Coral Reefs and Clean Sunscreens by @TheAustralianPoet

And so here we are again, nature and its beautiful balance fighting once more against intruders of the sea. But is it ignorance that is the real enemy here?

We are creatures of nature. And on the gorgeous beaches across this magnificent planet, all the beautiful humans frolic in her playground. We are at one with her, swimming in her oceans, worshipping her mighty sun. Drawn to the warmth, we bask beneath euphoric rays, as healing as they are harmful.

And beyond the blue, lies an ocean bed below shallow waters, where sunlight pierces through. The Zooxanthellae Algae living inside the coral, feeds a world of colour in this underwater wonderland, such a delicate and fragile natural phenomenon. Mother Nature in all its glory, and yet I fear that we are failing her. 

Living in these conscious times, priding ourselves on environmental conservation and natural health, it seems that we have let it slide. Chemicals and toxic ingredients have made their way into our daily lives, into our skin care products and into our sunscreens.

And it’s a choice I suppose, what we dare rub into our own precious skin. But do we really get to choose what we feed into our oceans? Should we really stop and think before we dive into the deep blue sea, coated in the slick armour of our sunscreens?

We buy products with labels we don’t bother to read, baffled by the fine print, an indecipherable list of chemical ingredients. Oxybenzone and Octinoxate amongst them, their nanoparticles drastically disrupting coral growth and reproductive cycles, ultimately leading to the dreaded coral bleaching.

And if the question is, do we care enough, then I think we do.

But we have a responsibility like no other, to take the time to do the research. If we look to the ‘Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology’ https://link.springer.com/journal/244 and other informative journals alike, we can educate ourselves about the choices we should make in order to save our precious reefs. 

Know that you can make a difference. We need clean sunscreen and fresh attitudes, a world to give back to our children.

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