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Douglas Zemeckis and Paige Radcliffe, Rutgers Cooperative Extension
You often hear about Going Green to be environmentally friendly, which is a great message to encourage an ethos of being environmentally conscious. In fact, our team published an Earth Day Every Day newsletter article about “Green New Year’s Resolutions” back in January 2021. And, more recently we published a newsletter in December 2025 about “Waste Not, Want Not: Going Green for the Holidays and into the New Year”.
However, it is also important to Go Blue. And we are not talking about being cold in the January weather or rooting for your favorite sports team. Rather, we are referring to the importance of being conscious about the impacts that our actions have on our coastal ocean, and how you can be a more responsible steward of our marine resources.
Wintertime scene in Seaside Park, New Jersey (Photo Credit: Doug Zemeckis)
To Go Blue is particularly important in New Jersey, given that nearly all of our state’s border is surrounded by water, and we all impact our coastal oceans. Sometimes this is more obvious when we are living, fishing, or recreating at the Jersey Shore, while other times it is less obvious that we are impacting the coastal ocean when we are maintaining our lawns and gardens, washing our clothes, or driving our cars. Our streams and rivers flow to our coastal bays and then to the ocean. So, everything is connected and what you do on land also impacts our ocean, including its habitats and the life in our coastal waters.
The following are recommended practices that can comprise your 2026 New Year’s Resolutions to help you to Go Blue. These recommendations are divided into ways you can become better connected, better educated, a better steward, and more involved as it relates to marine environmental issues. These resolutions would nicely complement several of the other environmentally conscious practices that many of you have hopefully adopted since the Going Green resolutions recommended in previous newsletter articles.
Becoming Better Connected
Having a meaningful connection with the environment and natural resources helps to encourage the adoption of responsible stewardship practices. Therefore, New Year’s Resolutions to Go Blue can focus on becoming better connected to New Jersey’s coastal marine resources and ecosystems. Some ways that you can do this include:
Spending more time by the ocean, including exploring new areas with which you might not be familiar. Check out resources from VisitNJ to help plan your outings and our July 2025 newsletter can help you know “What Can I Expect at the Jersey Shore?”.
Visiting parks and reserves to help connect with the natural environments along the Jersey Shore. The following resources can help you to pick places to visit:
State Parks, Forests, & Historic Sites
Atlantic County Division of Parks and Recreation
Cumberland County Parks & Recreation
Salem County Parks and Natural Wonders
Getting involved with a blue hobby such as kayaking, surfing, boating, fishing, or scuba diving. For some ideas, check out VisitNJ’s listing of Outdoors & Sport Recreation in Shore Region NJ.
Becoming Better Educated
Having an understanding of the functioning of marine ecosystems and the issues impacting our marine resources helps to prepare you to get involved with and make progress on these issues. Therefore, New Year’s Resolutions to Go Blue can focus on becoming better educated by:
Participating in educational programs offered through Rutgers Cooperative Extension, such as the following:
Coastal Stewardship summer course, Barnegat Bay Shellfish Restoration Program
Introductory Fisheries Science for Stakeholders (IFISSH) winter course
Environmental Stewards winter program
Earth Day Every Day spring and fall webinars
Rutgers Master Gardener Program
Joining some of the many other great educational programs offered by our partners located throughout New Jersey. The following are just some of the many other educational opportunities:
Become a Master Naturalist – Barnegat Bay Partnership
Pinelands Short Course, Stockton University
Sharing your knowledge with others is a great way to Go Blue by educating and inspiring others to become more responsible stewards. So, share all this great science-based knowledge with family, friends, and anyone else who will listen!
Becoming a Better Steward
We all impact our coastal waters whether we are at the Jersey Shore or inland due to the downstream effects of our actions. Therefore, there are changes that we can all make to our activities to help improve the health and sustainability of our marine resources and ecosystems. We can all be more responsible stewards and Go Blue by:
Avoiding the production of waste and litter, which can end up as marine debris that pollutes our coastal waters and impacts ocean life. Check out these resources to learn more about marine debris and how you can prevent and remove marine debris: “Such a Waste-Marine Debris in our Coastal Waters” and “From Sea to Shining Sea: Microplastics in the Marine Environment”.
Adopting responsible fishing practices if you go out recreational fishing, by following the latest fisheries management regulations and appropriate catch-and-release practices such as those promoted by Keep Fish Wet.
Choosing seafood that is grown or landed locally here in New Jersey, given the responsible practices and management involved with producing this seafood locally at the Jersey Shore. Check out the New Jersey Seafood Finder web application to discover where you can purchase locally produced seafood.
Adopting environmentally responsible practices when maintaining your lawn and garden, because runoff of excess nutrients or pollutants can have a serious impact on coastal water quality. Check out related resources and recommended practices from Jersey Friendly Yards, and our September 2025 newsletter entitled “Are You on the Lookout for an Environmentally Friendly Landscaper?”
Becoming More Involved
Becoming more involved in your community and helping to address local issues can make a real difference. Famously put by Margaret Mead “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” Therefore, to Go Blue this year, you can become more involved by:
Becoming a citizen scientist. Check out our April 2025 newsletter about “Getting Involved to Make a Difference for the Environment” to select from the many volunteer opportunities available throughout the state.
Joining one of the many environmentally focused commissions, boards, and councils that work to address issues throughout New Jersey. The following websites from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) and the Association of New Jersey Environmental Commissions (ANJEC) can help you to find boards, councils, and commissions of interest and identify where you can get involved to make a difference. There are many ways that you can Go Blue in 2026. Following these overall themes to become better connected, better educated, a better steward, and more involved provides several ideas for everyone throughout New Jersey. Adopting one or multiple of these recommended resolutions to Go Blue will help to maintain the health and sustainability of our marine resources, habitats, and industries for the future.
ꕀ Ride the Wave ꕀ
Wintertime on the Toms River, Barnegat Bay, New Jersey (Photo Credit: Doug Zemeckis)