Soaps for ocean lovers: A summer dive into conservation
Our new scent is here!! Organic Olive Oil Soap Bar with notes of Orange & Lemon will leave your skin moisturized and smelling fresh without harming marine life 🥰
All our soaps are handmade, with all ingredients organic & responsibly sourced.
No preservatives
No parabens
No toxins
No palm oil
No animal testing
No plastic waste
LAI Organic Soap Bars are made with respect for the human body and nature.
The ergonomic packaging of our soaps allows you to carry our soap bars in your every adventure without producing plastic waste nor leaving toxins, parabens and other harmful chemicals in the oceans and other natural habitats.
Did you know the following chemicals found in your cosmetics are environmental pollutants?
Oxybenzone (benzophenone-3)
Ethyl paraben
Octinoxate (octyl methoxycinnamate)
Butyl paraben
Octocrylene
4-methyl-benzylidene camphor
Benzyl paraben
Triclosan
Methyl paraben
Phenoxyethanol
According to The International Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI), since 1 January 2020, a law came into effect which bans the sale and use of all sunscreen products containing the mentioned ingredients above [1].
My experience diving with locals in Crete, Greece: Underwater coral desert & South-Pacific species
In the photo above, you see a broken and bleached coral found at the depth of 30 meters in the eastern part of the island of Crete in Greece. Note that was the only coral seen!
After diving with locals for the past ten years, you really get to experience the dramatic effect of the damage we have caused to the marine ecosystem.
But that is no news...
For too long have we known (and yet in many cases continue to ignore) the damage we have been doing to our oceans as either a direct or indirect consequence of coral bleaching, overfishing and pollution. As for the effects of human activity, 'in the transition to 1.5°C of warming, changes to water temperatures are expected to drive some species (e.g., plankton, fish) to relocate to higher latitudes and cause novel ecosystems to assemble' [2]. Nonetheless, seeing a familiar landscape change so vividly in the duration of a single decade is shocking.
The absence of coral life - particularly so in the Aegean Sea - is striking. Along with what was once an alien fish to see, the red lionfish from the South-Pacific, known for its venomous fins, the only fish you see along with the urchin Diadema setosum (pictured below).
The lionfish eat a whole variety of native fishes. They move prey from the native fishing dock i.e. the snapper (bottom left photo) and the dusky grouper (bottom right photo) that feed on similar small body-fish. Moreover, lionfish have a predatory effect on the smaller fish which humans do not fish but perform important ecological services on the reefs. [3]
What experts and researchers are recommending from Florida, who were experiencing invasive lionfishes groups back in 2015, is more human consumption. The only way lionfishes can be fished is by scuba divers hunting them.
Useful Coral restoration initiatives to know about
Coral Gardeners A group of young individuals coral 'gardening' in French Polynesia.
Allen Coral Atlas Innovation driven Conservation based on Monitoring Corals with Satellites
The International Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI)
How can you & I help the marine ecosystem?
By being more aware about our behaviour towards it, starting with being curious. Ask yourself: What kind of life exists in the ecosystems near you and how is it affected by human activities (e.g. overfishing, plastic pollution)..?
I hope this short summer story will inspire you to come forward with your own climate emergency experience and share it with us in an effort to become conscious of our human footprint on the ecosystem.
Sources
[1] The Republic of Palau Bans Sunscreen Chemicals to Protect its Coral Reefs and UNESCO World Heritage site https://www.icriforum.org/the-republic-of-palau-bans-sunscreen-chemicals-to-protect-its-coral-reefs-and-unesco-world-heritage-site/
[2]IPPC https://www.ipcc.ch/sr15/chapter/chapter-3/
[3] Divers Fight the Invasive Lionfish | National Geographic https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzaeYzAC8Ro
[3] Britannica https://www.britannica.com/list/10-of-the-worlds-most-dangerous-fish
[4]Yapıcı, Sercan. (2018). Unusual Observation of the Alien Sea Urchin Diadema setosum (Leske, 1778) in the Aegean Sea: Recent and Recorded Occurrences. Thalassas: An International Journal of Marine Sciences. 34. 10.1007/s41208-017-0060-z.
[5] Allen Coral Atlas https://allencoralatlas.org/
[6] Coral Gardeners https://coralgardeners.org/