5 reasons for ocean optimism - Sailors for the Sea

5 reasons for ocean optimism

 December 29, 2015  | By: Oceana

We’re counting down the last 5 days of 2015 with our top 5 reasons for #OceanOptimism in 2016!

1. We taught 2,419 boaters about ocean conservation every day this year. That’s 882,935 people. 

many sailboats, lake full of sailboats

2. Congress agreed on something, and that was banning microbeads! The pesky, tiny plastic microbeads secretly hiding in your toothpastes and face scrubs will be no more.

microbeads, banned

(Image by 5Gyres, courtesy of Oregon State University)

3. 25,068 students learned about ocean science while having fun outside the classroom with our KELP program!

Kids protect the ocean, learn about ocean conservation

4. D’amy Steward, our awesome West Coast ambassador travels the country sailing in her laser and teaching sailors about plastic pollution.

Laser sailing, clean regattas, sailors for the sea, D'amy Steward, US Singlehanded Junior Championship, Mission Bay, San Diego

5. Clean Regattas grew big time! We had 189 events participate this year, and 39% of them were international.

Volvo Ocean Race, Clean Regattas,

(Photo by Matthew Cohen)

5. (again) A late comer to the list, but we are so excited we had to share. Sailors are making headlines around the world about their efforts to protect the ocean with this recent NY Times article: Sailing Rallies to Save the Seas.

Rio de Janeiro, Guanabara Bay, 2016 Summer Olympics

An aerial view of Rio de Janeiro’s severely polluted Guanabara Bay, site of the sailing events during the 2016 Summer Olympics. CreditMarcelo Sayao/European Pressphoto Agency.