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Two days ago, I had the privilege of hearing world-renowned ocean explorer Jean-Michel Cousteau speak at an intimate Ocean’s Day event in Sacramento, CA. Mr. Cousteau gave us a first-hand account of how endangered our beautiful oceans, and those living in it, are. We saw his personal footage of uninhabited islands, whose shores were littered with garbage from over 50 different countries, as evidenced by the language that was on the various product labeling. We watched mother birds regurgitate, what should have been simply fish, a mixture of fish and garbage, right into the guts of their babies. We saw many dead birds, whose partially decomposed bodies showed an abundance of various pieces of trash in their stomachs. This experience, which alone made a profound and lasting impact on me, came in conjunction with my being made recently aware of the plight of the endangered Olive Ridley sea turtle. The Orissa coast, which is along the eastern shore of India, is home to the largest of only three nesting sites for the Olive Ridley sea turtle. Every winter, hundreds of thousands of these endangered animals mate in the shallow parts of these waters, with the females then traveling ashore for a mass nesting. According to the WILD Foundation, 2008 was the first time that this did not happen on Orissa beach. WILD reports that the threats facing these turtles along Orissa beach include trawlers, gill netting and environmental factors such as global warming. And now, on top of all of this, there are plans to construct a new port along the beach. One of the biggest reasons that I became an animal advocate is to be a voice for those who could not speak for themselves. I am now coming to realize, however, that our animals are also advocates. They advocate on behalf of the environment, and in this situation, they have spoken quite loudly. When you stop and think about it, hundreds of thousands of turtles were a no-show for an instinctual mating ritual. I cannot even fathom the magnitude of a signal like that. As we continue to encroach on their territory with our over-development of their habitat and use of equipment and machinery that destroys them, they are silently retreating, en mass, to preserve their species. At what point do we recognize that our actions are hurting our wildlife, our environment, and ultimately, us? We have become so concerned with development, mass production, and cost-savings that we are failing to see how we are destroying our precious resources. When our wildlife goes on a massive mating strike; it’s time to pay attention. Their actions are speaking much more loudly than any of our words, and their actions are saying that we are headed towards vastly dangerous territory. I implore my readers to get involved and help stop development of the mating grounds of the endangered Olive Ridley sea turtle. To learn how you can help, please visit: http://tinyurl.com/oliveridleyturtles To learn more about the WILD Foundation, and their conservation efforts, please visit: www.wild.org
If I didn't know better I would swear you were hired