Welcome to Memorial Day 2022 and the unofficial start of summer. Hope folks are planning on a beach weekend, whether the ocean, lake, pond, river or stream, but if not that doesn't mean you can't take a day trip to the beach sometime this weekend.  As a kid growing up, we used to head to Cape Cod, but tomorrow heading to Astoria, OR and then will swing by Fort Stevens State Park, Sunset Beach and Seaside on Sunday. 

And as it's Memorial Day weekend, that means Dr. Beach has released his list of the top 10 beaches in the US and his top beach for 2022 is Ocracoke Lifeguard(ed) Beach in NC.  An excellent choice as have visited although it's been too long and while the list of the best beaches, as always, is strong (I have been to 6 of the 10), it still overlooks the entire Oregon Coast which given I live here I have but no choice to suggest that is a massive oversight and mistake, imo.  Oregon has 360+ miles of coastline and many amazing beaches.

While we usually do two separate posts for Memorial Day and World Ocean Day, this year we are combining them.  World Ocean Day is June 8th and the more we can do to publicize this, the better given in 2021 the ocean "reached their hottest and most acidic levels on record".  NOT GOOD and a specific example of how troubling this is the most recent coral bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef and 4th since 2016.  Coral reefs are widely regarded as the most diverse ecosystems on earth and these bleaching events are taking a toll on the biodiversity so please keep this in mind on June 1 which is World Reef Day.

We are borrowing from our kids' future and we have to stop it.  No ifs, ands or buts, but not sure we have the discipline to change our behavior so thought this article on How to be Healthy might be of assistance to frame the shift in behavior we, all humans, need to make to protect the life source on this planet.

Sorry to strike such a somber tone heading into a long weekend, please go enjoy yourself, but also give yourself an hour this weekend to think about what is going on in the ocean and how you can personally take steps to minimize your impact. In our case, I will highlight Patagonia and it's business model as in 2021 the company was voted the most reputable company in the US.  Patagonia's business model of investing 1% of revenue back into environmental organizations is now available for other companies to adopt through 1% for the Planet.  It's why BeachNecessities.com is a corporate member of 1% for the Planet and works to protect our beaches, ocean, lakes, ponds, rivers and streams one baja hoodie / baja jacket / drug rug at a time.