How You Can Help
There are many ways to take action for the ocean and the environment
Be the best Citizen of the Ocean you can be. Here are some initiatives we've chosen to highlight. Have a look. Get involved. Learn more about citizen engagement for the ocean. Take action!
Take these simple steps today:
Fifty ways to save the ocean
1. Go to the beach
2. Visit an aquarium
3. Eat organic and vegetarian foods whenever possible
4. If you chose to eat seafood make sure it’s sustainable
5. Grow a natural yard; plant a garden
6. Maintain an earth- (and ocean-) friendly driveway. Try a green roof.
7. Reduce toxic household pollutants
8. Drive a fuel-efficient car, car pool, or use public transit
9. Don’t use your storm drain as a toilet
10. Support marine education in our schools
11. Support your local swamp
12. Restore a stream, river or watershed
13. Get married on a wild beach
14. Build or buy well back from the beach
15. Upgrade your house above hurricane code
16. When diving – take only pictures, leave only bubbles
17. Count the fish, then do some light housekeeping for them
18. Join in a beach clean-up
19. Don’t waste water
20. Save energy for yourself and the sea
21. Protect the dunes so they'll protect you
22. Be a blue boater
23. Go slow around manatees, birds and other boats
24. Go to a zoning board meeting
25. Join a marine mammal rescue center
26. Be a marine sanctuary volunteer
27. Create your own wilderness parks under the sea
28. Keep an ocean-friendly aquarium
29. Don’t dump “exotic” plants and animals
30. Don’t shell out for sea turtle products
31. Don’t feed the sharks (or let them feed on you)
32. Go on a whale-watching trip
33. Take your kids to a tide pool
34. Take your kids surfing (or have them take you)
35. Use less plastic
36. Fish for fun, food and the future
37. Find out if your cruise ship is ocean friendly
38. Walk on whatever beach you want
39. Learn your local maritime history
40. Get to know a coastie
41. Don’t buy coral jewelry or (sea) snake oil remedies
42. Be a careful consumer and traveler
43. Talk to your cousin in Kansas about the weather
44. Learn the tides and the navigation charts
45. Join an ocean expedition from your home computer or in person
46. Keep oil off your shore
47. Buy an ocean-friendly license plate or bake a cookie
48. Find joy and solace in the sea and talk about it in your place of worship
49. Vote the coast
50. Be a seaweed rebel
50 Ways to Save the Ocean by David Helvarg & Jim Toomey is a practical guide to protecting and conserving the ocean.
Publisher: New World Library
Publication date: March 22, 2006
208 pages
ISBN-10: 1930722664
ISBN-13: 978-1930722668
Eat Sustainable Seafood:
The Monterey Bay Aquarium has made it easy to choose ocean-friendly seafood wherever you live or travel. Visit their site and click on your state to determine the pocket guide that's right for you.
Carry a Reusable Mug, Refuse a Lid and a Straw:
More than 200 billion pounds of plastic is produced in the world every year and approximately 10% of it ends up in the ocean! In addition to refusing bottled water you can compound your efforts to reduce the waste stream of plastic by traveling with your own mug, skipping the straw, and refusing a lid. Read "Where Does that Starbucks Cup Go?" here.
Leave It Better Than You Found It:
Beach and hiking season is approaching. Leave natural areas and beaches better than when you found them. Bring a small bag and pick up non-compostable trash along the way, or get together with like-minded members of your community by participating in a local beach clean up.
Reduce Water Pollution and Runoff:
There are simple things you can do this spring to reduce water pollution locally and impact water quality globally: use nontoxic household products whenever possible; correctly dispose of hazardous materials; buy your vegetables and meats locally as often as you can (thereby reducing impacts of industrial agriculture); use native plants and natural fertilizers, and be mindful when washing your vehicle, using phosphate-free soap and making it a quick wash.
1. Avoid Buying Items Packaged in Plastic:
Whenever possible, look for produce and other items that aren’t over-packaged. Buy food in glass jars rather than plastic ones, and detergents in boxes rather than bottles. Not only are you reducing the plastic you use, you’re sending a powerful message to the makers of those products that you don’t like plastic packaging.
2. Use Cloth Shopping Bags:
Plastic bags are an eyesore and are dangerous to wildlife. Keep reusable bags somewhere handy – in your car or your bike, or by the front door – so that you don’t forget them when you take off for the market, grocery store, or mall.
3. Skip Bottled Water. Carry a Reusable Canteen:
Plastic bottles are one of the top five most common types of litter found on beaches. Since bottled water is much more expensive than tap water, you’ll also save money doing this, and avoid the possible hazards of plastic toxins leaching into your beverage.
4. Upcycle:
Be creative and think of new uses for old items rather than discarding them or buying new ones.
5. Bring a Reusable Mug When You Order Coffee:
Stow it on your desk, in your purse, car or bag so that you have it on hand when you order or refill your drink.
6. Say "No Straw, Please.":
Straws are one of the top ten items found on beaches – and in most cases, drinking out of a straw is simply not necessary. If you do need a straw, you can get a reusable stainless steel or glass one.
7. Wear Clothing Made from Natural (Not Synthetic) Materials:
The Monterey Bay Aquarium has made it easy to choose ocean-friendly seafood wherever you live or travel. Visit their site and click on your state to determine the pocket guide that's right for you.
8. Avoid Disposable Tableware, or Use the Compostable Kind:
If you must use disposable tableware, get the compostable kind. If there’s no way around it – you can’t get away with washable and reusable cups, plates, or utensils – look for those made of recycled paper, or biodegradable plastics, which can be composted. Be aware that they will not biodegrade in a landfill and must be disposed of in appropriate composting conditions.
9. Don't Just Discard Electronics:
Aim to repair or upgrade your devices instead of buying new ones. Alternately sell gadgets and computer parts, or find a facility at which you can turn them in for recycling.
10. Bring Your Own Container for Takeout and Leftovers:
When ordering takeout or bringing home leftovers, ask if you can get the food in your own reusable container.
World Oceans Day:
World Ocean Day offers free resources and ideas for everyone to take action every month of 2025. Learn more about making ocean a lifestyle, a way of life. Every day is World Ocean Day.
Our Children's Trust:
Our Children's Trust is a game-changing, youth-driven global climate recovery campaign to secure the legal right to a stable climate and a healthy environment for all present and future generations.
Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) | ALL IN:
How much time do you have this week to take action? One minute? Ten minutes? One hour? More? NRDC ALL IN is a movement of people committed to taking real-world action, with their friends and in their communities, against policy attacks on the environment. Sign up and a few times a month they'll send alerts with the best way to help—whether you have one minute, ten minutes, an hour or longer.
Blue Frontier Campaign:
Blue Frontier Campaign is a national leader in providing resources and opportunities to bring citizens who care about the health of our coasts and ocean into the decision making process.
Citizen Science Initiatives
Citizen science supports oceanographic research projects that help expand the understanding of the world’s oceans through technological advancements, intelligent observation and analysis, and open sharing of information.Citizen Science is a term used to describe non-specialist research and data collection carried out by private individuals, foundations and organizations utilizing the power of the internet to collaborate around the globe. There are many innovative projects and ways that anyone can collect data and conduct research using sophisticated yet affordable submersible equipment. Interest in citizen science among curious students young and old not only builds awareness of key ocean issues but also promotes greater commitment by the general public to commit to creating positive change for the future of the ocean. Citizen science is vital, imaginative, innovative, and international.Here we offer some remarkable examples of programs in the United States and around the world that are carrying out research projects, gathering data, and helping scientists answer real-world problems through citizen-led exploration and discovery.
Hearts in the Ice:
Hearts in the Ice is an innovative project launched in 2018 that will create global dialogue and social engagement around climate change in the Polar Regions. In August of 2019, seasoned expedition leaders Hilde Fålun Strøm and Sunniva Sorby will inhabit an historic 20-square meter trapper’s cabin known as Bamsebu. The goal of the project is to show rapid climate change escalation and what we can do to mitigate the effects. Life at Bamsebu will be broadcast and published via Iridium satellite through social media to scientists, school children, adventurers, and interested citizens from around the world and will showcase the citizen science observations made by Strom and Sorby.
Rozalia Project:
The Rozalia Project for a Clean Ocean is dedicated to connecting people of all ages to their underwater world, to inspire them to be part of the plastic pollution solution by using underwater robots and sonar as well as nets to locate and remove marine debris. Rosalia Project is committed to accurate data collection and working with sailors, fishermen, boaters, concerned citizens, schools, municipalities and more to clean up and progress solutionsto the marine debris crisis. Their programs include underwater trash-hunting with ROVs, presentations, STEM-based activities for grades 3 through 12, coastal cleanups and research projects throughout North America.
Surfrider Foundation:
Among its many citizen science initiatives, Surfider has a chapter-run program called the Blue Water Task Force, a water testing program designed specifically to fill in the data gaps left by agency programs to help with resource allocation in areas with the biggest concerns for public health risk. The Blue Water Task Force citizen science program tests approximately 25 surf spots and streams that discharge onto popular recreation sites. The program continues to work with states to improve public notification about chronically polluted sites and to direct available resources appropriately.
Pledge Your Birthday
Many people are looking for ways to donate their birthdays to support causes they care about. Are you thinking of ways to leverage your birthday for good? Consider directing the generosity of your loved ones toward a sustainable ocean with a gift to World Ocean Observatory.
Sample language:
“Instead of spending money on a birthday gift for me this year, you can donate to this amazing organization working toward a sustainable ocean future. World Ocean Observatory is a 501(c)(3) non-profit advocating for the health of the ocean and building an expansive global community of Citizens of the Ocean through their educational services and partnerships. Thank you for contributing to the promotion and conservation of marine resources for the future of all mankind." Create a birthday fundraiser on Facebook by following these steps. Our facebook page can be found at @WorldOceanObservatory.
Sample image:
Feel free to use the image below as part of your birthday campaign. To link directly to our Paypal page, use this link. To share more information about the W2O with your friends and family, point them to our "about us" page.
THANK YOU for dedicating your birthday giving to the W2O! We appreciate your support and are grateful for your dedication to the health of the world ocean.
Make a Contribution to W2O
World Ocean Observatory practices careful fiscal stewardship and pledges to use individual donor gifts, private foundation grant support, and corporate sponsor support responsibly, to best effect, and to highest impact. W2O respects the privacy of our partners, collaborators, supporters, and funders, and promises never to sell or distribute email addresses or other contact information. W2O is a registered 501c3 not-for-profit organization; mission supports environmental action, expansion of ocean literacy education, and sustainability commitments. W2O seeks support from corporate sponsors who have demonstrated commitments to the environment.
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