What YOU Can Do #1 - Convenience Will Kill You

You may think that making a difference takes a lot of effort and that you have to go wayyy out of your daily routine. The truth is, there are many little effortless things you can do that can make a difference. Hopefully I can convince you to take a step in the right direction...

One of the first and most important steps we can all take to a cleaner environment and healthy ecosystems is supporting city, county, state, even nation-wide Plastic Bag Bans. These convenient little floating globs made of polyethylene derived from gas and petroleum are literally choking the environment to death.

Literally.

BRING YOUR OWN REUSABLE BAGS WHEN YOU GO SHOPPING.

At the grocery store, at the mall, anywhere. Keep a stash of reusable bags in your car so you'll always have them when you do your shopping. This is perhaps one of the greatest steps we can take to reducing our waste output.

Why should we stop using single-use plastic bags?

1. The Environmental Protection Agency has estimated that about 380 billion plastic bags are used in the U.S. annually.
2. It was also estimated that only 5% of single-use plastic bags get recycled. Other sources say its closer to 1%. It's all bad
3. Plastic bags account for more than 8% of marine litter.
4. Plastic marine debris harms and kills 100,000 marine animals each year, over 200 species are affected.
5. They've been banned already in more than 25% of the world. So you're way behind.
6. You could choose to get stylish, cute reusable bags so you feel motivated to bring them everywhere! Make a fashion statement! Be unique! Look at this one!
7. Out of sight, out of mind? Yeah, right. These suckers take up to 1000 years to degrade.

In California the cities of San Francisco, Fairfax, Oakland, San Jose, Malibu have bans on plastic bags, as well as Los Angeles County, and most recently Marin County--home of the Sea Turtle Restoration Project's headquarters.

Still not convinced? CHECK THIS VID OUT.

AND THIS ONE.

AND THIS ONE TOO.

Sources:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/01/weekinreview/01basics.html

http://environment.about.com/od/recycling/a/reusablebags.htm

and you should probably check this out too: http://lee.ifas.ufl.edu/fyn/fynpubs/thedangersofplasticbags.pdf

First Week on the Job...

Just taking a moment to reflect on this first week of my co-op/internship with STRP. I've already learned so much in 5 days, I can only imagine what else is out there.

Before I started here there were all these mixed sentiments about being an unpaid intern. When I talked to people I would get the response, "oh man, that sucks," from anyone who I talked to. It does suck to not have money; it also sucks to not have sea turtles.

Another response I would get would be, "Wow, do you get to swim with the sea turtles?!" Unfortunately, human idiocy—creation of plastics, dependency on fossil fuels, unsustainable fishing, coastal development—has caused all seven species of sea turtles severe population decline. So no, I don't get to swim with sea turtles because we've nearly killed them all. Thank you.

The first thing I've learned at STRP is every little thing you do makes a difference. I sat here in the office the other day stuffing hundreds of hundreds of envelopes of mailers to send to people who had recently donated. Sure, it did suck, and now I have an aching wrist, but you know what? That means hundreds of hundreds of people donated to this cause. And that means that STRP has funding for projects like beach patrols along our coasts, producing documentaries, and public education activities. Which means more awareness, which equals more conservation, which is good.

So far, so good with my first week here at the office. Basically this blog is to communicate the steps that I have taken in order to take better care of our oceans, document my work at STRP, provide updates on the state of our oceans, and ideally inspire awareness in others.

Attention Facebook Fanatics

Social media has absolutely taken over our society, which in some circumstances is a good thing. So if you find yourself on Facebook frequently, consider joining Gabby Green Sea Turtle's fan page! Gabby is a female green sea turtle who would love to be your friend. She works for STRP and frequently posts updates on their progress with different campaigns.

STRP is on Facebook too, so maybe check them out?

UPDATE: There's another turtle out there that needs more friends who will help her take action in the Gulf of Mexico. Click here to friend request Tedi Turtle! (There's a play on words there—TEDs, or Turtle Exclusion Devices, should be used in the Gulf of Mexico to allow for shrimp trawlers to continue their activities without drowning sea turtles. Hence, the name TEDI! Now don't you feel smarter?)