Water Pollution: The Life of Walter the Sea Turtle
For this blog post, I’ve decided to add a fun twist. Water pollution is a topic that I am extremely passionate about, but sometimes it can be difficult for others to understand how damaging so many of these pollutants that enter into our waterbodies can be. My goal here is that, by illustrating the issue in the outline of a story, more people will be able to sympathize with the characters and begin to get an idea of how dangerous pollution is to our marine animal life specifically.
Sea turtles are one of the most magnificent marine animal species in our oceans. The first time I remember really falling in love with them was in the movie ‘Finding Nemo’, and then later when I got to see them up close at an aquarium. They are some of the most intelligent, intricate animals that I’ve ever seen. Deep in the Atlantic Ocean, there is a group of green sea turtles, and one specifically that I want to highlight is named Walter. Walter is only six years old, meaning that he is still in the juvenile stage of development. He won’t reach full maturity for a while, but when he does, he’ll be nearly five feet long and will weigh over three-hundred pounds!
Walter leisurely glides through his days, enjoying the waters where he can effortlessly dive to where the bed of crabs sits. If lucky, there might be an afternoon where he can catch a jellyfish — those are Walter’s favorite days. He never seems to leave the water and likes to stick close to his companions. But recently, more and more of his members seem to be dying unexpectedly leaving him lonely and scared. There was no reason for why so many were leaving him — they all seemed to be eating together fine, the nesting seasons were normal and seemingly peaceful enough, and there had been very few outside direct threats. So then why are so many disappearing?
This question haunts Walter every day as he eases through the shallow waters. One day, as Walter dips his head underneath the slapping waves, he sees something off in the distance. His interest peaks as he recognizes the familiar shape of a jellyfish. As he moved closer to his prey, he once again overlooked his misjudgment. This was not a jellyfish, in fact it was anything but. And as Walter swallowed the plastic bag, he felt an uncomfortable pinch in his small stomach. How odd — that wasn’t a common sensation.
What Walter, being only a sea turtle, didn’t realize was that over the course of many years, the amount of garbage in his water has built up to a shocking amount. And this garbage, though an obvious form of pollution to humans, is not known by marine life and so many creatures try to eat it mistaking it as food sources. In Walter’s digestive system, we can find layers of plastic — micro-fragments, bags, bottle caps, and so much more — all of which have built up, causing horrific blockage in his system.
Being only six years old, the amount of plastic that we see in his stomach is heartbreaking. It is difficult to say how long Walter will live — especially considering how young he is and the amount of pollution he has already ingested. What people don’t seem to understand is how detrimental the use of plastics is on our marine animals. One study completed in 2013 looked at the Loggerhead sea turtle species and found that nearly 15% of young turtles had already ingested such a significant amount of plastic that their digestive systems had already been blocked. Another study from 2013 suggested that almost 50% of sea turtles throughout the world are ingesting plastic at a record rate and are dying even faster because of it (1). We go to the grocery store and carry our products home in the plastic bags without thinking about these statistics. We take the plastic water bottle with our meals without considering where it might end up once we dispose of it. Humans are so ignorant to the harm we cause through these seemingly minor acts of pollution in our daily lives, but these plastics are a dangerous threat to so many marine species — not just sea turtles, but also our whales and dolphins, fish populations, seals and sea lions, and our seabirds. We are polluting our water at a frightening rate. We are putting animals like Walter at serious risk. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization states that in 2006, there was an estimated 46,000 pieces of plastic floating in every square mile of the ocean. This debris causes more than a million seabirds and more than 100,000 marine animals annually (2).
Plastic pollution affects the majority of all organisms that live in our oceans. Maintaining the balance of our ecosystems is so important to help preserve our own quality of life. In order to do this though, each of us must start making changes in our lifestyles — specifically in our reduction of plastic use. The idea itself seems simple enough, but plastics are a major part of our daily lives. Though a difficult transition at times, it is essential. A few examples to help guide people in the right direction might be to cut out the use of plastic straws in a beverage or taking your own more eco-friendly grocery bags to the store or drinking from a reusable water bottle instead of opting of the plastic option. Small steps in the direction towards saving marine animals like Walter are the best thing that each of us can do right now. The impacts that one person can make might seem small, but if each person were to make this necessary lifestyle change, the benefits made to our environment could be overwhelming! It’s up to us to save Walter and the countless other marine animal, so take this post to heart and really work to protect the animals that are so important to ensure the balance of our ecosystems.
Bibliography
Henn, C. These 5 Marine Animals Are Dying Because of Our Plastic Trash … Here’s How We Can Help https://www.onegreenplanet.org/animalsandnature/marine-animals-are-dying-because-of-our-plastic-trash/ (accessed Nov 6, 2018). 1
Facts and Figures on Marine Pollution http://www.unesco.org/new/en/natural-sciences/ioc-oceans/focus-areas/rio-20-ocean/blueprint-for-the-future-we-want/marine-pollution/facts-and-figures-on-marine-pollution/ (accessed Nov 6, 2018). 2
