Jeff Goldblum Says Oceans Are ‘Crying Out' for Help as ‘2 Garbage Trucks’ of Plastic Are Dumped in Every Minute (Exclusive)

The actor, a longtime supporter of the nonprofit Oceana, speaks to PEOPLE ahead of the United Nations’ World Oceans Day

Growing up in Pittsburgh, Jeff Goldblum didn’t go to the beach often as a kid. So when his mother took him to Atlantic City, N.J., for a dip in the Atlantic Ocean for the first time, he was over the moon.

“It's the first ocean I ever had an experience with,” Goldblum, 71, tells PEOPLE ahead of the United Nations’ World Oceans Day (June 8). “I remember my mom taking me into the ocean cradle-style and feeling the waves for the first time and getting bobbed up and down.”

”I couldn't believe it,” the Jurassic Park actor recalls. “I was tripping out, and then when we get back to shore, I laid down and let the sun dry this salty water on my tingly skin.”

Ever since, he says he's been been “deeply in love with the oceans.”

Related: Oceans Have Saved Us from the Worst of Climate Change So Far — Now We Must Save the Oceans

Besides starring in movies, including the upcoming Wicked movies, and jamming with his jazz band, Jeff Goldblum and the Mildred Snitzer Orchestra, the Oceana supporter has devoted years to saving oceans.

“The oceans are home to most of the life on our planet,” Goldblum says. “They play a central role in the world's natural systems, like regulating the climate and they provide livelihoods to so many.”

He adds, “But all around the world, they also feed hundreds of millions of people and have the capacity to provide a healthy seafood meal to a billion people every single day."

Sadly, he says, “The oceans are in trouble and face a whole bunch of threats from climate change and overfishing and habitat destruction and oil and plastic pollution and the killing of threatened species like turtles and whales and sharks.”

That's where Oceana, a protector and restorer of oceans, comes in.

“Over the past 20 years, that organization has won more than 300 victories,” he says. “So that's why I'm so drawn to them. I'm thrilled to be able to do any small thing I can to support them.”

Fighting for Anti-Plastics Legislation

In 2020, Goldblum and Oceana board member Keith Addis met with California lawmakers, urging them to pass statewide plastics legislation to fight the plastics pollution crisis.

“We knew the situation was urgent for the planet and we knew that California had an invaluable opportunity to ... make waves, so to speak, in the fight against plastic pollution," the actor says. “And I'll be darned if a couple of years ago, like you say, California passed the strongest plastic source reduction policy in the whole country."

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In 2022, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the Plastic Pollution Prevention and Packaging Producer Responsibility Act (SB 54), which requires manufacturers to cut single-use plastic waste by 2032 and make sure the packaging on products they sell is recyclable or compostable, according to the governor’s website.

“I don't know what little tiny, if any, part I played in doing that, but yes, plastic pollution is one of the most significant threats to our environment and communities and climate,” Goldblum says.

Related: Halting New Offshore Drilling Can Keep Planet from Heating to 'Catastrophic Levels,' New Analysis Finds

Still, an estimated 33 billion pounds of plastic enter the ocean every year, according to Oceana.

“That is roughly equivalent to dumping two garbage trucks full of plastic into the ocean every single minute,” Goldblum emphasizes.

The actor also helped raise awareness about the oceans with the Supreme Sneakerhead sneaker design competition in 2023, which raised more than $729,000 for Oceana.

What You Can Do to Help the Oceans

Goldblum says getting involved with Oceana or another eco-friendly organization is one way people can help save the oceans.

“Contact your elected officials who are working on the local, state, or federal level to make sure that protecting the oceans and addressing the climate crisis are at the top of their priority list,” he adds. "And of course, vote with your wallet. All the services that you use, make sure that and demand that they're using products that are plastic-free. Those are some things you can do.”

Another way to help? Take the time to actually enjoy the oceans. Even now, Goldblum says he still enjoys swimming in the ocean.

“You only have to imagine that it's this supremely alive place. I put on a pair of goggles and I saw some unbelievable fish," he says about a recent dip in the ocean. "And for the rest of the day, I felt totally alive in a unique way. It really gets in your molecules somehow, and it's just fantastic.”

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