World Oceans Day recognizes the sea as vital for all life on the planet Watch video
SANDY HOOK -- World Oceans Day may be a social-action day that is relatively obscure to most people, but the American Littoral Society and the skin care company La Mer want to change that.
Joined by filmmaker Philippe Cousteau, the New York-based company with a special connection to the ocean took its employees out of the office and onto the beach on Wednesday to acknowledge World Oceans Day by planting dune grass along a stretch of Sandy Hook damaged by Hurricane Sandy.
The social project, one of more than a dozen the company plans to hold worldwide, offered more than 86 employees of the company's New York office an education in dune systems and the chance to help them participate in rebuilding one.
"We're trying to raise awareness about both the ocean itself and all the mysteries and wonders that it has (and) also the threats that it faces today, from climate change and overfishing and pollution," said Tim Dillingham, executive director of the Sandy Hook -based American Littoral Society. "Today is the day to get out onto the beach, reconnect with the ocean, learn something about it and learn how to give back to it."
Created in 1992 and made official by the United Nations in 2009, World Oceans Day serves as a time to recognize the importance of the sea as vital for all life on earth and to focus action on preserving both that ecosystem and its wildlife, he said.
Kicking off the day, Kathleen Gasienica, president of the Littoral Society's board of trustees, used plastic bins filled with sand and water to demonstrate how ocean wave action erodes beaches, flattens dunes and, in the case of severe storms like Sandy in 2012, destroys towns - even with sea walls and beach replenishment.
On Wednesday, though their work was interrupted by a storm, the La Mer employees -- supplied with nearly 4,000 dune grass plugs -- focused on a 700-yard section of a dune at Beach E at Sandy Hook, behind which stands the Nike Missile historic site of the former military base.
La Mer, a company that uses all natural ingredients in its skin care products, connects with people of note with the same ideals in each of its regions to help spread the message, said company president Sandra Main.
Earth Day: What you can do to help the dunes
For the North American region, that's husband-and-wife filmmakers Philippe and Ashlan Cousteau, who on Wednesday joined in the planting project.
"Oceans are my life," said Philippe Cousteau, the grandson of ocean conservationist Jacques Cousteau. "It's important - as a third generation of a family dedicated to the conservation of our oceans and our planet in general - because the oceans are the life support system of this planet. It's important that we get our hands dirty too and get engaged."
La Mer calls its project "Blue Heart," a reference to the ocean as the life-giving force for the planet.
"I think a lot of people forget that even if you're in the middle of the U.S. and you're completely landlocked, two out of every three of your breaths come from the ocean," said Ashlan Cousteau, who grew up in Raleigh, NC and now lives in California. "It really is the heart of our planet. And if you don't have a healthy ocean, you don't have a healthy planet."
MaryAnn Spoto may be reached at mspoto@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @MaryAnnSpoto. Find NJ.com on Facebook.