Save the Reefs

As someone who has used lockdown to finally finesse her skincare routine, and has incredibly fair skin that can burn even on a cloudy day in Scotland, SPF has been a must-have inclusion to my daily skincare. Sun damage to your skin is permanent, so using a daily high SPF is essential to help prevent skin cancer, and less importantly, signs of aging. But skincare brands’ new element to their skincare line is coral reef friendly SPF – is this something that you need to be thinking about?

There are two types of sunscreen, mineral and chemical. Mineral sunscreen physically creates a barrier between your skin and the sun’s rays by reflecting the UV energy away. Chemical sunscreen is made up of chemicals that form a barrier on your skin to filter the UVA/UVB rays that damage your skin before they’re absorbed. But, if you swim in the sea, or wash it all in the shower or sink at night, these chemicals flow into the sea and can affect the marine ecosystem.

For a sunscreen to be reef-friendly, it must be free of chemicals and small particles that are known to cause damage and death to coral reefs in the sea. These small particles need to be what is known as ‘non-nano’, which is below 100 nanometres. If they are below 100 nanometres, then the coral reefs can still absorb the particles in the sunscreen, regardless of ingredients. This is one area where mineral sunscreens have an advantage over chemical sunscreens – they are made with ‘bigger, ‘naturalsized’ particles which are better for marine life and coral reefs’, according to Caspar Ohm, a marine biologist senior research writer at Water Pollution. And to be reef friendly, the sunscreen must be free from the following chemicals, to date, oxybenzone, octinoxate and octocrylene.

According to WWF, coral reef bleaching is when the normally vibrant coral reefs lose their colours and turn white – but coral is actually naturally white, so where are these colours coming from? It is an algae called zooxanthellae that forms a symbiotic relationship with the coral that helps them both survive. But if the coral gets stressed, or the environment surrounding the coral changes quickly, the coral expels the algae, and that is what gives it the ‘bleaching’ like effect. If this stress or environmental change doesn’t go back to normal, the coral won’t let the algae back in and both will die. Healthy coral reefs are so important to marine life as they provide shelter, food and protection of predators for thousands of marine species in the world, and if the coral dies, the ecosystem cannot recover or build itself up again. Coral reefs also provide help to humans by providing barriers to protect from waves and storm surges, as well as providing industry and food to anyone who relies on marine life for their income or food source. So losing the coral reefs is incredibly important to the planet as a whole.

In Britain, the majority of us only wear it on holiday (despite it being recommended by experts that you wear it everyday regardless of it being sunny or not). This means that SPF in bodies of water tends to be concentrated in specific holiday destinations. Places like Australia, the Caribbean and the Pacific islands are particularly concerned about sunscreen in the seas because as isolated communities, their livelihoods are tied to the health of the ecosystem. If coral reefs start the bleaching process, it will devastate their ecosystems and natural environment. As a result, some of these communities have legally banned all of some of the ingredients used in chemical sunscreens from being used while there, like Hawaii, the US Virgin Islands, Aruba, Bonaire Island in the Caribbean and the Pacific Island of Palau.

While the amount of SPF one person wears on one day will be so incredibly diluted in the vast amounts of water in the sea, these minute amounts build up in the sea as there are very few ways of breaking down the chemicals quickly and safely. And if every single person wears SPF everyday as is recommended, those amounts will build up much faster, without time to break down. As well as coral bleaching, according to the National Ocean Service (as part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in the U.S. Department of Commerce), ingredients in sunscreen have been shown to affect the repair and photosynthesis of green algae, cause defects in the young of mussels, damage the immune and reproductive systems as well as deform the young of sea urchins, and can accumulate in the tissue of dolphins, which can be transferred to their future young. So it affects many aspects of marine life beyond coral bleaching.

However, you future Greta Thunbergs, don’t forget, while every little helps, the majority of coral reef bleaching comes from rising sea temperatures and general global warming symptoms, which is caused by big businesses not changing their working practices to help stop climate change in its tracks. Changing your daily SPF to one that is coral reef friendly is a great step forwards, as well as properly recycling your rubbish and turning off your lights when you leave the room, but the lens and responsibility of climate change and global warming needs to be shifted back to those who have control over the majority of the global industrial pollution. Coral bleaching is primarily caused by rising sea temperatures – and there needs to be structural and decisive action to stop, and perhaps, even reverse these problems before it is too late. Companies and governments shifting to renewable energy, away from deforestation, reducing their emissions and moving to a ‘climate-smart’ policy is the only way that this could ever potentially happen.

By Grace Balfour-Harle

After graduating with an undergraduate in English and Legal Studies and then a Master’s in Publishing, Grace started to work as an editorial assistant in children’s magazines. She loves to dance, and teaches dance regularly. Working in the magazine industry has given her a passion for writing and publishing, and she volunteers for the SYP Scotland committee and the SYP Scotland Spring Conference 2021 Committee to help other young publishers begin their career, as well as writing about dance in her spare time. She’s also a keen baker and loves to read.

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