As weather gets warmer and the world begins to safely open back up, both beach town locals and tourists who are looking for a dose of vitamin sea will be flocking to our world’s beaches. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, spending time at the beach is one of the fastest-growing outdoor activities in the United States. Beach days and vacations spent near the ocean are often synonymous with relaxation, adventure, and fun-in-the-sun, but if we’re not careful, our visits can harm the beaches and oceans that we love. Sadly visitors can damage fragile coral reefs and tide pools, worsen plastic pollution, and harm coastal and marine wildlife. Local anti-tourism sentiments are also on the rise worldwide, as beaches become more and more crowded.
That said, being an earth-friendly, socially responsible traveler is more important than ever. So with that goal in mind, we’ve compiled a list of tips to help all of us visit our planet’s beautiful beaches more sustainably, by supporting communities and preserving nature during our travels. We hope that these simple strategies will help you to be even more eco-friendly, culturally-aware, and locally engaged while planning and taking your next beach trip.
– Before You Go –
Being an eco-traveler starts as soon as you decide to take a trip. From the hotel you book, to your transportation method, to your packing list, you can encourage sustainability through your purchase power.
Plan a Sustainable Trip
Choosing a Destination/Getting there: Staying closer to home is the most eco-friendly option when it comes to travel. Staycation anyone? However if you do choose to fly, Alternative Airlines makes it easier to select a more eco-friendly flight/fleet/airline.
Do Your Research: Learn about the area that you will be visiting by watching documentaries and reading novels and books about the beaches, wildlife in the area, local community cultures and history. Be sure to review your favorites on Goodreads and share them with friends and family who may also want to visit the location.
Accommodations: It is also important to choose eco-friendly lodging. A good place to start your search is on Trip Advisor where you can search thousands of green hotels and BnBs that are members of their GreenLeaders Program.
Magnify Your Impact: Ask at your hotel about their sustainability policies and take a sustainability tour of your hotel. Let them know that you chose their hotel because of their sustainability efforts and include photos and descriptions of their sustainability efforts in your online reviews.
Pack for a Sustainable Trip
Pack light and only what you need. Every pound adds up when it comes to air travel, so the more your bag weighs, the more fuel will be required to transport it to your destination.
Bring your reusables with you. I always pack a reusable shopping tote and my Net Zero Co plastic-free lunch bundle on trips to help me reduce my waste. The set includes a stainless steel lunch box, bamboo cutlery set, stainless steel sauce containers, and beeswax wraps – basically everything needed for an eco-friendly beach picnic. For my reusable bottle, I love Happy Earth’s selection.
While the most eco-friendly decision is to utilize the beach gear that you already have, if you are in the market for a new beach bag, we love ours from Remember Me Green because it is made out of a recycled New York City billboard. For women’s bathing suits, we love Sustainable Goddess, a women-owned small business that turns plastic reclaimed from the ocean into sustainable swimwear.
Magnify Your Impact: Let the company where you bought your sustainable gear know that you’re traveling with it – tag them when you post, and encourage your community to make sustainable shopping choices.
Be a Low-Impact, Low Environmental Footprint Traveler
Offset the Carbon Emissions from Your Trip: Offsetting your carbon footprint is a great way to green your travel. If you are flying, one option is to pay the offset fee when you purchase your airline ticket. You can also use CarbonHero to offset your emissions from your entire trip. Another option is to donate to an NGO you like to fund the planting of trees. We usually go with the latter, and make a donation to Engage Globally, to support tree planting programs in rural Northern Ghana.
Magnify Your Impact: Share your offsetting with your traveling companions or post online about where and how you chose to offset. By sharing, you can role model carbon neutral travel.
Offset Your Plastic Use: As much as we try to avoid it, some plastic waste will inevitably be created when we travel. The good news is that we can offset travel-related plastic waste by supporting businesses that are working to combat plastic pollution. Every purchase made from 4Ocean, for example, supports the brand’s mission to pull one pound of trash from our ocean, rivers, and coastlines. We also really love Sand Cloud, Happy Earth, and Net Zero Co., as all of these companies create eco-friendly products and give back to the environment with each sale.
– While You Are There –
Pay For Use
Start your visit off right by always paying to enter the beach park and for parking when there is a fee system in place. We know a lot of people believe that these places should be free to all, and while we wish this was possible, parks and conservation areas really need all the fees they can get in order to maintain trails, remove trash, and protect wildlife. Your contribution matters!
Magnify your impact by:
– Donating beyond the entrance fee
– Spending time at the visitor center, and talking with staff about the area and their work
– Writing a note on the conservation area’s social media page or via email to show your appreciation for their efforts to protect the beach and to make it accessible to all
Always Follow the Posted Rules
Typical rules at beaches include staying on all boardwalks and trails, never removing sand or sea shells from the area, refraining from feeding birds or any other wildlife, and disposing of your trash properly. Be sure to always follow these general guidelines and respect local regulations as well.
Other Important Conservation Practices to Keep In Mind:
– NEVER walk on sand dunes. They are critical habitat for many endangered and threatened birds.
– Follow laws about how far stay away from wild animals. These can vary from 20 feet to 50 yards depending on if the animal is on land or in the water and whether or not they are endangered. Different space requirements are in place for different species, so familiarize yourself with general guidelines and local laws as well.
– Pack out what you packed in. Oftentimes trash cans at popular beaches overflow with debris before they are able to be emptied. Excess trash from overflowing cans is often carried into our oceans. By taking your trash with you and disposing of it elsewhere, you are helping to keep our beaches clean and our oceans trash free.
– Use reef-safe sunscreen with a zinc oxide or titanium dioxide base to protect fragile coral reefs and other coastal ecosystems including sea grass, kelp beds, and tidal pools. You can easily check if your sunscreen is reef safe by looking at the active ingredients on the bottle to be sure that the formula does not include oxybenzone or octinoxate, the two chemicals that have been shown to hurt coral. Sunscreens with nanoparticles and other possible reef-harming ingredients, including avobenzone, octocrylene, and homosalate should be avoided as well.
Just as you should when visiting any outdoor space, it is best to take a “Leave No Trace” approach when visiting the beach in order to reduce your impact.
When You See Litter, Pick It Up
In addition to properly disposing of your own waste, you can also pick up any litter that you see. Each time you pick up trash, you are helping to curb the global plastic pollution crisis and stopping debris from entering marine ecosystems.
Magnify Your Impact: Schedule time to take eco-walks! At least once a day, bring your reusable bag and your gloves and pick up trash on your walk. This is a great way to explore the neighborhood that you’re visiting while also helping the planet. Encourage others to do the same by posting selfies of you picking up trash/the litter that you collected with the hashtag #ecowalk.
Support Local Conservation Organizations
A quick Google search will allow you to find local organizations that protect the beach you are visiting – this might be a marine mammal rescue facility, a ‘friends of’ group, or waterkeepers organization. You can then help support these organizations by following them on social media, commenting on their posts to thank them for their work, or making a donation.
Magnify Your Impact: Looking to give a gift to a loved one during or after your travels? Make a donation to a local community or conservation organization in their name! This is a meaningful, memorable, and impactful gift.
Volunteer in the Community You Are Visiting
Research local organizations that work to protect the beach, and check to see if they are hosting any service events during your trip. Popular beach-based volunteer events include beach clean-ups, tree plantings, or invasive species removals. Taking part in these events is a great way to help out the community and environment, learn about local conservation efforts, and meet new people!
Learn About & Help Conserve Local Wildlife
All beaches are habitat for native plants and wildlife, however, in many locations some of these species are endangered or threatened. There are many apps that you can download to learn about the wildlife that you may encounter on your beach vacation including eBird, iNaturalist and Seek. Through your use of these apps, you may also have the opportunity to collect data that could contribute to citizen science projects and help protect wildlife.
Remember, a critical component of wildlife conservation is habitat preservation. Be sure not to disturb protected habitat areas and to use a “no touch” approach for wildlife including plants when visiting any natural habitat.
– When You Get Home –
Show Gratitude
Thank the people who keep the beach safe and clean. Drop a note online or by email to the lifeguard group, the local city waste workers, your tour/excursion guide, or anyone who made an impact on your trip. Be sure to also leave reviews on Yelp/Google of businesses that helped/impressed you during your stay. Positive reviews are so important, especially for community organizations, conservation groups, and small businesses that are trying to grow a clientele.
Beaches are critically important and need our protection. They provide habitat to plant and animal species, protection to coastlines from powerful storms, economic benefits to coastal communities, and opportunities for recreation to millions of people. We hope that you found these tips helpful and that you will consider these tips when planning your next trip to the beach! How do you make your beach trips more sustainable? Let us know below!
