You probably already know that we don’t need much of an excuse to celebrate the ocean here at Atlantic Blankets; we’re surrounded by it and inspired by it every day. But on Saturday 8th June we’ll be celebrating a little more than usual, and we think you should too, because it’s World Oceans Day, a global opportunity to honour, help protect, and conserve our world’s shared ocean.
As we’ve been thinking about what to do to mark the occasion we thought we’d share our ideas with you, so we came up with this list of 5 things you can do to celebrate World Oceans Day, and the big blue sea we love.
1. Organise or join a beach clean
If, like us, you’re lucky enough to have the beach on your doorstep, then check to see if there’s a beach clean arranged already that you can join in with, and if there’s not then here’s your chance to organise one! Surfers Against Sewage have a handy guide on their website to organising your own clean, even just heading to the beach with your family for a 2 minute beach clean will all make a difference, visit #2MinuteBeachClean for more info.
And if you don’t live near the beach, don’t worry you can still get involved. Can you organise a street litter pick or head to a local river for a clean up? Sadly rubbish is an issue everywhere and the more we remove from our environment the bigger the difference we make.
2. Reduce your own plastic use
This is one action to last a lifetime. This World Oceans Day why not make a pledge to change the way you use plastics. If you haven’t already made the swap, buy yourself a reusable coffee cup, the Atlantic Blankets team love these ones by ashortwalk and Frank Green. 38 million plastic drinks bottles are thrown away each day, so buying a refillable water bottle is more important than ever in the fight to reduce this number, try our favourites Klean Kanteen. And there’s so much more you can do, reusable shopping bags, zero waste and refill stores, saying no to straws, it’s never been easier to make swaps that will lessen your impact on the ocean.
3. Spend time in the water
This is one we’ll be wholeheartedly embracing this World Oceans day! There is increasing evidence that spending time in or on the water can contribute to a reduction in levels of anxiety, stress, and depression. The Atlantic Blankets team can quite often be found starting the week off with a board meeting in the Atlantic ocean and if you don’t surf, even a paddle can completely alter your mood and set your day off the right way!
4. Support an ocean charity
Becoming a member of an organisation like Surfers Against Sewage, or signing up to support a charity like The Wave Project or Sea Sanctuary, a mental health charity rooted in the concept of ‘blue health’, will cost you less than a takeaway coffee a week but will help these charities continue their work protecting our oceans, and in turn our wellbeing. It’s why we’re proud to say we have joined the SAS 250 club.
5. Spread the word on social
The World Oceans Day campaign is asking us all to get involved on social and spread the word, using the hashtag #TogetherWeCan🌊 . To join in you just have to take a photo of yourself, or a group of people, with your arms in the air – cropped so that your hands touch the upper corners of the photo frame, then share away. You can also join in with the team from SAS and wear blue for World Oceans Day this Friday 7th June, dig out your best blue clothes and pop over to the SAS website to donate £1, simple!
So there you go, 5 things you can do to celebrate this World Oceans Day, we’d love to hear what you get up to and what you’re doing every day to protect our oceans.