Hawaii’s citizens are especially vulnerable to dangerous exposure to the sun. While “coral safe” sunscreens are available, they are not as effective as ones containing oxybenzone and octinoxate.

Mineral sunscreens are also more expensive, are not water resistant, and can leave an undesired white residue on the skin. These factors may ward off people from using sunscreen at all, increasing the chances of skin cancer.

Nevertheless, even though it is “overfishing and destructive fishing, pollution, warming, changing ocean chemistry, and invasive species” that take the biggest toll on coral reefs, chemicals found in sunscreen should not be ignored; oxybenzone and octinoxate don’t belong in the ocean.

The ban is necessary in the long-term for the whole world, but it should come with more efficient alternatives that are readily available, affordable, and practical to consumers. If this is achieved, consumers will soon forget about the ban and move on with their lives.

More worrying is the changing climate in the region (and everywhere else in the world), where hurricanes may strike more often and more severely than ever before, and there will be more than just corals at risk.

What we should do is to embrace mineral sunscreens and stay out of the sun, but be aware that there are more dangerous and urgent threats to corals of the world, climate change being the main culprit.