How Do I Look This Good, You Ask? Titanium

CHANGING YOUR HABITS FOR THE ENVIRONMENT IS HARD AND EVERY DAY YOU EVEN CONSIDER YOUR ALTERNATIVES IS RAD PROGRESS

Just a quick PSA today as many of us gear up for vacation, or at least some fun in the sun. Sunscreen is full of bad shit that’s toxic to wildlife! And not just ‘if a seagull eats this, it’s gonna have nasty diarrhea’ toxic, we’re talking ‘screwing with DNA‘ kind of toxic. This issue might be on your radar already in terms of coral reefs – ‘reef-safe’ sunscreen is fairly common at this point – and perhaps you even used some on your last tropical vacation and saved the other goop for home use or when you’re not getting wet. But you’re going to sweat, and I assume shower, so those chemicals will still end up in the environment and the water supply eventually. And it’s not just corals that are impacted, it’s all aquatic life. Ok, depressing shaming time is over.

The good news is: you’ve got options! Just Googling “reef-safe sunscreen” gets you helpful what-to-buy articles like this right off the bat. And if you’re not sure if something is environmentally friendly, you can follow the handy picture chart above and get you some zinc oxide or titanium dioxide (I personally use this and this right now). I also want to stress that with changes like this, and any green changes you’re trying to make in your life, it’s a process. I only recently started to really examine my sunscreen use, previously taking any manufacturer’s claim of environmental friendliness at face value. So if you slather on the Banana Boat all weekend, that’s OK, I’m glad you’re preventing skin cancer. But, hopefully, this’ll get you thinking about some alternatives that are just as R.A.D. for critters as they are for you.