Last year Dorset Tea partnered with the Marine Conservation Society. As a coastal county, the preservation of our ocean is of real significance to us. We want to help highlight the importance of looking after our ocean and assist the Marine Conservation Society spread their important message. With Earth Day just around the corner (22nd April), we asked them how we can all get involved and help care for our precious planet.
About the Marine Conservation Society
The Marine Conservation Society fight for the future of our ocean through people-powered action with science on their side. They work with communities, businesses and governments encouraging and implementing ways to defend our coastal habitats and species. For a cleaner ocean, they find ways to prevent and clean up marine litter and pollution. And they use science to track the health of our waters. For a better-protected ocean, they secure spaces where species and habitats can recover. Only a sea full of life can absorb carbon and tackle climate change. For a healthier ocean, they promote sustainable fishing and aquaculture to minimise harm caused by harvesting and farming resources. And they educate the public so consumers can make better seafood-buying choices.
How Can You Get Involved?
Working together, we can support their vision of seas full of life, where nature flourishes and people thrive. We asked them to share some current projects that Dorset Tea consumers can get involved in whether you are local to our coastal county of visiting Dorset (or other coastal areas).
Wildlife Sightings
Did you spot a jellyfish on your latest trip to the sea? The Marine Conservation Society want to hear about it. Your sightings provide vital information about ocean visitors in UK waters and contribute to science which finds solutions to protect our oceans. You can find out more here about how to identify jellyfish and submit your findings.
Beach Watch
If you want to help keep Britain's beaches beautiful and our ocean safe for wildlife, why not become a Beach Watch volunteer and join a beach clean survey? Volunteers are asked to choose a 100m square stretch of beach, collect all the litter they find and note it down. The data helps the Marine Conservation Society to track litter back to source, enabling them to tackle change.
Last year Dorset Tea organised a beach clean with local schools. Over 40 children headed to Sandbanks Beach and did their best to rid this beautiful stretch of coastline of accumulated litter. You can read more about our efforts here. This year we will be back, and we hope to go bigger and better. If you are associated with a primary school in Dorset and you’d like to get involved, please contact us to enquire.
Big Seaweed Search
Our coast is home to some amazing seaweeds, 650 different species live and grow around the UK. Every year, the Marine Conservation team up with The Natural History Museum to take a closer look at UK seaweeds. They ask volunteers like you to help map out the distribution of 14 key species. Discovering where and how they grow can provide vital information about our climate. If you’d like to get involved find out more here.
Big Microplastic Survey
Microplastics are tiny pieces of plastic, which have huge impacts on our oceans. They have been found from beaches to the deepest part of our oceans. The Marine Conservation Society has partnered with the global Big Microplastics Survey to collect more information about microplastics around the UK. You can get involved by heading to the beach and reporting what you find there. The project is open to anyone, whether you are an organisation, academic institution, or a concerned individual. If you have access to a beach, riverbank, lakeside or coastline you can get involved.
Source-to-Sea
Discovering how litter affects our oceans enables charities like the Marine Conservation Society to fight for change to better protect them. But they also need to know how the litter ends up there. Most rubbish that ends up on our beaches originates in towns, villages, and cities miles away from the coast. By taking part in their ‘source to sea litter quest’ means you can help to keep our oceans clean no matter where in the UK you are based. They want to hear about the pollution you find where you live. Team up with other citizen scientists and survey your local park or canal path.
A Valued Partnership
At Dorset Tea it is important that we can implement our social and environmental values. Our partnership with the Marine Conservation Society is valued throughout the business. We’d love to hear from you if you decide to get involved in their projects – tag us in your images on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter and we’ll share them to our followers to help spread the vital messages of this fantastic charity.