How to Make Your Beach Vacation Environment-Friendly

Everybody loves the beach. Whether on the ocean or a lake, they are favorite destinations for family travel, but they are also a good place to help children become aware of protecting the environment. With a few simple actions, you can reduce your impact and help your children become better caretakers of the planet.

Pack an Environmental Picnic
While disposable bottles and containers are handy, they too often end up on the beach or in the water. Even if you’re careful, they can blow away in the wind or get buried in the sand, eventually ending up in the ocean where they can entangle or choke marine life or wash ashore again as unsightly litter.

Read the Signs
Signs at many beaches warn of things you should not do, such as enter areas restricted to protect nesting birds or turtles, or walk in the dunes where you could damage dune grasses that hold the sand and stabilize the shore.

Leave with Everything You Brought
Even though you’re careful to put trash in barrels, these often overflow late in the day, and wind can blow trash back on to the beach. Carry everything home for disposal.

Respect Wildlife
Encourage children to observe birds and other wildlife without disturbing or frightening them. Even where there are no ropes or signs, be aware of nests and stay on boardwalks across the dunes.

Play Pick-Up
Not everyone will be as careful of beach litter as you are, so do a bit of beach clean-up before you leave. Make a treasure hunt out of collecting bottles, wrappers, forgotten beach toys and stray flip-flops. Remind your kids you never know when you might find real treasure while beach-combing!