You make a difference! By taking a few simple actions, you can reduce your contributions to pollution,greenhouse gases, and climate change. Even small changes can help to protect coral reefs and help to keep them healthy.
Friends of the reef pick up their trash wherever they are. Wind and rain carry trash to the beach and into the ocean.
Keep the beaches clean:
- Take your family on a beach cleanup to pick up all the trash that you find.
- Care for the coral. Be careful to never step on or break off pieces of coral.
- Become a Reef Ranger in a National Park near you.
- Leave shells or other animals from the reef ortide pools where you find them. Every organism is an important part of the reef food web.
- Tell your friends what you have learned about coral reefs.
Fish smart—sustainable fishing practices:
- Only catch what you need.
- Eat species on the sustainable seafood list.
- Throw the small fish back so they can have a chance to reproduce. That will mean more fish for everyone in the future.
- Leave the largest fish because they release the most eggs.
- Don’t harvest plants and animals during their spawning time, give them a chance to produce more offspring.
- Don’t take plants and animals from protected areas. These areas are safe havens where they can reproduce and grow.
- When you buy fish or shellfish from the store, make sure they are from a stable fishery and caught with sustainable methods.
Ways to help every day:
- Reduce how much freshwater you use to keep more water in streams and underground aquifers for other plants and animals.
- Reduce, reuse, and recycle your trash.
- Calculate your carbon footprint and think of ways you can decrease it. Even small changes in our daily activities can reduce our contributions to carbon pollution.
- Turn off lights when you’re not using them. Use less electricity and reduce greenhouse gases.
- Walk, bike, carpool, or take the bus. Drive less and reduce greenhouse gases.
- All storm drains lead to the ocean; don’t pour any chemicals down them.
- Explore how climate change will alter other ecosystems and national parks.
SOURCE
http://www.teachoceanscience.net/teaching_resources/education_modules/coral_reefs_and_climate_change/how_can_you_help_coral_reefs/
http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/coralinfographic-large.jpg
