Save The Sea Turtles

The topic and issue that I chose to touch upon is saving the sea turtles by picking up trash before it reaches the ocean. This is a very big problem in our society because the trash that is getting to the oceans is killing our wildlife and affecting the environment as well as hurting our health. For this topic I chose to make five memes illustrating how we should not be littering and how we should be doing more to not have our plastics and trash be in our oceans. I then also connect these memes to how they are a type of propaganda. Also how and why they are persuading people to do the right thing by picking up trash. I lastly follow up by explaining how I had fun doing this assignment and my dislikes of the assignment.

The topic of picking up our trash and recycling is extremely important. By picking up our trash we are saving the wildlife in our oceans and keeping the poisons out as well. What I mean by this is that fish, turtles, and other wildlife are eating the trash that is making it into the oceans and killing them because they either can’t digest the trash or they are choking on the trash. This is really bad because it is killing species of fish and wildlife and it is making them become closer to extinction. As a result of this the sea turtles are becoming more and more scarce due to the trash and plastics in the ocean from people not recycling and throwing their trash away properly. The fish that are eating the plastics and able to digest them are living but the problem is that it is poisoning them. The fish that are big culprits of having this toxin inside of them are carp and tilapia. When they eat these plastics they are consuming the toxins which are pesticides and PCBs and when they are digested they stay in the fish and contaminate them( Simke,Forbes). When humans eat these fish they are also consuming the toxins and this affects the health of the humans eating them. We need to recycle and pick up the trash to reduce the pollutants getting into the oceans.

Memes really impact the way most people think growing up because it is a way to get information across while giving a little bit of humor as well. In my memes I have them get a point across while having a little humor as well. All of them are numbered at the top right to understand what meme is being explained. The first meme is Double D with his book of facts and he is showing the reader that picking up trash will save the sea turtles from extinction. This meme is an example of propaganda because it plays with the readers emotions. Which then tries to make the reader change their behavior to no longer litter if they do. But, also pick up litter in public and throw it away. For the second meme it is a meme with drake and he is putting his hand up saying no to not picking up litter but is really happy on the next picture when it says save the sea turtles. This meme is implying that if you don’t pick up litter you are not thinking about the oceans ecosystems and you are hurting the sea turtle livelihoods. When I created this meme I wanted it to make the reader think and I wanted to make the reader understand how the two things are related without actually telling them. Once the reader understands how the two are related they will want to stop littering and think about the sea turtles’ lives. The third is a meme of spider-man villains and it is to show that when we are picking up trash and plastic then we are happy. This is to make the reader see that when you pick up trash you will feel happy so it will push them to do it more often. The fourth picture is a picture of a three headed dragon with with one head that picks up litter another that likes to recycle and the third head is the type of person that likes to litter but he is depicted as looking really dumb. This is showing that if you litter then you look really dumb and the people that recycle and pick up litter look normal. Lastly the fifth meme is a presentation by Lisa Simpson saying stop littering it kills! I chose this choice of words because it is very profane and meaningful because it kills turtles, fish and humans that have been exposed to the toxins in the fish that have been eaten. This meme is supposed to target the hearts of people and it is supposed to get their attention with the language of killing being used.

What I really liked about this project was that we were allowed to have our own use of creativity. I liked how we could make anything we want on a short list of propaganda. I enjoyed making my memes and reflecting on how they are going to change the minds of people that see them. They will make people better understand what we have to do in order to save the lives of the fish and turtles that they are affecting. Also by keeping our food healthy to eat to save people. What I disliked about the topic was that I found it hard to find a topic that I really liked until I stumbled upon this topic of picking up litter in the streets to save the sea turtles. The other thing that I think could have been improved was the word count for the essay because I had trouble coming up with enough information about how I made my memes. Although in the end I really enjoyed my topic and had a lot of fun making my memes for the class.

Work cited

Mind Over Media: Propaganda Education for a Digital Age by Renee Hobbs (2020, W.W. Norton)

Simke, Ariella. “There Is Plastic In Your Fish.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 22 Jan. 2020