When people apply sunscreens containing petrochemicals, the toxins directly or indirectly make their way into the ocean. The top six of these harmful petrochemical are avobenzone, oxybenzone, octinoxate, homosalate, octisalate, and octocrylene. These active ingredients disrupt coral reproduction, contribute to coral bleaching, and cause developmental deformities. In Protecting our coral reefs, how they’re doing it in Roatán, the latest blog post on womenmindthewater.com/news guest, Haley P. Stein of Inland Ocean Coalition shares how residents and others concerned with the health of the second largest reef system in the world are working to protect the reef from harm, a harm that tourists may be unaware they are contributing to.

Wo(men) Mind the Water (US/Dr. Pam Ferris-Olson) and Treecreate (Australia/Dr. Tracey Benson) may be geographically a world apart and approach storytelling in distinctive ways yet they share common values and objectives. Their focus is water, aquatic ecosystems, and culture. They wish to inspire engagement and action. They agree that storytelling is a powerful way to advocate and move people to take action.

Our planets seems awash with sand with the stretches of sandy beaches along the coastlines and the vast expanses of inland deserts. Sand, however, is not an unlimited resource when a particular type of sand is used to make construction materials and required for the nourishment of beaches eroded by storms and wave action. Point of fact, coastal sand is in such high demand that it is second only to water as the most used natural resource in the world. Women Mind the Water posted A worldwide shortage of sand to explore this topic.

When a juvenile North Atlantic right whale carcass washed ashore in Martha’s Vineyard, MA in January it provided the long-awaited evidence that Maine’s lobster gear is involved in entanglements that threatened the survival of this beleaguered whale. According to NOAA, entanglement and vessel strikes are the primary causes for the decline of the species which is thought to number about 360 with fewer than 70 breeding females.

Sea level rise is threatening the survival of species not only those that live their entire lives on dry land. Three of the five species considered most threatened on the US Endangered Species list are the Florida Key deer, loggerhead sea turtles and Hawaiian monk seals are all threatened by increases in sea level. It is surprising that the latter two are classified as marine animals living the majority of their lives in the ocean.

How hot is it? The answer is no laughing matter because hundreds of sick and dying sea lions and dolphins have been seen on beaches, the result of toxic algal blooms associated with warmer ocean waters and linked to high levels of domoic acid. Domoic acid is a naturally occurring toxin that can make humans and marine mammals sick. The biggest takeaway is that as ocean temperatures changed, there is the potential for more frequent and more extreme harmful implications.

I’ve spent many hours at the beach and building with Lego bricks, I’d never put the two together. Tracey Williams’ book Adrift has given me new eyes and curiosity. But no matter how colorful or whimsical the items found on the beach aren’t always artful. My latest post Stories of castaway plastic on Women Mind the Water looks at Lego, books, and other artistic ways that plastic flotsam is used and other ways to address the problem.

Coral reefs cover an extremely small amount of the Earth’s surface, but support 25 percent of all marine life. People worldwide rely on coral reefs for food resources, protection from the damaging properties of waves, and economic benefits including recreation and tourism. Coral reefs are negatively impacted by changes in water chemistry (e.g., ocean acidification) and increases in water temperature and sediment levels. Because heatwaves are becoming increasingly frequent across the globe and ocean temperatures are rising, it is important to understand how reefs are impacted and promote their survival. This article discusses what is being done.