When you swim with sunscreen on, chemicals like oxybenzone can seep into the water, where they’re absorbed by corals. These substances can disrupt coral’s reproduction and growth cycles, ultimately leading to bleaching.Even with government bans, certain types of sunscreen can be used to protect against burns and skin cancer. Mineral-based sunblocks that use titanium dioxide and zinc oxide are safer than the oxybenzone, containing alternatives. Sunscreens with “non-nano” size particles are safer because they can’t be ingested by corals. Some sunscreens have a combination of nano-size and non-nano size particles, and the Consumer Products Inventory has a database that can tell you if your sunscreen contains nanoparticles.Some tour companies in popular destinations like Mexico make it mandatory for visitors to wear only biodegradable sunscreen. Select Hawaiian resorts and airlines give out free reef-safe sunscreen samples that don’t contain harmful chemicals. Many of these resorts will let patrons know of these restrictions in advance or list it on their websites.

This article relates to environmental science because it demonstrates how coral reefs are not only harmed when humans do something intentionally towards them, but they can also be harmed when humans are simply using products to protect themselves. I think this should gives us somewhat of a motivation to change our ways. I think this is a great example of a small change that could come a long way. You don’t necessarily have to attend a huge event/project to protect coral reefs but you can definitely  always use safe sunscreens that will not make coral reefs weaker. Like coral reefs there are many other organisms that are accidentally and easily getting harmed by humans. Lastly, if we lose coral reefs, we will have lost a vital ecosystem. We could also hurt our global economy coral reefs are a major tourist attraction and source of income for these popular vacation spots.