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While doing your spring cleaning, remember that what we do at home does impact the ocean. Many household cleaners contain toxic chemicals that can harm you and end up going down the drain, getting into local water systems, and eventually ending up in the ocean, harming living things all along the way.
And it's not just our cleaners, other daily habits and decisions affect the health of our beaches and ocean... read on to learn more and discover what you can do to help!
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We would like to thank Wolcott Henry, the NOAA photo library, the U.S. EPA, and Eyewire for the use of their images. We welcome and appreciate forwarding of this action update in its entirety or in part with proper attribution.
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Three for me...
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- Use ocean-friendly cleaners. A little baking soda, vinegar, olive oil, lemon juice and other common household items can go a long way towards keeping your home fresh, clean, and safe. Get some do-it-yourself recipes!
- Don’t make yours a hazardous home! There are many effective non-toxic and “green” alternatives for all household products including paint, pesticides, and cleaners. Find out what may be toxic in your house, how to recycle hazardous wastes, and where to find non-toxic, "green" alternatives.
- Keep the beaches open. The number of beach closings and advisory days in the US topped 25,000 a couple of years ago. You can take simple actions to keep your favorite beach open and safe for swimming! Learn more.
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... and three for the seas
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- Reduce waste while cleaning. Use washable rags rather than disposable paper and before recycling them, use newspapers for cleaning windows and you will benefit the ocean. More info!
- Don’t be a litter bug, on and off the beach. Most beach litter comes from things we do on land. We can keep our beaches clean by reducing the amount of waste we produce and disposing of it properly when we are on and off the beach. Learn and do more!
- Give beaches some wiggle room. It's not surprising that people are drawn to build on beautiful beachfronts, but if our beaches are to maintain that quality that makes them attractive in the first place, they need a little wiggle room to do what they need to do naturally. Find out how you can help!
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