50 Ways to Save the Ocean

October 14, 11:51 AMSan Diego Travel ExaminerSteve Perez

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The beaches of southern California are punctuated by the magnificent Pacific Ocean.  These are areas that many of us often take for granted. But perhaps we shouldn't, if we stop to consider its economic impact. One federally led study showed that for just two summer months in the year 2000 alone, beach goers generated more than one billion dollars in revenues in Orange and Los Angeles counties.

Author David Helvarg's hope is that the millions of beach goers who generate billions in revenues in the U.S, can be persuaded to take just a few steps in their daily lives to help preserve a place they love.

"We get so much from the ocean in terms of recreation,  transportation,  trade, protein and medicine, security and just that sense of awe and wonder of being part of something larger," says the author of 50 Ways to Save the Ocean. "At the same time, we've created these cascading disasters that have occurred. We're seeing industrial overfishing from the global seafood market.

"We're taking 80 million tons of living biomass a year. So we're cementing it over, we're overfishing and we're poisoning it with urban and agricultural runoff."

Helvarg's has launched what he calls a seaweed rebellion, a grassroots effort among beach goers to encourage them to help preserve a place they love.

"Going out to the beach is still the No. 1 outdoor recreational activity for all Americans. So you've got to  talk to 86 million people who go there every year who, as i say, get so much out of it that they want to give something back."

He wrote the  book, because many people he knows feel overwhelmed when confronted with such facts. 

"Everything you do in your daily life impacts the ocean," he says. The question is understanding and being conscious of how you have that impact and making choices that will work for the ocean and not against it..."

Helvarg's suggestions range from the simple (packing your trash, keeping pets from chasing wildlife), to a bit more difficult, (going vegetarian and buying locally grown organic produce.)..

It's Helvarg's assertion that people who use the beaches will then pressure lawmakers and the government to protect and restore resources that belong not just to this country, but the world.

"Ninety-seven percent of the living space for our planet is salt water," Helvarg says. "We terrestrials live basically between the groundhog burrows and tops of the trees where birds are nesting, that's maybe 300 feet of living space.  The ocean has life from where turtles are munching jellyfish and too often plastic bags on the surface and where we see sharks with their dorsal fins exposed, to seven miles down the depths of the Marianas. Even today, we're still discovering new species of wildlife out there even as we're putting it at risk."