Did you know? Earth Day is coming this April 22. Though we should act on behalf of our environment every day, it is a chance to increase awareness on any scale, large or small, for every effort counts. But there’s probably a million posts out there chock-full of stats and calls to action. So to further advocate for this, I’ll release a Thirst for Giving™-inspired feature every Wednesday, up until Earth Day — and I won’t be regurgitating what’s on the TFG page. Here’s the lineup:

Ocean Protection: Fashion (April 6)
Container Recycling: Art (April 13)
Watershed Protection: Relationships (April 20)
Global Water Crisis: Community (April 22, Happy Earth Day!)

Be True, Wear Blue

Increasingly, general consumers are becoming more educated about corporate social responsibility and sustainable design. It does matter where you eat or what you wear because those purchases represent a statement — a statement that you believe in a company and what it stands for. In the fashion world, it’s an opportunity to patronize lifestyle apparel brands with meaningful missions like protecting our oceans. Though in most cases you are spending a little bit more cash for premium material, it definitely feels good to wear something you know is going toward a good cause. With that said, here are some lifestyle apparel brands that directly advocate for the ocean:

United By Blue: A sustainable brand with a simple concept: “For every 1 product sold, we remove 1 pound of trash from our world’s oceans and waterways.” Sales from their web site allows them time and funds to organize cleanups in order to provide awareness and a better environment.

Swell: Swell is all about the surf lifestyle and is committed to giving back to the oceans upon which we shred waves. Its exclusive partnership with Surfrider Foundation helps this organization protect oceans, waves and beaches in the U.S.A.

750 tees: A limited edition set of organic T-shirts enlivened with bits and pieces of plastic waste helps bring awareness of the serious pollution taking place in our oceans. According to Ecouterre, portions of the sales goes to benefit a sustainability outreach organization in the Bahamas.

In a Nutshell

Why is it important to protect our oceans? We depend on the ocean to regulate our climate and filter out pollution, along with providing us food, medicine and recreation. It is a vast resource filled with life and which gives us wonder.

How can you make a difference? Eat only sustainable seafood. Keep beaches clean. Use environmentally-friendly cleaning agents. Most of all, learn. (More tips here: http://marinebio.org/Oceans/Conservation/local.asp)

Why do you think our oceans are precious? What do you do to help our oceans and the life within stay healthy? Any eco-friendly lifestyle brands I missed out on? Let me know in the comments.