prevention

The NOAA Marine Debris Program is proud to announce our “Marine Debris Prevention” federal funding opportunity. This opportunity provides funding to support eligible organizations for activities to prevent the introduction of marine debris into the marine and coastal environment. Applicants requesting funding for projects to address a specific marine debris issue, and that will actively engage these groups in hands-on personal participation, are welcome to apply. Projects focused on efforts to prevent marine debris from entering the environment through targeted behavior change will be given priority.

Interested in staying up to date on marine debris resources to incorporate into your classroom? Sign up for the NOAA Marine Debris Program’s new Educator Newsletter on our homepage.

It’s that time of year again—students and teachers are headed back to school. Whether you’ve been back in class for a few weeks or are just gearing up for the start of school, you’re likely feeling those end-of-summer blues. Thankfully, the NOAA Marine Debris Program has lots of resources for classroom use that can help make school days interactive and fun while encouraging students to be part of the solution to marine debris!

The NOAA Marine Debris Program is proud to announce that our 2018 Marine Debris Calendar is available for download!

This year’s calendar features artwork from the 2017 “Keep the Sea Free of Debris” art contest winners. Our annual art contest aims to get kids thinking about how they can keep debris out of the ocean and the calendar serves as a daily reminder that we can all do our part to help! Keep your eye on our website for information on this year’s contest, which starts October 16^th.

If you live away from the coast and are far from the nearest beach, you’ve probably thought “marine debris sounds bad, but it doesn’t have anything to do with me— I don’t contribute to it.” Well think again! Even if you don’t live in close proximity to the ocean or Great Lakes, your actions can still have an impact on marine debris. How? To put it simply, it all comes down to one word: watersheds. So what exactly is a watershed? 

Summer is in full swing and we should all find some time to enjoy it whether you’re off for the season, taking a well-deserved vacation, or simply taking full advantage of your weekends. Summer’s a great time to get outside and spend some time with friends and family, but let’s make sure we’re enjoying the great outdoors responsibly.

There are lots of ways to enjoy the summer season while still being kind to the earth. Remember to follow the “3Rs”—reduce, reuse, recycle—whenever possible and make responsible choices when you can. Enjoy the sun and warm weather and make sure you do it debris-free.

It’s summer and that means a few things: warm weather, vacations, and… hurricane season. Hurricanes are among nature's most powerful and destructive phenomena. According to our partners at NOAA’s National Weather Service, an above average Atlantic Hurricane season is predicted for 2017, and a near- or above-normal season is predicted in the Central Pacific. While you’re making sure that you’re well-prepared, think about the potential for your things to become marine debris. Storms bring high winds and rain, strong waves, and storm surges that can damage or destroy homes, boats, and property; put you and your family at risk; and have the potential to create a lot of marine debris.

Spring has finally sprung throughout much of the country and for many, that means it’s time for some spring cleaning. It’s a great feeling to get rid of some of your extra stuff, but make sure you think about the environment while you’re clearing some extra storage space. “Out with the old, in with the new” isn’t always the rule of thumb. Avoid adding that old stuff to the waste stream by thinking about how it could be repurposed. Have some old clothes? Hold on to them and use them as dust cloths or rags, which are always handy around the house. There are endless ideas online for how to reuse or repurpose lots of items. Or, donate them instead of ditching them in the garbage can. Have some things that simply must be tossed? Make sure to recycle when you can.

By: Amanda Laverty, Knauss Fellow with the NOAA Marine Debris Program

Earth Day is just around the corner and it’s the perfect time to get involved and support efforts working toward a clean environment and healthy planet. We want to remind ourselves to make these efforts throughout the year, so Earth Day is a great time to start. This year, let’s challenge ourselves as consumers to make better daily choices so that we can collectively lessen our impact on the planet! It only takes a few consistent choices to develop new sustainable and earth-friendly habits. Here are a few easy and effective ways you can choose to reduce your daily impact and make a world of difference:

1. Bring a bag. Remember to bring reusable bags to the grocery store or for any other shopping activities to reduce consumption of disposable bags.

Like the rest of the country, the Pacific Northwest is unfortunately not immune to the impacts of marine debris. Luckily, there are many efforts in this region to address the marine debris issue, one of which focuses on the power of art.

Washed Ashore, an organization based in Oregon, works to prevent marine debris by raising awareness through art. After collecting debris on beaches and then cleaning and sorting it by color, the Washed Ashore group creates large and intricate sculptures made exclusively of marine debris. By building and displaying these sculptures, which mostly feature animals impacted by debris, this project aims to reach a broad audience to raise awareness of our connection to the debris issue and to inspire changes in our habits as consumers. Many of these sculptures now travel around the country as part of traveling exhibits, reaching broad audiences throughout the nation.

You’re likely familiar with the phrase “April showers bring May flowers.” April is often associated with rainy and wet weather, but unfortunately it doesn’t just bring flowers, it also brings marine debris. With rains and melting snow and ice, trash that has found its way to our streets, storm drains, shorelines, etc. is flushed out into our ocean, Great Lakes, and waterways. Some of this trash may have even been trapped within the snow for months before being swept away with melting runoff.

So what do we do about this springtime debris? We can work to pick up this trash before April showers have a chance to wash it into our nearby waters! If you haven’t already, subscribe to our e-newsletter, which lists cleanup events happening around the country each month.