Australia produces 3 million tonnes of plastic every year, with a staggering 130,000 tonnes finding its way into the ocean annually. Below are 9 tips you can implement straight away to help reduce your plastic footprint and protect our oceans.

1. Seek Knowledge
   Watch documentaries, follow conservation groups on social media, read articles, sign petitions.
2. Ditch Biggest Offenders
   Plastic Bags – Get in the habit of taking reusable bags when you go to the shops
   Plastic Bottles – Use a reusable drink bottle, we recommend Fit Flask of course
   Plastic Straws – When ordering drinks, say “no straw please!”
   Coffee Cups – 2.7 million single-use coffee cups are used in Australia DAILY. Use a keep-cup instead.
3. Pack a Waste Free Lunch
   Reusable lunch containers or biodegradable sandwich bags can be purchased from the supermarket.  Also, opt for fresh fruits and veggies and bulk items instead of products that come in single serving cups.
4. Be Responsible
   Sometimes buying plastic can be unavoidable, and that’s okay. But if you purchase it, ensure you dispose of it correctly to help to safeguard our waterways and marine life.
5. Buy Boxes Instead of Bottles
   Often, products like laundry detergent or dish-wash powder have the option of plastic or cardboard containers. Cardboard is more easily recycled than plastic.
6. Buy in Bulk
   Purchase food, like cereal, pasta, and rice from bulk bins and fill a reusable bag or container. You save money and unnecessary packaging.
7. BYO Containers
   Bring your own containers to restaurants to package leftovers and be sure to request they don’t pack plastic cutlery.
8. Use Cloth Rags
   For clean up around the house, not paper towels – reduces your waste and need for rubbish bags.
9. Buy Fresh, Not Frozen
   Buying frozen foods and produce uses a lot of unnecessary plastic packaging. Even the frozen pizza boxes that seem to be made of cardboard are actually lined with plastic. By avoiding the frozen foods section and buying fresh, you are cutting out the plastic packaging used to preserve such options.

The Earth’s oceans are a world of mystery, wonder and beauty. Here are 12 amazing facts about the ocean that will make you appreciate our blue planet more than ever.

1. 70% of the Earth’s surface is covered by oceans.
It’s hard to imagine, but about 97% of the Earth’s water can be found in our ocean. Of the tiny percentage that’s not in the ocean, about 2% is frozen up in glaciers and ice caps. Less than 1% of all the water on Earth is fresh.

2. Marine species outnumber those on land.
95% of life on earth is aquatic and we still only know a fraction of the marine species in our oceans. According to the World Register of Marine Species there are now 240,470 accepted Marine species.

3. The sea level has risen between 10-25 cm over the past 100 years. 
10,000 years ago the ocean level was about 110 m lower than it is now.

4. If all the world’s ice melted, the oceans would rise 66 m.

5. Over 70% of our planet’s oxygen is produced by the ocean.
It’s thought that between 70-80% of the oxygen we breathe is produced by marine plants, nearly all of which are marine algae.

6. The deepest known point of the Earth’s oceans is 11KM!
This area is known as the Mariana Trench.

7. The planet’s longest mountain range is underwater and is 10 times longer than the Andes.
The Mid-Oceanic Ridge is a continuous range of underwater volcanoes. It wraps around the globe like seams on a baseball and is 65,000 kilometers long.

8. The speed of sound in water is 1,435 m/sec – nearly five times faster than the speed of sound in air.

9. The record for the deepest free-dive is an astounding 214m!
Held by Austrian freediver Herbert Nitsch “the Deepest Man on Earth”.

10. Most of earth’s volcanic activity happens in the ocean.
The largest known concentration of active volcanoes is in the South Pacific containing a whopping 1,133 volcanoes.

11. The world’s largest living structure is in the ocean.
It’s the Great Barrier Reef, Australia. The reef spreads out over an area of 348,700 km² and is so huge it can actually be seen from outer space.

12. There thought to be 3 million shipwrecks in the ocean.
Meaning there are more historic artefacts under the sea than in all of the world’s museums.

Sources: www.trafalgar.com | www.natgeokids.com | marinebio.org | oceanservice.noaa.gov