participate in your local beach or river clean-up event

Sailors and Pacific Missile Range Facility personnel pick up trash during a beach clean-up | Photo by U.S. Navy Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Jay C. Pugh

Cleaning up beaches and rivers will prevent plastics from getting into the ocean. Be a part of this effort by joining your local beach or river clean-up.

If there isn't one in your community, start one! If you are scuba-certified, participate in clean-up dive. Contact your local dive shop to learn more!

reduce, reuse, recycle

Avoid single use plastic like bottled beverages. Bring your own mug to school or work
Bring your own reusable bag when grocery shopping (pro tip: leave it in your car)
Start recycling at home. Use your zip code on Earth911 to check materials accepted in your local recycling facility (US only)
Purchase items with containers that are recyclable or reusable
Start a recycling effort in your school or workplace if there isn't one already. Learn more from Earth911

Think about how much waste a person can prevent from going into the ocean, not how big of an impact a person can be

Management of Municipal Solid Waste in the U.S., 2014

New York
Las Vegas
San Francisco

New York
Las Vegas
San Francisco

Data Source: EPA Advancing Sustainable Materials Management, 2014

pick your seafood wisely

Watch this video by Seafood Watch to learn how your decisions when choosing seafood at grocery stores and restaurants directly impact the health of the ocean. Help protect fish and marine life by purchasing sustainable seafood

Mercury level in seafood | Image by Bretwood Higman, Ground Truth Trekking

Thinking about cooking seafood? Go to Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch to choose the right seafood to buy before heading to the grocery store. Don't know what to buy? Check out recommendations by Seafood Watch.

Choosing the right seafood options will not only save the ocean, it will also protect you and your loved ones from mercury poisoning. NRDC provides an extensive list of seafood to avoid.

Kindly ask restaurants that serve shark fin items (such as soup) to take it out of their menu.

spread awareness

Teaching students about the importance of sharks and the ocean | Image on slide courtesy of Ocean Ramsey, Water Inspired — Teaching students about the importance of sharks and the ocean | Image on slide courtesy of Ocean Ramsey, Water Inspired

Active on social media? Post a picture with caption that explains the wonders and importance of our ocean.

Meeting friends for food? Going on a date? Heading home for the holidays? Spend a few minutes informing them about the ocean. Start with a fun fact to get them interested. Here's a fun fact: did you know that sharks can shed up to 35,000 teeth in their life time?

Don't have stage fright? Find opportunities to speak to a larger audience, such as schools or companies. If you don't have connections to schools, ask your friends, family, or coworkers to introduce you to their children's teachers.

Realize the platform you are given and take advantage of it.

If you are a celebrity, or randomly pulled over for an interview, you've got yourself a big audience. When appropriate, talk a little bit about ocean conservation and how to be involved.

Whether you are an engineer, technical writer, or anyone that is given a chance to demo a function, post a sample code online, etc., it can be about ocean conservation.

If you are a shop owner, you can provide bags made of recycled materials and print out recycling instructions on them. You can also decorate your store with informational artwork about the ocean.

Whatever you do for a living, there is always a way to spread awareness.

“Change your life today. Don’t gamble on the future, act now, without delay.”

— Simone de Beauvoir