By Alexa Gustin
Over the past couple of years, more and more trash has been put into our waters ecosystem and is killing aquatic life in the oceans. Clearwater Marine Aquarium states that “over 100 million marine animals die each year… more than half the world’s sea turtles have ingested some plastic or human trash.” In the future, trash may also wash up on the shore where it could affect the sea turtles that hatch by making it harder for them to get to the ocean safely. When baby sea turtles are born, they are already at risk of not making it to the ocean due to predators in the sky and on the beach.
Under the Endangered Species Act, turtles have begun to make a recovery. According to the Center for Biological Diversity, “75 percent of sea turtles increased their population size after protection under the Endangered Species Act.” This finding came from a research study published in January 2019, where a team gathered and analyzed population data for a number of marine species, including sea turtles. These improvements show the importance of conservation tactics and how well they have been working so far. However, the work is not finished. In order to save turtles and the aquatic ecosystem, we need to reduce our use of plastic and help clean up existing plastic waste. You could do this by picking up trash and plastic on local streets so they don’t end up in sewer systems and consequently in aquatic ecosystems, or simply by switching to more sustainable products: bamboo toothbrushes, soap bars, shampoo and conditioner bars, etc. They have been around for over 220 million years, and if we don’t make a change now, there will be none of them left. Think about how that can affect our ecosystem and other wildlife where just one by one, each species begins to disappear.
Over the past couple of years, more and more trash has been put into our waters ecosystem and is killing aquatic life in the oceans. Clearwater Marine Aquarium states that “over 100 million marine animals die each year… more than half the world’s sea turtles have ingested some plastic or human trash.” In the future, trash may also wash up on the shore where it could affect the sea turtles that hatch by making it harder for them to get to the ocean safely. When baby sea turtles are born, they are already at risk of not making it to the ocean due to predators in the sky and on the beach.
Under the Endangered Species Act, turtles have begun to make a recovery. According to the Center for Biological Diversity, “75 percent of sea turtles increased their population size after protection under the Endangered Species Act.” This finding came from a research study published in January 2019, where a team gathered and analyzed population data for a number of marine species, including sea turtles. These improvements show the importance of conservation tactics and how well they have been working so far. However, the work is not finished. In order to save turtles and the aquatic ecosystem, we need to reduce our use of plastic and help clean up existing plastic waste. You could do this by picking up trash and plastic on local streets so they don’t end up in sewer systems and consequently in aquatic ecosystems, or simply by switching to more sustainable products: bamboo toothbrushes, soap bars, shampoo and conditioner bars, etc. They have been around for over 220 million years, and if we don’t make a change now, there will be none of them left. Think about how that can affect our ecosystem and other wildlife where just one by one, each species begins to disappear.
