CHOOSE YOUR ACTION ADVENTURE—BASED ON HOW MUCH TIME YOU HAVE!

Here’s a truth about Earth Day: Most of us care deeply about our planet and do almost nothing. Not because we don’t want to, but because “saving our ocean” can feel overwhelming, and one busy Wednesday in April doesn’t leave much room to figure out where to start. 

That’s why, this year, we’re giving you a simple, tiered action kit organized around the one thing we all have: time. So pick your tier. Do the thing. Share your ocean joy with people. Our ocean will take every minute you give it.

FIVE MINUTES

If Madonna will spare us one more minute, we’re proposing only five minutes to save the world. 

Sign a petition for ocean protection:  A signed petition is a counted voice, and takes less than 90 seconds. Whales are climate A-listers, and they need our help. Join us in defending all marine life by adding your name here! 

Share one ocean fact with your network: Whether you’re passionate about protecting our planet from plastic pollution, ensuring our ocean has bountiful biodiversity or combating the climate crisis, pick one thing that stopped you in your tracks. Algorithms reward engagement, and when you share content from Ocean Conservancy, you push it into more feeds. Following and resharing your favorite post from us takes around a minute! Or spread the word of Earth Day with a post of your own ! Here’s some text and a photo to get you started:

Fun fact: Our Team Ocean Captains are leading the charge–check out their profiles here!

ONE HOUR

Go a little deeper—watch, read or clean something!

Watch a documentary: You don’t need two hours or a big screen. Check out The Blue Planet with 50-minute episodes or Mission Blue, which follows Sylvia Eartle’s six-decade-long career in ocean action. Even a 20-minute YouTube deep-dive into a specific issue like coral bleaching, ghost fishing nets or deep-sea mining counts!

Join a local cleanup: Join a cleanup to remove plastic and debris from your local area—no water needed! All you need is a bucket and a pair of gloves. While you’re at it, don’t forget to download the Clean Swell® app and log the items you collect to help contribute to our global ocean trash database!

Fun fact: Team Ocean Captain Ezra Frech joined us in Long Beach last year alongside the USA Artistic Swimming National Team and US Olympians and Paralympians Association to clean up one of the future sites of the LA 2028 Games. Read more here!

ONE DAY

Make April 22 a day our ocean will remember!

Attend or co-host an Earth Day event in your community: Over 5,600 Earth Day events are registered globally this year. Find one near you at earthday.org. If you’re ready to take the lead, check out Ocean Conservancy’s Start a Cleanup page and free Cleanup Toolkit to organize your own. Even a small neighborhood cleanup can make a big splash for our ocean!

Do a full single-use plastic audit of your home: Spend your Earth Day doing a room-by-room inventory of single-use plastics in your home—like the ones in your bathroom,  kitchen, pantry and cleaning supplies. Write down what you find, research one reusable swap for each category and post your before/after plan. This is one of the highest-impact personal changes you can make, and it starts with just looking!

Fun fact: MLB’s Los Angeles Angels pitcher Brent Suter is joining us for an Earth Day chat. You don’t need to go Live, but remember: your single action becomes exponentially more powerful when you talk about it with others, resulting in ripples that influence the larger systems we’re all a part of. 

ONGOING

Make a commitment that outlasts Earth Day—where the real change lives.

Donate monthly: Recurring donations, even $5 or $10 a month, fund the year-round scientific research, legal work and on-the-ground conservation that Earth Day can’t sustain alone. 

Rethink what’s on your plate and where it came from: Making more conscious choices doesn’t mean going vegan overnight. Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch app tells you in seconds whether the seafood in your cart is sourced in a way our ocean can sustain. Get informed and then let your purchasing habits send a signal to the industry!

Fun fact: As you celebrate our planet on Earth Day and beyond, don’t forget that over 70% of the Earth’s surface is under the ocean—it makes up 99% of the living space on our planet, and is home to half of all species on Earth! More than 2.6 billion people depend on the ocean as their primary source for protein.

PROTECT OUR EARTH. PROTECT WHERE WE PLAY.

Here’s the single easiest action you can take on this list: Join Team Ocean. If you have already signed up, tag in your friends–everyone’s a starter on Team Ocean! By joining our email list, you’ll be the first to know about upcoming Protect Where We Play events, get petitions benefiting protecting endangered species, climate actions and more delivered straight to your inbox.

Earth Day 2026’s theme is “Our Power, Our Planet”. Power isn’t built in one day. It’s built in the minutes that add up to months that add up to movements. Now it’s your turn! Our ocean doesn’t need you to be perfect; it needs you to be consistent. #ProtectWhereWePlay