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10 Brands Sunscreen to Try that Are Not Killing Coral Reefs

September 13, 2019
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We all use sunscreen to protect ourselves from the harmful ultraviolet rays. The pollution in the oceans is tragically killing coral reefs and destroying the homes of the marine life living there.

Hawaii passed a bill on May 1, 2018 that bans sale of sunscreens with dangerous chemicals to reefs? NOAA states sunscreens that contain oxybenzone and octinoxate are indeed harmful to coral reefs. EHP as well confirms that sunscreen chemicals may be causing coral bleaching.

According to a report by Marine Life, a marine conservation NGO, there over 82,000 kinds of chemicals from personal care products that have made their way into the world’s oceans.  And one of the most dangerous contributor is sunscreen. In 2015, it was estimated that around 14,000 tons of sunscreen are ending up in the world’s coral reefs and causing irreparable damage.

Scientists have conducted many types of research in the past decade investigating how the tons of sunscreen that wash off our bodies into the ocean each year affect marine life. According to their studies, chemical sunscreens threaten the entire marine ecosystem.

One of the common misconceptions we initially think of if we talk about biodegradable sunscreen is the bottle. We often think that these body products are contained and packed in a biodegradable container. No, it is not about the bottle, but rather, the sunscreen itself.

To help you find sunscreen that are reef safe we did extensive research on the internet and we come up with the following list that is eco-friendly sunscreen brands on the market in 2019.

Our top choices sunscreen are:

Table of Contents
  1. Thinksport SPF 50 Sunscreen
  2. Babo Botanicals SPF 30 Clear Zinc Lotion
  3. Suntegrity Natural Mineral Sunscreen
  4. All Good SPF 30 Sport Sunscreen Lotion
  5. Badger SPF 30 Unscented Sunscreen Cream
  6. Manda Organic SPF 50 Sun Paste
  7. Mama Kuleana Waterproof SPF 30 Reef-safe Sunscreen
  8. Stream2Sea SPF 30 Mineral Sunblock
  9. Raw Elements SPF 30 Certified Natural Sunscreen
  10. Kokua Sun Care Hawaiian SPF 50 Natural Zinc Sunscreen

Thinksport SPF 50 Sunscreen
Photo: Amazon

Thinksport SPF 50 Sunscreen

This sunscreen has an ideal score on EWG, and doesn’t contain any organically dangerous synthetic compounds. It is water-safe for up 80 minutes and is retained effortlessly by your skin.

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Babo Botanicals SPF 30 Clear Zinc Lotion
Photo: Amazon

Babo Botanicals SPF 30 Clear Zinc Lotion

The zinc recipe is sea safe and adequately shields your skin from sunburn. This sunscreen is additionally sulfate-, paraben-, phthalate-, aroma , and color free.

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Suntegrity Natural Mineral Sunscreen
Photo: Amazon

Suntegrity Natural Mineral Sunscreen

This unscented and veggie lover sunscreen is ideal for individuals with touchy skin and children. It is free of parabens, phthalates, propylene glycol, mineral oil, manufactured colors, sulfates, nanoparticles and substance UV safeguards, and contains natural green tea extricate, cucumber concentrate, and pomegranate seed oil.

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All Good SPF 30 Sport Sunscreen Lotion
Photo: Amazon

All Good SPF 30 Sport Sunscreen Lotion

This non-nano zinc oxide-based sunscreen has a lightweight water-safe recipe and is wealthy in natural green tea, rose hips, and buriti oil for repairing harmed skin. Ensure your skin is very much saturated before applying.

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Badger SPF 30 Unscented Sunscreen Cream
Photo: Amazon

Badger SPF 30 Unscented Sunscreen Cream

This sunscreen is water-and sweat-safe for up to 40 minutes and contains saturating fixings like sunflower oil, beeswax, seabuckthorn, and Vitamin E.

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Manda Organic SPF 50 Sun Paste
Photo: Amazon

Manda Organic SPF 50 Sun Paste

This sunscreen has a thick glue consistency, which enables it to remain on your skin for a significant lot of time even after you’ve been in the water. It contains thanaka oil, or, in other words cancer prevention agents, is hostile to parasitic, against bacterial and has hostile to maturing properties. The catch? It gives you a tad of a white tint as opposed to rubbing into the skin.

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Mama Kuleana Waterproof SPF 30 Reef-safe Sunscreen
Photo: Amazon

Mama Kuleana Waterproof SPF 30 Reef-safe Sunscreen

This Maui-based organization strives to guarantee that its items, together with the bundling, are alright for the earth. Their sunscreen contains a great deal of natural fixings like coconut oil, almond oil, and shea butter.

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Stream2Sea SPF 30 Mineral Sunblock
Photo: Amazon

Stream2Sea SPF 30 Mineral Sunblock

Protect your skin and marine existence with this mineral-based sunscreen that contains a ground-breaking cancer prevention agent mix of green tea, tulsi, wakame, and olive leaf. Its dynamic fixing is non-nano titanium dioxide.

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Raw Elements SPF 30 Certified Natural Sunscreen
Photo: Amazon

Raw Elements SPF 30 Certified Natural Sunscreen

The dynamic fixing in this sunscreen is non-nano zinc oxide. It is biodegradable, reef safe, and water-safe for up to 80 minutes.

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Kokua Sun Care Hawaiian SPF 50 Natural Zinc Sunscreen
Photo: Amazon

Kokua Sun Care Hawaiian SPF 50 Natural Zinc Sunscreen

This zinc-based sunscreen is improved with nearby Hawaiian spirulina, plumeria remove, nectar, kukui nut oil and other feeding oils that dampness and alleviate the skin.

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Remember to double check the sunscreen ingredients and the label – each of our decisions matter to save the coral reefs!

Still not convince about choosing carefully your sunscreen for your next trip? Check our post about 5 Things to Know About the Sunscreen and How to Protect the Coral Reef.

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Related Posts
Become Environmentally Friendly

10 Painless Ways to Become Environmentally Friendly

August 17, 2018
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After watching films like Forks Over Knives and Vegucated I started researching more about environmentally friendly and vegan based diet.
Based on the World Health Organization (WHO) dietary factors account for at least 30% of all cancers in western countries. Researchers have also discovered that people who avoided meat are much less likely to develop cancer disease.

With so many people /over 7.5 billion people/ sharing limited resources on our planet is important and people have to do whatever they can to help conserve and protect the environment.

How to Become More Environmentally Friendly

To help you get started on going green we put together just a few ideas on how to be environmentally friendly.

According to Wikipedia,

“Environmentally friendly, environment-friendly, eco-friendly, nature-friendly, and green are marketing claims referring to goods and services, laws, guidelines and policies that inflict reduced, minimal, or no harm at all, upon ecosystems or the environment.”

Here are some of the practically effortless ways you can become environmentally friendly and show more care to our earth.

people ate less meat
Photo credit: nature.com

Reduce your meat consumption

Adding alternative food, such as more eco-friendly protein sources, to your diet — beans, nuts, and soy products are a few options. Today more and more young people are adopting a vegetarian and vegan lifestyle. But if you are struggling with switching your diet and reducing meat consumption, a good start would be flexitarian diet, where you reduce meat consumption to two or three days a week. This is a painless way to consume less meat and improve your health, reduce your carbon footprint and protect the environment.

Dispose of Chemicals Correctly

There are many different types of hazardous waste, such as ignitability, corrosivity, reactivity, toxicity. And some chemical products can be hazardous after they’ve been disposed of.
Hazardous chemicals like paint, oil, ammonia and other chemical solutions when disposed openly, can cause pollution in the air and water. The polluted air and water can have serious consequences on human health.

Many household cleaners, including medications, aren’t safe and environmentally friendly to put down the drain. These things cause pollution that is more difficult for water treatment centers to remove from the water. Keep your water supply clean and free from pollution!

Reduce Energy Consumption

Make sure you turn off what you aren’t using
To save energy, make sure lights, TVs and other electronics are turned off when you aren’t using them. You can further save energy by unplugging the appliances you don’t use frequently. Use LED bulbs.

Don’t waste food

In the United States, food waste is estimated at between 30-40 percent of the food supply. While in the UK, almost 5% of people have gone more than a full day without food due to financial difficulties.

You can help to reduce food waste by simply, using a stainless steel lunchbox to keep your leftovers for your next meal. This way you not only save time and money but also cut down on waste.

Swap plastic water bottle with a stainless steel bottle

This not only helps you save some money in the long run but also helps reduce plastic use.
The plastic ends up in the ocean, where it damages marine life and forms enormous plastic islands with the size of Texas. A simple stainless steel water bottle is a sturdy and cost-effective alternative to buying bottled water.

Buy Recycled Products

When you shopping, online or from the store, try to buy products that are made up of recycled materials with minimal packaging i.e. the product should be environment-friendly. Check if the product was made from recycled materials or the use of plastics or chemicals was involved in its production.

Use Your Car Less

The average American puts more than 10,000 miles on their car each year, with the largest share of miles coming from commuting to and from work most days of the week. All of that adds up to some serious pollution and lasting environmental damage. Many cities have or are in the process of adding improved public transit systems. Using public transit and going green means fewer vehicles on the road, lower emissions, cleaner air, and — bonus — a chance to avoid feeling road rage when someone cuts you off in rush hour traffic.
Use a carpooling service like BlaBlaCar to find other travelers going in the same direction. Not only you are helping the environment, but it also allows you to split travel costs.
Environmentally Friendly Reusable Shopping Bags
Photo credit: Freepik

Use Reusable Shopping Bags

Plastic grocery bags are really harmful to the environment and wildlife, and it can take over a century to break down. Next time you go to the store bring with you environmentally friendly reusable grocery bags. If you forget to bring your reusable bags and end up using plastic ones, take them to a drop off area where they can be recycled properly. Plastic bags should not end up in the landfill or on the ground

Replace Paper Tower with Cloth

As Oceanconservancy stated more than 13 billion pounds of paper towels are used in the United States alone each year. Unfortunately, paper towels cannot be recycled because they are usually made from already recycled paper pulp. So next time when you think of reaching for a paper towel to wipe up a spill, use an eco-friendly dishcloth.

Turn off the tap

Get rid of the bad and start turning off the faucet while brushing their teeth or shaving. It saves a ton of water in the long run.

Photo credit: Pixabay from Pexels

Follow us or read our posts to learn more about other ways you can be more Environmentally Friendly

North Queensland Australia

Explore Tropical North Queensland Australia

November 19, 2018
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North Queensland is the northernmost part of the state of Queensland, Australia. Centered on the city of Cairns, the region stretches north to the Torres Strait, and west to the Gulf Country. Its offshore Great Barrier Reef, the world’s largest coral reef system, hosts thousands of marine species.

The region is home to three World Heritage Sites, the Great Barrier Reef, the Wet Tropics of Queensland and Riversleigh, Australia’s largest fossil mammal site.  Cape Tribulation, Mission Beach, and Atherton Tablelands brings even more activities for adventure travelers with their own unique character.

The main population and administrative center of the region is the city of Cairns. Cairns is the heart of Tropical North Queensland, where you can enjoy the morning markets, have a drink in a small local bar, go for a swim in the sparkling Esplanade Lagoon or hike in one of the city’s shady parks and gardens. Cairns is close to the Great Barrier Reef and the Daintree Rainforest, offering you a new adventure every day.

The first amber fossils were found in North Queensland, Australia – four-million-year-old fossils on a beach in the Cape York Peninsula.

North Queensland is home to the increasingly popular in the recent years known for its Cairns Indigenous Art Fair, and Cairns Festival held annually. Other arts activities include the Tanks Arts Centre, Cairns Civic Theatre, and Cairns Art Gallery.

Tropical North Queensland
Photo credit: Joshua Blinco / Flickr

The region supports a large tourism industry and is considered a premier tourist destination in Australia.

Tropical North Queensland | Things to do

Mountain biking

This is the only place in the world where you can ride alongside two World Heritage areas – the Wet Tropics Rainforest and the Great Barrier Reef. It’s the highest-profile rainforest trail system in the world.
Here you’ll find Australia’s oldest operating downhill trail, the Kuranda DH.

There is a 131-kilometer ride from Cairns to Port Douglas along the Captain Cook Highway in Far North Queensland. More than 30km of World Heritage scenery flanked both sides of the road with rolling hills covered in rainforests and turquoise seas.

Hiking Trails North Queensland
Photo credit: Tatters / Flickr

Hiking & Walking Trails

The terrain in Tropical North Queensland covers an entire geographical and botanical spectrum, from coastal lowland to mountains. You can explore places like Mt Bartle Frere, Queensland’s highest mountain, the forests of Walsh’s Pyramid, the wet forest of Kahlpahlim Rock and Lambs Head or the savannahs of the Undara National Park.

Geological Wonders

Explore Tropical North Queensland’s geological wonders including dramatic gorges scoured from ancient rock to the world’s largest lava tube system and world-heritage listed fossil fields.

Reef Dive Site
Photo credit: David Denicolò / Flickr

Explore Beaver Reef Dive Site.

Explore the abundant corals and spot some turtles at Beaver Reef Dive Site. Located in the protected Beaver Cay Marine Sanctuary off Mission Beach, Beaver Reef is an unspoiled fringing reef. Beaver Reef is one of the most popular dive sites off Mission Beach with coral gardens. The most popular dive site off the northern side of Beaver Reef is Beaver Cay.

Abundant soft corals and large gorgonian sea fans, lots of giant clams, Green and Hawksbill turtles, helmet shells and bailer shells, large cod, big schools of spangled emperors, fusiliers, Whitetip reef sharks, barracuda are just a small part of the species you can see.

Gulflander train
Photo credit: Joshua Blinco / wikipedia

Explore North Queensland Australia aboard the Gulflander train

The Gulflander takes five hours to run 150 kilometers from tiny Normanton to even tinier Croydon. Enjoy a self-guided walk around the station precinct and museum. Built in 1889, the Heritage-listed Normanton Railway Station is a treasure trove of history and architecture.

Paluma Range National Park
Photo credit: David Cook / Flickr

Paluma Range National Park

Paluma Range is a national park located between Ingham and Townsville, in north Queensland, Australia. It is also known as the ‘southern gateway’ for the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area.
There are quite a few different places to camp in Paluma Range National Park. A very popular is lake Paluma, an attractive man-made lake surrounded by World Heritage Rainforest. You have a handfull of options for accommodation in Paluma including the award-winning eco-resort at Hidden Valley Cabins.

Mossman Gorge
Photo credit: r reeve / Flickr

Visit the historic wilderness of Mossman Gorge

Mossman Gorge is part of the Daintree National Park in Tropical Queensland, Australia. The Mossman Gorge Centre is an Indigenous eco-tourism development and the gateway to Mossman Gorge. Nestled in the World Heritage Listed Daintree Rainforest, Mossman Gorge contains the oldest, continuously surviving rainforest on earth.

You can experience the wonders of the Daintree Rainforest National Park and discover Mossman Gorge walking through and swimming is a beautiful unforgettable experience.

Wallaman Falls
Photo credit: r reeve / Flickr

Wallaman Falls

The Wallaman Falls, a cascade and horsetail waterfall on the Stony Creek, is located in the UNESCO World Heritage–listed Wet Tropics in the locality of Wallaman, Shire of Hinchinbrook in the northern region of Queensland, Australia. Australia’s highest permanent single drop waterfall, in Girringun National Park, west of Ingham.

Explore the rainforest and enjoy spectacular gorge views on one of the short walking tracks near the falls. You can visit for a day to view the falls and relax or stay longer with an overnight camp beside Stony Creek.

Queensland beaches
Photo credit: Steve Austin / Flickr

Queensland beaches

Beaches are one of the most loved and visited places in Queensland. Whitehaven Beach in the Whitsundays and Nudey Beach on Fitzroy Island in Tropical North Queensland are just some of the stunning and pretty beaches that take out ‘most beautiful beach’ awards by Trip Advisor. Enjoy the luxury beach-side resorts, panoramic ocean views and family-friendly activities on the Sunshine Coast.

Main photo credit: Joshua Blinco / Flickr

Want to learn more about other sustainable destination? Check out section sustainable travel destinations.

1 Comment
    Diving Zenobia says: Log in to Reply
    January 10th 2020, 5:57 pm

    I hope that you won’t stop writing such interesting articles. I’m waiting for more of your content. I’m going to follow you.

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5 Things to Know About the Sunscreen and How to Protect the Coral Reefby padmin / September 14, 2019Protect the Coral Reef

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