Help Prevent Damage to Our Oceans

Every year, Americans use enough plastic bags to cover Mount Everest many times! This guide talks about how we pollute the ocean, and the environment, unknowingly, and provides innovative (and sometimes money-saving) solutions.

Make sure every sink and toilet in your house is plumbed reasonably well to avoid any damage to your plants or the environment.
Support budget measures as needed to upgrade municipal wastewater treatment systems to improve pollution control. If your house is served by a septic system, make sure it is inspected and pumped out every three years.
Never dump chemicals onto soil or roads, or down storm drains.
Use pesticides and herbicides sparingly or not at all. Tolerate a few bugs (many can actually help your garden) or use natural pest controls. Crowd out weeds, smother them, or pull them by hand.
Carpool! This can also help you take the fast lane to work or school, as well as conserve gasoline. You might consider buying a hybrid car, which uses regenerative braking and saves gasoline and money. Also, you could use mass transit, such as trains or buses, which allow you to do things such as reading the newspaper or actually enjoy your coffee which you couldn't do peacefully while driving. Normally, smokestacks can lead to haze or acid rain, which harm the oceans.
Buy the right type of light bulb. Fluorescent light bulbs are probably the best. They give off light well, are quite cheap, and qualifie you for a tax rebate in certain states. Not a bad way to save that extra money! Also, fluorescent light uses very little electricity, which burns less coal. Less coal leads to less pollution in the ocean.
Use natural chemicals. Paints, soaps, nail polish, and other chemicals can destroy the ocean's life in the most gruesome ways! Some chemicals actually come in natural forms.
Try hand sanitizer! It works just like washing your hands, but doesn't send gruesome soap chemicals down the drain. However, soap may clean better, and is favored over hand sanitizer. If you are going to use soap, do not use excess soap and learn about the ingredients in the soap.
Get your own bags, instead of using plastic bags. If every family in the United States used five bags a week, the United States uses over 1.8 billion plastic bags per year; enough to cover Mount Everest many times over. And that's just plastic bags in the United States in one year.
Volunteer at a local wildlife preserve located near a body of water to help out on a cleanup effort. Your work will be appreciated.
11. Dispose safely of mercury items such as old batteries and thermometers. Give them in to your local mercury disposal center to make sure they are disposed of properly and efficiently.
Dispose of used motor oil properly. Find out if your city or town has a recycling program, or ask if local auto shops can help.
Dispose of used batteries, computers and electronics and fluorescent light bulbs properly.
Know what is hazardous waste and find out about local collection and recycling programs in your area. Do not dispose of paint, solvents, cleaners, pesticides or other chemicals down the drain.
Consider donating your time or money to a non-profit organization whose mission includes ocean conservation.
Assist and encourage your local, state, and federal goverment's efforts to reduce water pollution and provide sustainable management of ocean resources.
Use the internet to locate information about how the choices you make at stores and restaurants can make a difference - don't buy unsustainably harvested seafood!
Snip the plastic six pack holder, animals get it stuck around their necks and die. Don't just snip them into circles though, that's just as bad. Cut the circles in half.
Hold on to your balloons. Many of them land in the ocean and loose their color. Animals think they are jelly fish, swallow them, and die.

Always use chemicals carefully and watch what you're doing! There are always alternatives in the great world of science just waiting to be discovered.