Kathryn C. Kelchner, a marine science teacher from the Chesapeake Bay, knows that lecturing isn’t the way to inspire kids to become passionate about taking care of our waters.
So for New Year’s Resolution she took a new approach. She hung a bulletin board by the bathroom hallway, where students tend to loiter, avoiding going back to class. She posted 32 simple New Year’s resolutions for the ocean; all small things that kids and adults can do to have a positive impact on our water.
The simplicity of her New Year Ocean’s resolution bulletin board inspired us. We had to share her resolutions and we’ll be adopting as many as we can this year to ensure fishable, swimmable, drinkable waters continue to be a prime part of life in San Diego. This year I will…
- Make sure every single piece of trash is removed from the sea, starting by organizing local beach cleanups
- Reduce my use of pesticides & fertilizers – including bug spray
- Refuse single-use plastics
- Turn off car engines while waiting in lines to reduce idling time
- Use native plants in my landscaping
- Avoid plastic microbeads in body and face washes
- Pick up a piece of plastic litter during my day
- Unplug electronics like (toasters, TVs and computers) from outlets when not in use
- Try to use less disposable plastics (by substituting sandwich baggies for reusable containers and thermoses for water bottles) to reduce the amount of plastic waste that ends up in our ocean
- Use the Seafood Watch guide to inform my purchases of seafood. This will assure that I’m not encouraging overfishing of at-risk populations
- Become an advocate for one endangered or affected marine species and learn all about them. Then I will tell as many people as I can
- Learn about how ocean acidification affects turtles, sharks, right whales, walruses, polar bears, reef coral, or shell builders
- Enjoy and share in the life and beauty of the ocean, especially with other kids
- Skip the Straw! This will help reduce plastic use and keep it from ending up in the ocean
- Help take care of the beach
- Reduce my carbon footprint
- Be careful of marine life while on my boat
- Buy ocean-friendly products like jewelry not made of coral or sea turtle shell
- Go to the beach and take only pictures; leave only footprints
- Not wash my car in the street
- Pick up after my pets
- Be careful of what I wash down the drain
- Use natural soap and cleaning products
- Use cloth shopping bags
- Cut up monofilament fishing line, string, and rope before discarding, and NEVER let balloons drift off
- Prevent air pollution by not using aerosols
- Drive less and bike more
- Not flush medicines down the drain or toilet
- Not throw trash in waterways
- Not use antibacterial soap. Its most common ingredient, triclosan, is not completely removed during waste-water treatment and is toxic to marine organisms
- Take up SCUBA diving
- Not feed the seagulls off the pier
How many of these will you resolve to do in 2015?
