Occasional Trash Roundup
Bring a small trash bag with you on occasional strolls around the neighborhood or nearby park. 80% of the trash that ends up on the ground makes its way into our waterways, and every piece of trash you pick up helps. It'd be unrealistic to ask you to do this all the time, but once a month can't hurt, right? I get sick of seeing the trash that ends up on our neighborhood block, which is enough to motivate me!
Use River-Safe Soap
Bring river-safe soaps on camping trips and river trips. The majority of soaps have chemicals in them that are highly toxic to aquatic life. But today, many alternatives are free of phosphate, surfactants, triclosan and anti-bacterial ingredients. Oars.com has a great list of eco-friendly soaps that will get you clean without harming rivers.
Reduce Your Microplastic Impact: Opt for Eco-Friendly Sunscreen and Use a Laundry Cora Ball
Microplastics are harmful to rivers and they're everywhere. They're in most of the products we use at home, they're in our clothes, and they're in all of the river toys we love so much. While they seem inevitable, there are some simple ways we can reduce our microplastic impact and protect our rivers. As a river runner myself, I found that these two are the easiest to implement and they make an difference.
Use Eco-Friendly Plastic Free Sunscreen: Microplastics are intentionally added to sunscreen formulas as cheap alternatives to more expensive ingredients. SooperGoop does a good job of eliminating most many harmful chemical ingredients and protecting you from the sun. If any one else has a recommendation for a sunscreen they've used please comment below!
Get a Laundry Cora Ball: Every time you do your laundry your clothes release hundreds of thousands of microfibers that eventually end up in our waterways. Cora balls catch anywhere from 25-60% of the microfibers that naturally shed from clothes in the wash. You just throw it in your laundry and it does the work for you! They range from $20-40 and make a difference. Earth Hero sells the one I have!
Happy National Environment Day!