A beautiful dive day and full dive boat heading home from diving at Manta Point, Nusa Penida, Indonesia April 19, 2025.

Some ideas arrive quietly, without warning. Mine showed up in my kitchen in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, surrounded by jars of coconut oil, non-nano zinc oxide, a tiny digital scale, and a half-melted beeswax block. I was mixing ingredients and trying to create a reef-safe sunscreen before leaving for Nusa Penida to work as a Divemaster.

I wasn’t trying to innovate. I just didn’t want to bring oxybenzone and other chemicals into the Ocean I was going to spend months diving in. I wanted something trustworthy, simple, and clean. What I ended up with was an unglamorous white paste I jokingly called “sun mud.”But once I got to Bali, that little jar became something much bigger. It became a conversation starter, then a pattern, and eventually a concept I now call Conservation Conversations. These were natural, thoughtful discussions that helped people rethink their relationship with the ocean.

And they started because someone saw a small tin of homemade sunscreen and asked, “What is that?”

This article is about the sunscreen, but really, it is about the conversations it sparked and how you can create your own.

The First Conversations

My homemade sun mud at My Khe beach in Da Nang, Vietnam February 2, 2025. It works best after warmed in the sun. 

Every time someone in Nusa Penida saw the jar on a table or dive boat, the questions began.

“You made your sunscreen?”
“Is it actually reef safe?”
“What’s wrong with regular sunscreen?”

People weren’t defensive. They weren’t shutting down. It wasn’t the usual environmental debate where one person lectures and the other nods politely while feeling guilty. This was different because people were genuinely curious.

That became the first rule of Conservation Conversations:
Let the other person open the door.

When someone invites the discussion, they walk into it willingly. And from there, everything becomes easier.

When I explained how chemicals in sunscreen can damage coral DNA, disrupt larvae, or make bleaching worse, people paid attention. When I handed them a little dab of sun mud to try, they laughed and smudged it on like tribal paint.

It became a human moment, not a lecture.

Why Sunscreen Matters More Than People Know

This is a major topic in marine conservation right now. A quick summary:

 

• • Many commercial sunscreens contain oxybenzone, octocrylene, avobenzone, and octinoxate. These chemicals are linked to bleaching, DNA damage and developmental issues in coral larvae.

• • Reef-safe labels are often unregulated or misleading.

• • The most reliable option is non-nano zinc oxide, which sits on the skin instead of reacting chemically with UV.

• • Several countries and islands, including Palau and Hawaii, have banned harmful chemical sunscreens completely.

So my sun mud mattered not because it was perfect, but because it got people thinking. It was a starting point. A spark.

But what grew from those moments is what changed me.

 

What Conservation Conversations Really Are

At some point, after enough curious divers asked questions, I started calling these moments Conservation Conversations. It captured the way these topics came up naturally rather than as debates or lectures.

A Conservation Conversation is:

 

• • Invited instead of forced

• • Respectful instead of confrontational

• • Focused on shared values

• • Built on curiosity

• • Personal rather than political

It turns huge global issues into human-scale exchanges. And surprisingly, it is one of the most effective conservation tools you can use.

Why These Conversations Matter

People rarely change because they were told to. They change because something resonates. A question, a memory, a small spark that grows later.

One conversation can be enough to shift someone’s habits. I saw it over and over.

Some people switched sunscreens.
Some decided to eat less seafood.
Some joined cleanups or signed up for their first scuba dives.

The sunscreen wasn’t the point.
The conversation was.

How to Start Your Own Conservation Conversations

Beautiful morning before departing the dive shop at Blue Corner Nusa Penida.

Here are practical things that genuinely work.

1. Let people notice something first
It could be a reusable bottle, a coral necklace, a rashguard, a dive log, or a jar of sun mud. If they ask, the walls come down.

2. Share your story instead of blaming
Most people relate more to personal experience than to statistics.

3. Keep the science simple and visual
It’s easier to say “this chemical stresses coral like a fever stresses us” than to dump jargon on someone.

4. Ask questions back
A conversation is a two-way street. Let people talk about their experiences too.

5. Offer something practical
People love actionable advice: a link, a tip, a recipe, a technique.

6. Leave people empowered, not overwhelmed
The goal is to plant seeds, not to shame or pressure anyone.

The Community That Formed

The most unexpected part was watching a kind of mini community form around these conversations. People would circle back the next day to ask more. Dive guides wanted to try the sunscreen. Tourists wanted to understand bleaching. 

People who had never thought about coral once in their lives walked away thinking about how their choices ripple outward.

It proved something important:
Most people actually do care. They just need an invitation, not a lecture.

What This Means for Conservation

Diamond Beach, Nusa Penida, Indonesia 2025

If we want coral reefs to survive, we need more than science and policy. We need people who can translate scientific ideas into daily life. That is the heart of Conservation Conversations.

They are powerful because they are simple, approachable, and human.

Imagine if millions of small conversations led to fewer harmful sunscreens, more responsible diving, less seafood consumption, and more support for conservation organizations. This is the kind of change that scales quietly but effectively.

And it all starts with small, personal exchanges.

Final Thoughts

If this whole idea began with anything, it wasn’t a research paper or a global initiative. It was a small jar of homemade sunscreen made in Milwaukee and carried to Bali in my dive bag.

It was curiosity. And curiosity is powerful.

If a jar of sun mud could start so many conversations, imagine what you could spark today through your own stories and your own actions.

If you’re up for it, try my sun mud recipe for yourself and let the Conservation Conversations roll.