For the past few years, we've tried to make New Year's Resolutions related to living our lives more sustainably. In 2018, we resolved to stop using the plastic bags that the grocery and other stores have on hand; we instead transitioned to the use of reusable bags. Two years into that resolution, we have a series of cloth or coated fabric bags squirreled away everywhere we can think of for emergency use: there are at least one in each of our cars; in work laptop bags; in jackets sometimes; in addition to the two Foodland reusable bags we are still using since picking them up in Hawaii in February of 2016. Those things are workhorses!
That 2018 resolution had some relevance to our travel, specifically our second ever trip to sub-Saharan Africa we completed early that year. The previous August, Kenya banned the use of plastic bags in their country with what, to some, seem like over the top punishments for violation of the law. Producing, selling or even carrying a plastic bag can carry penalties of four years in prison or the equivalent of $40,000 in fines.
Think that's too much? I might agree, but let's be serious about this saving the planet stuff if we are going to do it. I can tell you there was no way I was bringing anything into Kenya in February 2018 in a plastic bag. I've read that penalties since the law was enacted have been handed out in far lower amounts than permitted. I've also read that it's affected some small merchants disproportionately. The effects on local merchants are regrettable but, again, if you want to enact change like this I guess you have to be serious about it.
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| Coral reef. Clifton Heritage National Park, New Providence, Bahamas. |
This year, our New Year's Resolution is to change our sunscreen use habits. Don't get me wrong, we still plan to use it. God knows with my super pasty complexion I can't afford to live without it and still see the light of day on a sunny holiday. But it's what makes up the sunscreen that's caused me to throw away all those little bottles of sunscreen I had in reserve.
Last year, the U.S. Virgin Islands passed a law banning the sale, importation or possession of sunscreen containing the ingredients oxybenzone, octocrylene or octinoxate. Why these three compounds? Well, in addition to oxybenzone being a known hormone disruptor in humans and octinoxate potentially mutating genes in laboratory mice, all three have been suspected of causing damage to coral reefs. Oxybenzone appears to be the worst of the three, causing coral bleaching, a process whereby coral expels algae from its tissues, which typically leads to the coral's death.
The Virgin Islands weren't the first location to ban chemicals found in sunscreen. Hawaii, Key West and Palau all appear to have beaten the USVI to the punch. But if they weren't the first to ban these chemicals (and it looks to me like they are the only place to ban octocrylene so far) then they are certainly backing their law with some hefty fines: $1,000 for the first violation and $2,000 for each subsequent one.
I know what you may be thinking: what's the big deal about coral? The answer is it's a huge deal! Coral reefs are critical environments for breeding and protection of many, many marine fish and other life, permitting safe spaces from predators to allow survival of species. No coral = no small fish = nothing for medium-sized fish to feed on = no large fish = no fish for humans. 25% of the ocean's species might start out in coral reefs. 25%!!!!
Corals are also vital to ocean cleaning, particularly balancing levels of nitrogen and carbon in our oceans, as well as providing protection from damaging wave action and erosion for shorelines. If there's no coral, some things are going to start going a little more haywire than they already are in our seas. We need to make sure we protect this stuff.
Corals are also vital to ocean cleaning, particularly balancing levels of nitrogen and carbon in our oceans, as well as providing protection from damaging wave action and erosion for shorelines. If there's no coral, some things are going to start going a little more haywire than they already are in our seas. We need to make sure we protect this stuff.
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| One of the two Foodland reusable grocery bags we picked up four years ago in Hawaii. Still going strong! |
Now, of course, there are some skeptics out there. Some folks have debated the findings of studies released to these chemicals' effects on coral. Some have cast doubt based on the fact that the data obtained comes from observations in laboratories, not in actual coral reefs in oceans. My take here is why not just err on the side of caution. If the studies are wrong, they have caused me to throw away about $15 of sunscreen. If they are right, I'm doing the right thing. Either way, I'm still protected from harmful UV rays.
We just got back from a long weekend in The Bahamas. Those islands have not yet banned oxybenzone, octocrylene or octinoxate but before we went I made sure to buy some new sunscreen without these potentially harmful chemicals. If it truly is dangerous to coral reefs, then it's a good thing I switched because we swam over some on our second day in country.
I'm sure if I'm the only one giving up sunscreen with environmentally damaging ingredients, then my actions alone isn't saving the world. Nothing we do as individuals will unless others participate along with us. But we have to start somewhere. Two years ago, it was plastic bags. This year it's sunscreen. I went, I saw, I switched sunscreen and came back un-burned from The Bahamas. And yes, contrary to the picture below, I did not always stay in the shade, although that certainly helps sunscreen do its job.
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| On the beach in the shade at the British Colonial Hilton, Nassau. Shade plus sunscreen for this beach session! |
How We Did It
For a while now, I've turned to Neutrogena for my sunscreen needs. I know, it's made by a big corporation but it's worked for me. Being brand loyal over here, my quest for sunscreen without oxybenzone, octocrylene or octinoxate got me some Neutrogena Pure & Free Baby Sunscreen. It's SPF 50 and tear free, which is important to me because who wants their eyes to start tearing up when sunscreen gets sweated into your eyes? Not me!
It also comes in 3 oz. bottles which is important since I never want to check a bag ever and 3 oz. passes through security checkpoints with no problem.
The directions on the bottle say to apply it 15 minutes before exposure to sun and to reapply every two hours or after 80 minutes of swimming. I may not have done quite as the bottle directed but I was still OK. Unless they stop making this sunscreen or something tells me this stuff is bad for the planet, this is what I'm going with for the foreseeable future.
There is other evidence, by the way, that warming oceans is much, much more of a threat to the survival of corals than anything else. I'm sticking by my resolution to change my sunscreen use habits anyway.
It also comes in 3 oz. bottles which is important since I never want to check a bag ever and 3 oz. passes through security checkpoints with no problem.
The directions on the bottle say to apply it 15 minutes before exposure to sun and to reapply every two hours or after 80 minutes of swimming. I may not have done quite as the bottle directed but I was still OK. Unless they stop making this sunscreen or something tells me this stuff is bad for the planet, this is what I'm going with for the foreseeable future.
There is other evidence, by the way, that warming oceans is much, much more of a threat to the survival of corals than anything else. I'm sticking by my resolution to change my sunscreen use habits anyway.
