So you may have noticed it’s summer. For those of you who live outside of England this means fun, beaches, ice cold drinks…all the cliches. If you live *in* England this means it could be hot or cold at any time and you better believe that barbecue is still happening even if it’s chucking it down with rain. But either way, guaranteed heat or not, there’s one piece of preparation we all have to have down in the summer months, sunscreen.

I don’t exactly need to spend time here telling you why sunscreen is important, I trust you guys know. But when the eco-friendly powerhouse that is Leotie Lovely posted about sustainable options for keeping our skin protected, I knew I had to ask if I could syndicate her post here too.

Below are her words:

It wasn’t until this year, that I discovered (was told by my sister-in-law) that the sunscreen I’ve been slathering on my pasty skin throughout my life in order to enjoy the outdoors, and often times enter bodies of water so I might enjoy the magical aquatic creatures and plants which dwell there is, in fact, causing murders of the mass variety to the very creatures I consciously wish to conserve.

Yet another human hypocrisy to add to the mountain of ignorant actions our species continuously commits.

The Problem

Researchers from the Universtiy of Central Florida have found that oxybenzone, a common UV-filtering compound found in sunscreens, not only kills the coral, but also causes DNA damage in adults and deforms the DNA in coral in the larval stage, preventing new coral from developing properly and multiplying.In addition, Oxybenzone also causes coral bleaching, which is responsible for coral mortality worldwide. Coral bleaching occurs when tthe algae which live inside thriving coral, are erradicated, causing coral to use a valuable source of nutrition.The highest concentrations of oxybenzone are found in reefs most popular with tourists. Each year, about 14,000 tons of sunscreen end up in coral reefs worldwide and it isn’t just from contaminations from our beach frolicking, it also happens from daily use when we rinse off in our showers, forgetting where our waste water ends up.Coral reefs are more than just pretty scenery for our underwater adventures, they are amongst the most diverse and valuable ecosystems on earth and are crucial to the well-being of other marine life.