They're cute, they're little... they're the Kemp's ridleys!

Yesterday was the grand public premiere of STRP’s documentary, The Heartbreak Turtle Today, in Sausalito, CA. The film is about the recovery of Kemp’s ridley sea turtles in the Gulf, and the threats to their survival. Before the film my supervisor gave a presentation about the work he had conducted last summer dealing with the BP oil spill aftermath. We had a decent turn out, a few people bought DVDs, and all of them signed the petition we had out to “hold BP accountable for the disaster in the Gulf.”

The Kemp’s ridleys (Lepidochelys kempii)are the most critically endangered of all sea turtle species. Decades ago they were nicknamed the Heartbreak turtle by fishermen who would say these turtles “died of a broken heart” when they were turned on their backs. Because fishermen were (are?) cruel, cruel beings who watch sea turtles suffer as they are flipped on their backs and struggle to get away.

Before the event had even began, the other intern and I were setting up a table of STRP information and merchandise and I came across a pile of old Viva La Tortuga (STRP) newsletters from 2007. Inside was a full page article that read, “Protections in Gulf Waters Lead to Record Kemps Ridley Nestings.” Oh the irony.

Over 10 years ago STRP had convinced then-Texas Governor George W. Bush to close state waters to shrimping from December to May—critical nesting period for Kemp’s ridleys. In the six years before this closure, only 60 nests were laid in total on Texas beaches. In the six years after this closure, there were four times as many nests. A great improvement, but ultimately shrimpers still kill hundreds and hundreds of turtles each year.

More and more turtles have been washing up on Gulf coast beaches. Dead. From oil-related reasons most likely, because the shrimping season is only about to begin.

Baby dolphins too.

Despite all this, offshore oil drilling continues…

Kemp’s ridley Profile

Appearance: The smallest of all sea turtle species, they only get to be about two feet long, and weigh up to 100 lbs. Hatchlings are black, but adults tend to be gray-green or dark gray with a cream colored underside.

Location: The only Kemp’s ridley nesting beaches are found on the coasts of Mexico and Texas. Primarily they inhabit the Gulf of Mexico in Louisiana waters, but can sometimes be found along the Eastern U.S. coast.

Food: They eat mollusks, crustaceans, jellyfish, algae and seaweed. Crab and shrimp are favorites.

Reproduction: During the daytime, large groups of nesting females emerge from the ocean nearly simultaneously, an event called an arribada. In the 1940s, thousands of Kemp’s ridleys could be seen at once on the same beach. Unfortunately, because of the serious threats they face, only one percent of hatchlings grow to sexual maturity of about 10 years old.

Threats: Shrimp trawls are #1—in 2009 NMFS estimates that over 4000 Kemp's ridleys were killed from interactions with shrimping activities. Poaching is the second big one. Because they nest together in large numbers during the daytime, it is easy for poachers to take the eggs they are laying right from under them. Boat collisions are another threat, and so is ingestion of/entanglement in marine debris. Oh, and last but not least OIL is another big killer. Thanks a lot BP! Also thanks for burning hundreds of sea turtles alive, you jerks.

Visit STRP's website to find more information about Kemp's ridley sea turtles and The Heartbreak Turtle Today!!!!

Loggerheads!

Loggerheads (Caretta caretta)

The United States Govt. recently has failed to increase protections for the endangered loggerhead sea turtles, despite overwhelming evidence. It is estimated their Pacific populations have dropped by over 80%, and may soon face extinction in the 21^st century.

Click here for the press release from the Sea Turtle Restoration Project, Oceana, and the Center for Biological Diversity.

Appearance: Reddish-brown in color, with giant heads and powerful jaws, they weigh around 250 lbs and can grow to 4 feet long.

Locations: Found worldwide in warm and temperate ocean waters, and are the most common sea turtles found in the United States. The most important nesting beaches are on South Florida beaches (U.S.) and on Masirah Island (Oman).

The western coast of the United States is a significant migratory corridor for Pacific loggerheads. Pacific loggerheads will swim across the Pacific to California’s coast from their main breeding grounds in Japan. Baja California is an important area for loggerhead congregation.

Reproduction: They don’t reach sexual maturity until they’re between 20-30 years old, another reason why their populations have been suffering. Too many are killed before they’ve had a chance to mate and lay eggs. Females can lay three or more nests during the nesting season! Even so, of every 1,000 to 10,000 juvenile turtles that hatch, only two will grow up to become an adult.

Food: crabs, fish, mollusks, jellyfish, sea urchins, sponges and shrimp

Threats: Threats are pretty much the same for all sea turtle species: fishing gear-related incidents, loss of nesting habitat, bright artificial coastal city lights, boat collisions, accidental ingestion of or entanglement in plastic and marine debris, poaching and global warming.

According to the US Fish and Wildlife Service, drowning or entanglement in longline fishing gear from commercial fisheries is a primary danger to the loggerheads.

Random Fact: The loggerhead is the state reptile of South Carolina and Florida

*Other General Sea Turtle Fact: The sex of sea turtle babies is dependant on temperature. The turtles that are closer to the surface (warmer) will develop as females, and the deeper eggs (colder) will develop into males. With global warming and climate change, the ratios have begun favoring higher numbers of female turtles.

Let's keep these guys from extinction! Every small effort makes a difference in marine conservation! Start out simple by using reusable grocery bags or reducing your driving.

Peace,Love&Sea Turtles!!

Also, P.S.—To whom it may concern, don't be mad I don't mean to steal this pic, I just found it on google image search.

Plastic vs. Paper vs. Reusable cloth bags

I am getting absolutely SICK of these new articles that say plastic bags are more environmentally friendly than paper.

Can infants/toddlers and animals get caught in plastic and suffocate? Less likely.

Does plastic degrade in the environment? Not for hundreds if not thousands of years. (Nobody knows—they've only been around for half a century)

Not to mention, the only locations that recycle plastic bags are usually grocery stores. You know where you can recycle paper bags? Anywhere that takes paper.

This article and many others state that, "The findings of the report suggest that, in order to balance out the tiny impact of each lightweight plastic bag, consumers would have to use the same cotton bag every working day for a year, or use paper bags at least thrice rather than sticking them in the bin or recycling."

Oh thats funny, because I HAVE been using my reusable bags for over a year. I DO reuse paper bags until they rip or something and then I recycle them. People act like these actions are too inconvenient and stressful, when really, it's so simple I don't even think about it anymore.

Here's a little update for ya: My day was made when I found out that Swedish Fish and Sour Patch Kids were vegan. Score! Now if only they didn't come in plastic packaging...

Friday Inspiration

This girl confronted the UN with concern for the environment. She was only 12 or 13 years old.

I know that people understand what she says, but everyone is too afraid to change their ways to do what's necessary.

My favorite thing that she said was: “Parents should be able to comfort their children by saying, ‘Everything is going to be alright, it’s not the end of the world. We’re doing the best we can.’ But I don’t think you can say that to us anymore.”

I hope you will find some inspiration in this too.

Fish Are Friends, Not Food

"I am a nice shark, not a mindless eating machine. If I am to change this image, I must first change myself.

Fish are friends, not food."

www.gotmercury.org

My POV: UBC's Animal Testing of Sea Turtles

So this news has been spreading all over the place lately, and I just wanted to get a few of my own thoughts out there. At first, I was outraged by this article. But then I soon realized that A) most of it was exaggerated or false, and B) There are more important matters at hand.

Once upon a time, at the University of British Columbia in Canada, there were a few scientists that received sixteen captive bred, green sea turtles from the Cayman Turtle Farm in the Cayman Islands. Two of them died. Seven are now at other facilities. Now they have seven. The facility where they were housed for the past 10 years is being demolished and they have no where else to go, so a decision was made to terminate them and harvest their tissues for research purposes, after all they are a research facility.

Here's the thing: Animals bred in captivity can never be released into the wild because they pick up parasites and such that would devastate the wild sea turtle populations. With that said, these seven turtles will not be able to make a contribution to the growth of wild green sea turtle populations. Their only option for life is to be kept in a tank and poked at by scientists.

Of course, for any of us crazy sea turtle loving people it is tragically sad to see these turtles killed for scientific research, especially the invasive and disturbing methods used in UBC research labs. Sure, UBC has highly questionable and unethical methods of research with animals (vivisection, for example, absolutely disgusting, torturous and absurd); however, in the long run these turtles are not a big deal to the global green sea turtle populations.

What I cannot seem to understand is why these UBC turtles are so significant, when all the other thousands of sea turtles out in the wild are forgotten.

Over 4,000 turtles were affected by the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Shrimp trawlers in the Gulf of Mexico kill over 25,000 sea turtles every year. Floating plastic waste in the ocean harms and kills 100,000 sea turtles and marine mammals every year. Between 2001 and 2008, the Florida East Coast pelagic longline fleet snared 4,839 loggerheads and 6,626 leatherbacks for a total of 11,465 animals. Turtles are illegally slaughtered and their eggs are stolen and sold on the black market. We constantly destroy their habitats for luxurious beachfront properties and for new gas and oil plants to be built.

Apparently the hundreds of thousands of turtles that die each year in the wild do not matter. We only care about these seven in captivity that will never swim in the open ocean. So I will please ask, won't everyone stop wasting their time fussing over UBC's green sea turtles and do something about the dwindling numbers of sea turtles left in the ocean? Please?

How I Reduced My Plastic Consumption Today!

This event came in perfect timing after my last post about the movie Bag It.

I managed to get some grocery shopping done today, and the first thing on my list was granola. I was at Whole Foods, my favorite place in the world, and walked down the cereal aisle grabbing a bag of Galaxy Granola—which is totally delicious by the way—realizing that it was in a plastic bag but not seeing anything that I could do about it. So I thought!

On the left is the bag of granola I ended up getting! Same brand as the one on the right but no plastic packaging!

The next aisle over they had rows and rows of chopped nuts, dried fruits, chocolate-covered goodies, grains, and GRANOLA in

self serve boxes, sold by the pound. I literally stood there for 15 minutes deciding whether I wanted to buy the granola in a plastic bag, or scoop out a pound of it myself and not have to waste plastic.

In the end I put the bag back and scooped out some unpackaged granola (SAME BRAND—

Galaxy Granola!!) into a paper bag I was reusing from a previous trip to Whole Foods. It

ended up weighing 1.15 lbs, which at $4.99/lb came out to be $5.73 or something like that. I can't remember what the pre-packaged Galaxy Granola cost (it was around $5). However, a single bag of Galaxy Granola only contains 0.75 lbs of granola (12 oz).

So in the end I definitely paid less for more, and didn't use plastic!

SCOOOORE!

What I Learned From "Bag It"

Bag It is a documentary that follows the live of an average man as he discovers more and more about the world of plastic around us. I can honestly say that this movie changed my life for the better, I am so glad I decided to get off my butt and go see it! It is definitely a must see if you care about your health and the health of those around you!

Before I saw the movie Bag It, I had failed to notice that 99.9% of items sold at the market come packaged in plastic:

• You weigh out your produce in plastic bags.
• Berries come in plastic containers.
• Jam, peanut butter, syrup, ketchup, mustard, and spices come in plastic containers (if not glass).
• Even apples, oranges, and other foods with skins that act as “natural” packaging come wrapped in plastic.
• Cereal comes in plastic.
• Disposable plastic cups and utensils come in plastic bags.
• Cookies and candy are sold in plastic packaging.
• Bubble-wrap is plastic.
• Soda, juices, and water come in plastic bottles.
• DVDs and CDs are in plastic cartridges.
• What’s your Xbox controller made of? Guitar Hero guitar?Plastic.
• Soap, shampoo, and hair care products all come in plastic bottles.

I cut down that list to make this post shorter, but I hope you get the point. I never really thought of how much I consume, or cared to notice how much of what I bought ended up being thrown out. Having written multiple pieces about plastics for work and researched the Great Pacific Garbage Patch for school, I don’t know why I haven’t caught on earlier that plastic is everywhere, and it’s a problem. A simple enough problem, isn’t it? When we no longer want the plastic we just throw it away…

But where is “away?” “Away” means either in the recycling, or in the trash.

Just recieved an email with this photo from the Husky Energy Action Team (HEAT),

an environmental club at Northeastern University.

Most likely plastic goes in the trash. The movie is great in that it clearly shows how confusing recycling can be to people, and uncovers the reality that most plastics are not recycled anyway. When plastic bags are thrown away in trash they are easily blown away ending up caught in trees, storm drains, and creeks. They eventually make it into the ocean and kill close to 100,000 marine animals every year. THEY KILL SEA TURTLES :( So let’s stop using single use plastic bags, right? Reusable ones are more stylish anyway! And so are reusable water bottles! Have you realized that Evian is Naïve spelled backwards? Now you should feel like an idiot when you purchase a plastic water bottle. NEWS FLASH: Drinking from your tap is sexy and smart.

You may think that recycling is the best alternative, but that’s totally false (sorry to burst your bubble). Plastic bottles cannot be recycled into new bottles, the plastic is “downgraded” through the recycling process. So the best thing would be to just avoid them entirely. That's why "reduce" comes before "reuse" and "recycle." Something I didn't know until I watched Bag It.

In Bag It the narrator, an average dude, started off discovering problems with plastic bags. But the problems grew to problems with plastic bottles, which then led to problems with plastic food packaging. Problems with packaging led to chemicals in baby products and chemicals in products designed for everyday use. This ordinary guy just kept digging deeper and found not just plastic bags to be the problem, but the whole concept of “throw-away living” to be entirely destructive to the environment and the human body. It turned out that plastic bags were just the “tip of the iceberg.” There are so many other shocking issues brought up in this movie, I really hope you go see it for yourself.

Now that I've seen Bag It here are some things that I've been doing to minimize the plastic I consume.

1. Absolutely NO plastic bottles of any kind. Bye-bye soda, it's been nice knowing you.
2. Stop placing my produce in plastic bags at the grocery store. Whole Foods has paper bags now! And I plan on reusing them over and over again until they wear out. Eventually I'll either buy or make my own reusable mesh bags to take with me.
3. Bring my reusable bags to the mall—not just the grocery store. On second thought, I am going to limit my trips to the mall, too.
4. I have stopped microwaving food contained in plastic containers. After what I saw in the film, there is no way I can go back.
5. Also at the grocery store, if there is a brand of peanut butter (or something else) in a plastic container and one in a glass container—I'll always go with the glass. The jars can be cleaned and reused around the house or they're easily recycled.
6. Cut out canned food as much as possible. According to the movie aluminum cans are lined with a layer of plastic inside.
7. My buddy and I get made fun of at school for picking plastic bottles out of the trash and throwing them into the recycling, but I'm going to keep doing it for the sake of generations to come. Plus that means more landfill space.
8. Avoid products with tons of packaging, and avoid buying new products. Hello thrift stores! (There are three located conveniently near my house, so I can still get my shopping fix in. Also—you find great things you may not find anywhere else at thrift stores!)

Well these are just a few things I'm doing/planning on doing. There are probably others I'm overlooking! Make it a new part of your daily life to notice the overwhelming amount of plastic around you, and try to decrease your own impact!

Here's one issue that was addressed in the film, which I thought was very important for people to know:

Rubber duckies are made of plastic loaded with phthalates (chemicals that give the plastic its flexibility), which are highly toxic. Hooray for poisoning our children! Why are phthalates bad? Lower sperm counts, for one. Gender neutrality is occurring—boys are becoming more feminine and girls are becoming more masculine. And phthalates have been linked to ADHD symptoms. How do I avoid phthalates? Here's a link to one helpful website.

The serious health and environmental concerns resulting from our plastic manufacture and consumption are issues that need to be addressed by individuals like you and me. Unfortunately, our government is doing and will do absolutely nothing to protect its citizens from toxic chemicals that are found in plastic products. The only way we’re going to see change is if local communities and individuals like you and me make conscious decisions to refuse, reduce, reuse, and recycle (listed in order of importance!).

For more visit www.bagitmovie.com!