Massive storm water runoff and sewage overflow are the two main culprits.

“Sewage and contaminated runoff in the water should never ruin a family beach trip,” said NRDC senior attorney Jon Devine. “But no matter where you live, urban slobber and other pollution can seriously compromise the water quality at your favorite beach and make your family sick. To help keep us healthy at the beach and stem the tide of water pollution, our government leaders can finalize a critical proposal – the Clean Water Protection Rule – to restore vital protections for the streams and wetlands that help sustain clean beaches.”

The report rated the best and worst beaches in terms of  water quality. The report comes as EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers in considering taking up action to clean up tributary streams and wetlands hit hard by pollution. The new Clean Water Protection Rule would strengthen the rules for two million streams, lakes, and wetlands that run into large bodies of water, which in turn filter nasty contaminants to our nation’s beaches.

The Best Beaches in America for Avoiding Beach Pollution

1. Alabama: Gulf Shores Public Beach in Baldwin County

2. Alabama: Gulf State Park Pavilion in Baldwin County

3. Alabama: Dauphin Island Public Beach

4. California: Newport Beach in Orange County (1 of 3 monitored sections)

5. Delaware: Dewey Beach-Swedes in Sussex County

6. Florida: Bowman’s Beach in Lee County

7. Florida: Coquina Beach South in Manatee County

8. Florida: Fort Desoto North Beach in Pinellas County

9. Georgia: Tybee Island North in Chatham County

10. Hawaii: Hapuna Beach St. Rec. Area in Big Island

11. Hawaii: Po’ipu Beach Park in Kauai

12. Hawaii: Wailea Beach Park in Maui

13. Massachusetts: Singing Beach in Essex County

14. Maryland: Point Lookout State Park in St Mary’s County

15. Maryland: Assateague State Park in Worcester County

16. North Carolina: Ocean Pier at Main St. and Sunset Blvd. in Brunswick County

17. North Carolina: Beach at Cape Hatteras Lighthouse in Dare County

18. North Carolina: Ocean Pier at Salisbury Street in Wrightsville Beach in New Hanover

19. North Carolina: Ocean Pier at Ocean Blvd. and Crews Ave. in Topsail Beach in Pender County

20. New Hampshire: Hampton Beach State Park in Rockingham County

21. New Hampshire: Wallis Sands Beach at Wallis Rd. in Rockingham County

22. New Hampshire: Wallis Sands State Park in Rockingham County

23. New Jersey: Washington (Margate) in Atlantic County

24. New Jersey: 40th St. (Avalon) in Cape May County

25. New Jersey: 40th St. (Sea Isle City) in Cape May County

26. New Jersey: Stone Harbor at 96th St. in Cape May County

27. New Jersey: Upper Township at Webster Rd. in Cape May County

28. New Jersey: Wildwood Crest at Orchid in Cape May County

29. New Jersey: Broadway (Pt. Pleasant Beach) in Ocean County

30. New York: Long Beach City in Nassau County

31. Virginia: Virginia Beach at 28th St. in Virginia Beach County

32. Virginia: Virginia Beach at 45th St in Virginia Beach County

33. Virginia: Back Bay Beach in Virginia Beach County

34. Virginia: Virginia Beach – Little Island Beach North in Virginia Beach County

35. Washington: Westhaven State Park, South Jetty in Grays Harbor

The Nation’s Repeat Offenders

1. California: Malibu Pier, 50 yards east of the pier, in Los Angeles County

2. Indiana: Jeorse Park Beach in Lake County

3. Massachusetts: Cockle Cove Creek in Barnstable County

4. Maine: Goodies Beach in Knox County

5. New Jersey: Beachwood Beach in Ocean County

6. New York: Main Street Beach in Chautauqua County

7. New York: Wright Park – East in Chautauqua County

8. New York: Ontario Beach in Monroe County

9. Ohio: Lakeshore Park in Ashtabula County

10. Ohio: Arcadia Beach in Cuyahoga County

11. Ohio: Euclid State Park in Cuyahoga County

12. Ohio: Noble Beach in Cuyahoga County

13. Ohio: Sims Beach in Cuyahoga County

14. Ohio: Villa Angela State Park in Cuyahoga County

15. Ohio: Edson Creek in Erie County

16. Wisconsin: South Shore Beach in Milwaukee County

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Image: epSos .de

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The Blue Movement begins with being conscious of the ocean’s vital importance.

United by Blue founder Brian Linton attributes “The Blue Movement” to deepwater explorers like Jacques Cousteau, “an avid diver whose own passion for the underwater world transformed a generation,” and to Dr. Sylvia Earle, “whose groundbreaking research continues to inspire a new generation of scientists and discoverers.”

With Cousteau an obvious pick for inspiring ocean love and research, who are the new Blue Movement pioneers? They’re people like Linton and his United by Blue team that not only sell sustainable apparel and jewelry that contribute and support their cause but they get down and dirty themselves and get cleaning. In fact, For every product sold, UBB removes one pound of trash from oceans and waterways through company organized and hosted cleanups.

With the Western and Eastern Pacific Garbage Patches accumulating more plastic trash daily, (scientists estimate its size as two times bigger than Texas), and beaches worldwide feeling the impact of plastic pollution, United by Blue has their work cut out for them.

We caught up with United by Blue founder Brian Linton to see what he had to say regarding the state of The Blue.

Did United by Blue start back in 2006 as a nautically themed clothing and jewelry line and morph into what it is today?

United By Blue evolved from another company called Sand Shack, which sold a line of jewelry and donated a percentage of sales to ocean non-profits. After working on that business for a few years, I realized that I couldn’t really pinpoint any tangible environmental benefit of my monetary donations. I got tired of feeling disconnected from the good work that my donations were going toward, and I decided to develop a business model that would enable me to do good work myself.

When did it change that it became more focused on grass roots cleanups?

United By Blue was officially founded in May 2010 with a line of nautically-inspired, 100% organic t-shirts, 100% organic canvas bags, sterling silver, and artisan-made jewelry. Instead of relying on donations, for every product United By Blue sells, we remove one pound of trash from oceans and waterways around the world through company organized and hosted cleanups. By associating each purchase with the concrete environmental action of removing one pound of trash, we were able to reap two huge benefits. On the one hand, we’re able to clean up a lot of trash. We’ve built the infrastructure to plan and host cleanups within the company, and so far we’ve hosted over 60 cleanups and, with the help of a few thousand volunteers, have removed over 80,000 pounds of trash from oceans and waterways. But one of the really cool benefits of our business model is that it puts the power to turn the tide of ocean pollution into the consumer’s hands. By associating the sale of every product with a concrete environmental action, the brand resonates with many more consumers than those that simply give donations.

So for every one product sold, you remove a pound of trash from oceans and waterways through company organized cleanups. Who are some of the companies that have sponsored you? Is it their company that comes out to clean up and why is it important to them to be aligned with your cause?

At United By Blue, we do our own dirty work. The company that hosts and organizes the cleanups is always United By Blue, and we never rely on sponsors to make our cleanups happen and never accept donations. We rely solely on the sale of our apparel and accessories to make our cleanups happen.

And while we’re not sponsored by any other organization, we’ll frequently partner with other groups. (The more volunteers, the merrier!) In fact, we have partnered with many of our retailers to host cleanups. At retailer and other partner cleanups, however, we’re still the planning and logistics force behind the operation and always have at least one (and usually multiple) UBB staffers present.

Water protection and conservation is for sure the biggest challenge for our planet. When you do these cleanups with partners, is it eye opening for them to see just how bad things are?

Regardless if we are cleaning up along a river in a bustling city or a quiet beach town, our volunteers have the same reaction: shock. We constantly hear volunteers say “I can’t believe how much Styrofoam is here” or “I will never look at a plastic bottle the same way.” We even made a video of volunteers talking about how many plastic bottles they find. People expect to find trees and wildlife along our waterways rather than disgusting amounts of plastic bottles and bags, cans, Styrofoam, food packaging or tires. Our volunteers are also shocked by some of the weird things we’ve discovered along the way like a stolen car in Baltimore or a 1998 Bachelor’s diploma in Brooklyn.

Our ocean conservation efforts aren’t just confined to our cleanups, we strive to be as ocean-friendly in everyday actions as possible. Our products are 100% organic, which means no pesticides or chemicals entered our waterways because of our products. Instead of shipping our products in plastic, we’ve opted to package our products in bags handcrafted from banana paper fibers, which has reduced plastic in our supply chain by 80%.

Tell us about some other ways you do outreach and education in communities where cleanups are.

We use the cleanups themselves as education vehicles, explaining to volunteers that 14 billion pounds of trash enters our oceans every year and then showing them the amount of bottles, plastic bags, take out containers and debris that litter our shores is quite the eye-opener. After the cleanups, our volunteers become blue movement ambassadors. Many of them return home and permanently change their habits.

After each cleanup, we post pictures and videos with volunteer testimonials to our facebook, website, and youtube to show examples of how much and the kind of stuff we find. For those who can’t make it to the cleanups, we offer a wide range of education opportunities about important ocean issues through our website. Frequently, our t-shirts themselves carry messages of nautical nostalgia as well as well as important ocean issues like sustainable seafood, alternative energy and our popular shark-finning design.

Tell us about the significance of your company’s name.

Whether we live on California beaches or Kansas plains, whether we spend our summers kayaking around the San Juan Islands or relaxing on rolling hills of Appalachia, all of our lives are directly dependent on the oceans. Oceans are the foundations for the eco-system that is planet earth. Geologically, gastronomically, biologically, and psychologically, we all depend on our oceans…we are all United By Blue.

Images: United by Blue

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