Bag the Plastics & Save Turtles

Here's a little bit I wrote for the upcoming STRP newsletter:

Reduce Your Plastic Use to Save Sea Turtles

The growing amount of plastic waste in our oceans raises alarm for the safety and wellbeing of endangered sea turtles. Ingestion of plastic material or entanglement causes sea turtles to drown or die of starvation. By reducing the amount of plastic we release into our oceans we can drastically decrease the number of sea turtles that are dying due to plastics. 

Many cities have enacted bans on single use plastic bags distributed for convenience at grocery stores, which will reduce the amount of bags released into storm drains and creeks, and ultimately decrease the amount of plastic that reaches the sea. Bringing reusable bags to the grocery store, choosing paper instead of plastic bags at checkout, and carrying a reusable water bottle instead of buying plastic bottles are simple actions that could make a world of difference in the protection of marine life and sea turtles.

Here's a youtube vid I made last month for STRP's "Bag the Plastics" campaign:

What YOU Can Do #2 - Don't Stomp on Mother Earth with Your Footprint

One way we can all help not only precious sea turtles but all living things on Earth is to reduce our carbon footprints! There's been talk about our carbon footprints for a number of years now, but how many of us have actually gone online and taken a footprint survey or quiz to find out exactly how many resources we use as individuals? Probably like 0.1%—I mean, the only reason I ever did it was because I was doing it for a school assignment.

The truth is, most of us avoid thinking about it because what you end up finding out is quite frightful. For example, I'll use the survey that I did today on the Global Footprint Network's website.

If you couldn't tell the image above says that if everyone were to live like me, we would need 7 planet Earths. 7!!!! Can someone remind me again how many we have? Oh, right. Just one. So basically, you could say I am out to destroy the world with my ways of living.

One of my problems is materials consumption. What chica does not love to shop?! Honestly. But overall, it's a habit that has been destructive to both the Earth and my bank account. I just need to stop. So if you find yourself constantly buying new things, try shopping at thrift stores or consignment stores, or try to appreciate the things you already have. In the end you'll save yourself a lot of money, and you'll conserve a lot of important resources.

My biggest problem is the carbon emissions from travel, since I have to travel coast to coast from California to Massachusetts every year for school (which is about 6 hour flight each way). I also lost my carpooling partner and now I have to drive to work everyday. Not to mention public transportation here SUCKS compared to Boston. (I LOVE THE T!!!) I can't wait until I'm home for summer and I can just bike everywhere!!!

I love biking, especially with this girl!!

If you're finding that transportation eats up a lot of your carbon emissions, try public transit or riding a bike! Try carpooling! Carpooling was an amazing experience for me while it lasted. The woman I drove with pointed out great restaurants and things to do, and we chatted about everything. Also it's relaxing not to worry about driving sometimes.

I am a strict vegetarian, and I buy whatever is local from Whole Foods. My bread comes from the town I live in. If I do eat dairy products I'm lucky enough to live close to a lot of dairy farms. And when I visit home, my mom has become a farmers market fiend and uses a lot of local produce in her cooking. Even for all you carnivores out there, you don't have to eat meat with EVERY MEAL.

You will not die from lack of protein if you don't eat meat. I am sick of hearing this. It is one of the worst lies being told in our society.

Yes, meat is totally yummy (especially covered in BBQ sauce); however, you can get protein from hundreds of other sources! Even slices of bread have protein. Learn more about it here. I am definitely not saying everyone should become veggies, but take part in Meatless Mondays and cut it out of your diet once a week at least.

Why is cutting down on meat important? Instead of just eating the grains and food that we are farming we have to dedicate more cropland to produce feed for animals. So the feed is shipped to the farms (transport emissions), once the animals are grown they need to be shipped to a slaughter house (transport emissions), then the meat needs to be packaged (more emissions + wasteful packaging use), then it needs to be shipped again to a distributor (even more transport emissions). If we grew more fruits and veggies they would only need to be shipped once to distributors. This is also an important reason to buy locally produced foods—less emissions!

I've only given you just a few ideas. Find out what more you can do by calculating your own carbon footprint. Use the website I mentioned above or check out other Footprint Calculators below.

The Nature Conservancy

Global Footprint Network

World Wildlife Fund

There are many others! Just search Google.

"You're not a wave, you're a part of the ocean."
-Mitch Albom

These Poor Cold-Stunned Turtles!!

I just figured out how to embed videos and I admit I'm going a little video-happy. But these poor little darlings are just too cute for you to pass up! The extreme cold during the winter has caused a lot of turtles to lose functionality and they end up getting stranded or freezing to death because they are unable to move. There have been numerous efforts in the Gulf as well as along the East Coast to help them! So check this video out:

Last Journey of the Leatherback? Preview

Here's a preview for a documentary made a while back about the life of leatherback sea turtles. It's got a lot of pretty shots of sea turtles floating around :)