These 10 simple steps – from reducing plastic usage to choosing an eco-friendly car wash – can help overcome the challenges faced by ocean ecosystems worldwide.

With every breath we take and every drop of water that we drink, we’re connected to the ocean – no matter where we live. The world’s oceans are the lungs of our planet, supplying most of our oxygen as well as a vast amount of our food and medicine. Life on earth simply can’t survive without healthy oceans, and yet marine ecosystems are faced with seemingly insurmountable threats like global warming, pollution and overfishing. What can we do to help? Here are 10 easy steps that we can all take to protect the oceans for World Oceans Day.

1. Use Less Plastic

Plastic is such a big problem for the world’s oceans, it’s accumulating into a disgusting mass of man-made junk in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. The Pacific Garbage Patch is big enough to qualify as the nation’s largest landfill. While recycling is an important step, the best thing you can do to help is simply use less plastic. Carry a reusable shopping bag and water bottle at all times, and choose products that come with less packaging.

2. Eat Ocean-Friendly Seafood

Many species are being overfished into extinction, so it’s important to be aware of how your eating habits impact the ocean and its interdependent marine populations. National Geographic has a Seafood Decision Guide that you can consult to make sustainable seafood choices. Oh yeah, and there’s an app for that, too. The free iPhone app Seafood Watch will help you out when you’re in the supermarket seafood aisle or looking over a menu at a restaurant.

3. Cut Your Carbon Footprint

Global warming is having a devastating effect on coral reefs and other marine life. The oceans are getting hotter and more acidic, leading to a domino effect for all of the species that live within them and depend on them for survival. What can you do about it? Support efforts to fight global warming, especially at the polls. But on a more personal note: cut your carbon footprint. If everyone reduced their contribution to global warming, it would make a big difference. Check out six apps that help you cut your carbon footprint.

4. Mind What You Flush

Whatever you pour down the drain or flush down the toilet could end up in the ocean. Never dispose of paints and other household chemicals at home, switch to non-toxic household cleaners and toiletries and avoid flushing anything other than human waste down the toilet. Triclosan, a chemical in antibacterial soaps, has been detected in dolphins, and the effect of pharmaceuticals on coastal ecosystems is still unknown. Follow FDA guidelines in disposing of unused medications.

5. Cut Chemicals & Contaminants in Your Yard

Even if you live far inland, the pesticides, fertilizers and other substances you use in your yard can have an effect on the ocean. These substances can seep into groundwater or be washed through storm drain systems, causing nutrient imbalances, toxic algal blooms, seaweed overgrowth and many more problems for marine environments. You don’t need these chemicals to have a beautiful yard – the Nature Conservancy recommends planting a native garden, which requires less water and fertilizer than non-native plants, making your own compost to use as fertilizer and following Audubon Society guidelines for a ‘Healthy Yard.’

6. Choose Green Car Washes

It may seem like washing your car at home is more eco-friendly than taking it to a car wash, but that’s not necessarily the case. The runoff from your car goes straight into storm drains, where it’s typically swept off into ocean-bound waterways. Dirty water from washing your car not only contains harsh detergents from the products you use, but also gasoline, oil, exhaust fume resides and heavy metals. Federal law in the U.S. requires commercial car washes to drain this waste water into sewer systems instead, which is much safer, but some car washes go even further than that, filtering and re-using the water.

7. Support Ocean Conservation Groups

There are dozens of marine conservation groups in need of donations and volunteers to clean up pollution, carry out crucial research, protect threatened species and fight global warming, which is speeding up ocean acidification. Pick your favorite out of national and international organizations like Oceana, Greenpeace and the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, or find a local group that helps marine ecosystems in your area.

8. Avoid Products That Put Endangered Marine Life at Risk

There’s no doubt that coral is beautiful, and it makes for stunning earrings and mantelpieces – but leave it on the ocean floor where it belongs. Don’t purchase goods made from threatened marine species, including real tortoiseshell accessories and anything made from marine animals or animal parts. Demand for these items leads to poaching.

9. Be Smart About Seaside Recreation

A day by the sea is incredibly relaxing, whether you’re lounging in the sun, boating or taking a dive to the ocean floor. But be sure that your visit doesn’t have a negative impact on the natural settings that you love. Look but don’t touch when snorkeling and scuba diving, avoid taking natural souvenirs home with you and be careful where you set your anchor in open water. Stay off fragile sand dunes, which are crucial for preventing erosion, and always dispose of your trash.

10. Clean Up the Beach

Integrate a little community service into your next trip to the beach by bringing an extra trash bag to pick up some of the litter that’s bound to be scattered in the sand. Or, go one step further and participate in organized beach clean-ups in your area. If you don’t live near the sea, you can still help. Because litter often travels a long way before it gets to the ocean, picking up some of the plastic bags, aluminum cans and other trash in parks and roadways near your home can make a big difference.

Photo: Dawn

The post 10 Easy Ways We Can Protect the Ocean for World Oceans Day appeared first on EcoSalon.

These 10 organizations work tirelessly to protect the world’s oceans and all of the life they contain from overfishing, global warming and other threats.

Global fisheries are on the verge of collapse, global warming is raising ocean temperatures, coral reefs are dying at an alarming rate and runoff from farms and neighborhoods is fouling the seas with fertilizers and other pollutants. For Ocean Week here at EcoSalon, we want to show our love of oceans and how we can’t live without them – we need serious action to protect them from these threats and many more, and we need it now. Thankfully, we have these 10 inspiring ocean conservation groups that are influencing public policy, drumming up public support, researching solutions, and even going out there and stopping illegal activities that harm wildlife.

Blue Ocean Institute

The Blue Ocean Institute doesn’t just work to preserve the world’s oceans and all of the biodiversity they contain, it also aims to inspire a love for the ocean in all of us. Engaging the public with science, art and literature to foster a deeper connection with nature, the Blue Ocean Institute provides an invaluable reminder of what we’re trying to save in the first place. Founder Dr. Carl Safina believes that focusing on the positives rather than the negatives is more likely to inspire change. “When people defend their fishing, their fishing gets worse; when they defend their fish, their fishing gets good.”

Oceana

The largest international organization focused solely on ocean conservation, Oceana focuses on a limited number of highly specific campaigns that can achieve measurable outcomes, like reducing turtle death from scallop fisheries and petitioning retailers to stop selling unsustainable marine animal products. In addition to accepting donations that help them achieve these goals, Oceana enlists a vast team of “e-activists” referred to as “Wavemakers” who send out letters and petitions in support of conservation initiatives.

Sea Shepherd Conservation Society

Not one to shy away from controversy, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (SSCS) takes bold action in its fight to protect oceans and marine life. Starring on Animal Planet’s reality TV series Whale Wars, Sea Shepherd uses direct and sometimes violent means to stop whaling vessels from engaging in species-endangering whaling and fishing practices. Their methods may be controversial, but they work: Sea Shepherd has helped to decrease the number of whales killed each year, and they get lots of attention for the plight of these beautiful creatures.

Greenpeace

Known for a wide range of environmental activism, Greenpeace is among the most successful organizations working in the area of oceans, whales and seafood. Greenpeace has set three goals for the next three years: continuing to change seafood choices made at a wholesale level by supermarket retailers, convincing governments and the United Nations that marine reserves are critical to our oceans’ future, and ensuring that the Obama administration uses their diplomatic leverage to close the loopholes that enable commercial whaling.

Ocean Conservancy

Educating the public and advocating for policy changes are the core of Ocean Conservancy’s work to prevent activities that threaten oceanic and, by extension, human life. In addition to organizing an annual international ocean clean-up, Ocean Conservancy has partnered with a popular multi-platform campaign called One World, One Ocean that aims to inspire millions of people worldwide to join the movement to restore and protect the world’s oceans. Its four top priorities include restoring sustainable American fisheries, protecting wildlife from human impacts, conserving the world’s most beautiful oceanic spots and reforming government for better ocean stewardship.

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

This non-profit research and higher education facility is dedicated to marine science, with five departments focusing on ocean life, coastal oceans, climate change and deep ocean exploration. Because it’s training and employing some of the world’s top marine researchers and scientists, Woods Hole is considered one of the most influential ocean conservation organizations in the world. These people are on the forefront of the battle to protect the oceans, with three large research vessels carrying scientists out into the field to study erosion, water circulation, pollution and other events that impact marine life.

Blue Frontier Campaign

Made up almost entirely of individual citizen activists, the Blue Frontier Campaign is all about grassroots (which it refers to, naturally, as “seaweed”) actions from a local level up to an international level. Bringing together a wide variety of voices, Blue Frontier organized a four-day Blue Vision summit in 2009, drawing hundreds of leaders in ocean conservation to Washington, D.C. to develop strategies for protecting oceans. It also organizes regional meetings, produces public education campaigns and has published books including 50 Ways to Save the Ocean and The Ocean and Coastal Conservation Guide.

Scripps Institute of Oceanography

UC San Diego’s Scripps Institute of Oceanography is one of the oldest, largest and most influential centers for oceanic research, education and public services in the world. Located in La Jolla, California, Scripps is another group on the front lines of the battle to protect the oceans, training and deploying highly educated scientists to study biological, physical, chemical, geological and geophysical aspects of the ocean. Scripps heads up the world’s largest privately-funded network for observing greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, and also runs the Center for Marine Biodiversity and Conservation (CMBC).

Marine Fish Conservation Network

The largest national organization dedicated to promoting the long-term sustainability of marine fish, this conservation network is a coalition of hundreds of individual local and national conservation, fishing and scientific organizations. Coming together to share in this common goal, the organizations work to advance national policies that promote marine biodiversity. By adding the voices of fisheries and fishermen across the United States to the sustainability discussion, the Marine Fish Conservation Network aims to come up with workable goals that can end overfishing and prevent the decimation of threatened species.

Deep Sea Conservation Coalition

The Deep Sea Conservation Coalition is not just one organization, but dozens. This alliance of over 70 smaller international organizations bands together to influence legislation that can protect and preserve the oceans, like calling on the United Nations General Assembly to place a moratorium on trawling the bottom of the high seas to protect vulnerable species and ecosystems. In just a short period of time, they have already convinced a number of nations to commit to protecting the deep seas from the harmful impact of fishing. The organizations that are a part of the coalition include Greenpeace, the Natural Resources Defense Council and Oceana.

Photo: josh-n

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Beneficial bacteria and other microorganisms that make the world go round.

Our planet is home to about 5 trillion trillion bacteria, a number that seems too huge to contemplate. That may sound scary to people who think of bacteria as nasty little bugs that just want to make us sick, but the fact is, tiny organisms like bacteria, fungi and protists are absolutely essential both to the health of our bodies and to that of the entire planet. Unseen and under-appreciated, these organisms play a huge role in marine food chains, the growth of forests, climate change and our own digestive systems.

Lactobacilli in our digestive systems

We’ve got ten times more bacterial cells in our bodies than cells of our own. In fact, fully 10% of our dried body weight is made up of bacteria, and most of that isn’t the harmful sort that causes infection, illness and tooth decay. Scientists are only just beginning to explore what they’re now calling the “human biome,” and they haven’t yet identified most of the bacteria that our bodies host. But we do know that over 500 species of bacteria take up residence in our intestines alone, and these microorganisms may just be the most important ones in our bodies.

It’s hard to narrow down just which species of gut bacteria is the most important, but there’s one that stands out for its sheer bad-bacteria-fighting power: Lactobacillus acidophilus. This acid-resistant bacterium colonizes the lining of the small intestine, and also covers the lining of the vagina, cervix and urethra. Producing lactic acid, L. acidophilus helps our bodies fight virulent strains of E. coli, Staphylococcus aureas, Salmonella, Candida albicans, Listeria and other types of bacteria that we really don’t want getting comfortable in our bodies. This is exactly why you should be eating foods that contain live probiotics, like yogurt.

Marine bacteria that produce oxygen

Likely the most abundant photosynthetic organism on earth, Prochlorococcus is a genus of tiny marine cyanobacteria with an especially high concentration of chlorophyll. In fact, though you’ve probably never heard of it before, this microorganism may be the most plentiful species on earth, with 100,000 cells found within a single milliliter of sea water. Amazingly, these microscopic bacteria account for an estimated 20% of the oxygen in the Earth’s atmosphere, so they provide a lot of the air we breathe. Prochlorococcus are also among the beneficial marine microbes involved in oceanic nitrogen cycles, fixing nitrogen in the water so that the entire food chain can flourish.

Mycorrhizal fungi help feed plants

Nearly every plant growing on this earth is host to parasites called Mycorrhizal fungi. Forming an extensive network of pseudo-roots attached to the plant’s actual roots, these fungi can increase the plant’s water and nutrient uptake between 10 and 1,000 times. Plant roots can’t always take up certain minerals own their own, especially in alkaline soil, but the fungi can access the minerals and make them available to the plants.These fungi can also help protect plants that are rooted in soils with high concentrations of toxic metals, probably because the metals bind with the fungi instead of being taken up by the roots of the plants.

Bacteria that create rain and snow

Microbiologists recently made a very surprising find: living microorganisms that get blown into the sky, including bacteria, fungi, diatoms and algae, can be used by clouds as precipitation starters. One researcher at Montana State University discovered that bacteria was highly concentrated in the innermost core of hail stones, learning that the bacteria allowed the ice to form at warmer temperatures than normal. This discovery will likely spur more research into just how big of a role microbes play in weather cycles.

Protists at the bottom of the food chain

Mostly unicellular, protists have evolutionary histories that stretch back at least two billion years. While some protists aren’t seen as beneficial – like the genus Plasmodium, which causes malaria – these microscopic organisms are a critical part of marine food chains. For example, diatoms, a type of protist, serve as the main base of the food chain in both fresh water and ocean habitats, supplying calories to larger protists which are then eaten by small animals, and so on.

Moss bacteria that help forests grow

Ancient trees aren’t just beautiful examples of the natural world. They’re also hosts to species of moss that contain crucial bacterial which are twice as effective at “fixing” nitrogen as the species that live in the soil. Highlighting the importance of maintaining old-growth trees, especially those in coastal temperate rainforests, a study on these cyanobacteria found that they take nitrogen from the atmosphere and make it available to plants in a highly efficient way that few other organisms can match. That means that old growth trees covered in moss can actually help the forests around them grow.

Bacteria and fungi that break down organic matter

Decomposition is a complex process involving hundreds if not thousands of different organisms, like earthworms, millipedes and maggots. But behind the scenes, it’s really the bacteria and fungi that do most of the work turning dead organic matter, from wood to human bodies, into nourishing soil. Consuming the dead organic matter for energy, bacteria help to recycle nutrients like nitrogen and carbon back into the life cycle.

Microbes that help regulate climate

Aside from seeding clouds with precipitation, microbes play another role in weather and climate: storing and producing even more carbon dioxide than all of the earth’s trees and plants. Microbes help the world’s soils store more than 2.5 trillion tons of carbon, while photosynthetic bacteria in the oceans pump 55 billions of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere every year – eight times the amount we humans produce through fossil fuel burning and deforestation.

But as the Arctic tundra starts to melt as a result of climate change, microbes have been able to flourish in a previously inhospitable region, breaking down organic matter and releasing even more carbon dioxide. Scientists are still studying just how this will affect the pace of climate change.

Photo: Colin-47

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Called “the Inconvenient Truth” for the oceans, The End of the Line asks viewers to imagine a world without fish and then proceeds to show them exactly how commercial fisheries are decimating hundreds of wild species that we take for granted as food.

This is the film for people who don’t respond to dry, measured environmental messaging focusing on intangible future effects of current fishing practices. This film uses powerful footage and dramatic music to punch the viewer where it hurts: in the stomach.

The film asks viewers: if you like that fish and chips dinner, or that succulent tuna sushi, or watching your children play in the surf without worrying that the water will cause open sores on their delicate skin, or perhaps enjoying a little snorkeling on your annual vacation, you better sit up and pay attention – now.

In addition to the usually documentary tools – graphs, charts, statistics, and scientists explaining the effects of overfishing – the film is full of exciting, cinematic moments of man (and they are men) vs. fish. Knives flashing and nets heaving in the blood soaked waters of the Mediterranean, as fish are literally beaten to death. It’s gruesome, to be sure, and effective.

There’s also plenty of nourishment for the brain in the form of statistics illustrating just how much fish is caught and eaten worldwide:

Did you know?

The number of long lines set globally every year is enough to circle the globe more than 550 times.

1/10 of what we catch goes overboard every year as waste.

It takes 5 kilos of anchovies to produce 1 kilo of farmed salmon. This practice takes protein directly out of the mouths of poor people in distant countries that depend on this fish for their nourishment – all so middle class people can treat salmon as an everyday commodity food, instead of as the special treat it should be.

The 4,000 ocean reserves that exist cover less than 1% of the ocean.

Bluefin tuna quotas are double what they should be to avoid collapse and triple what they should be to allow a recovery. Even these quotas are ignored. The bluefin situation is so dire that the Japanese company Mitsubishi is stockpiling frozen bluefin in preparation for a collapse.

One bluefin fisherman-turned-whistleblower hangs out on the docks and estimates catches and compares them to what is declared by countries.

He illustrates the crushing immorality of the situation by declaring: “An infamous minority of people are making millions and millions of dollars by decimating a species.”

And it’s definitely just a few people making money. The filmmakers profile artisanal, traditional fisherman who are being squeezed out by the big boats. One fisherman in Africa made $6 from his catch on the day that the filmmakers spoke to him. $4 of those $6 must go to fuel. He has $2 left to feed his family. He’s considering leaving Africa to immigrate to Europe.

If all of this sounds like a downer, it is. But I think it’s necessary to shock some people to get their attention. The best part of the film is the point it makes that, unlike many environmental problems, this problem is eminently solvable. We just need to give the fishing stocks a break and allow them to recover.

All the problem requires is political will and the cooperation of consumers, industry, and governments. We can collectively set quotas and enforce them, we can get restaurants and grocery stores to stop selling overfished species, and we can change our eating habits.

We can eat more tiny fish (they are better for you anyway!), follow the recommendations of the various NGOS like Seafood Watch and Blue Ocean Institute, and we can return to treating wild fish with the reverence it deserves as one of the last wild foods available to humans.

Debuting at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival and playing in hundreds of cinemas, aquariums, and universities across the U.S. and the United Kingdom, this film by Rupert Murray was based on the book by award winning British journalist Charles Clover. Screenings are being scheduled in North America at a variety of colleges, and special venues. There’s also a Fish “˜n Flicks restaurant screening tour taking place between Jan. 10 and 24 in and around New York, Washington D.C., San Francisco, Chicago and San Diego. The general North American screening schedule is here.

Check back often for updates, as dates and participating restaurants in the Fish “˜n Flicks tour are still being finalized. A few highlights: Yankee Pier in Lafayette, Calif. on Jan 12, Sea Rocket Bistro in San Diego on January 14, Blue Ridge in Washington D.C. on January 15, Fishtail in New York on January 18, Oliveto in Oakland, Calif. on January 20 and 21.

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