From our giant marine life who call the Southern Great Barrier Reef home, to the turtles who visit our backyard every year and our abundant farmland that feeds the nation, there are many simple ways you can be sustainable in your everyday life, helping us to preserve our natural surrounds for years to come. Remember, every bit counts!
1. Choose reef-safe sunscreen
Did you know there are chemicals in our usual sunscreen that can have harmful effects on our reefs? While exploring the beauty of our oceans and protecting ourselves from the sun’s rays, we’re leaving behind chemicals that can damage and even kill coral, decrease fertility in our fish, form defects in sea urchins, and more.
Luckily, there are several reef-safe sunscreens available at supermarkets and pharmacies, so be sure to opt for one of these before heading out in our oceans.
2. Say no to single use plastics
From bags, to straws, and water bottles, single-use plastic is being found in our oceans with around 8 million ton of plastic making its way to the sea world-wide every year. Carried from inland rivers, all the way to our oceans, these plastics are harming our marine animals thinking they are food, causing starvation and even suffocation.
Simple things you can do include bringing your reusable bags to the supermarket, avoid buying overly package items, opting for reusable coffee cups, recycling your packaging, and picking up litter.
3. Start your own composting
Around half of household waste that is sent to landfill is organic. When this breaks down, it turns into greenhouse gases and carbon dioxide, contributing to global warming. The land used to store this landfill also becomes sadly unusable because of the contamination to the soil.
Instead of sending your green waste to landfill, why not start composting. By composting your fruit and vegetable scraps and your green waste, you’re reducing greenhouse gases and the impacts of land contamination, while making nutrient soil to fuel your trees and gardens, giving us oxygen and a haven for wildlife.
4. Help monitor our Great Barrier Reef
Join us in protecting our reef and get involved in one of the citizen-scientist programs. Monitor the health of the reef with CoralWatch’s Coral Health Chart that uses colour as an indicator of health, download the free Eye On The Reef app to collect valuable information on the reef and marine animals, and purchase your own REEFSearch Field Kit to use while you’re out exploring from Reef Check Australia.
5. Turn your old items into something new
Why not find a new purpose for an unwanted item around your house. Rather than throwing it away and contributing to wastage, hand-make something entirely new. Get creative and turn your old furniture, clothes, and even unused cardboard boxes and aluminium cans, into something purposeful that you can admire for years to come.