​

today, I got to watch a rehabilitated sea turtle be released back into the ocean. there were hundreds of people there to watch this single turtle, named Nicklen, be returned to his home. it was an inspiring sort of event.

but what really bothered me was the sort of hypocrisy of it all. people were dropping plastic water bottles on the beach, and there was outlet runoff of dirty water being pumped into the ocean right where the turtles are always released. 

I don’t know what it will take for the world to realize we need to take preventative action, or be proactive at correcting our mistakes, instead of doing the bare minimum. how many sea turtles have to be injured/killed before we realize that plastic waste kills? 

that is on such a small, narrow scale. Did you know that the Artic is 36 degrees above normal temperatures? Did you know that in many Chinese cities people can’t even go outside because the air is unhealthy to breath? 

these are all problems caused by humans. they aren’t far off problems we learn about in 5th grade biology and never hear about again. these things are happening. we need to do something about it. 

so yes, today was a joyous moment of a now healthy turtle being returned to nature. it was exhilarating to watch and made my heart happy. but we need to do so much more. 

thank you to loggerhead marinelife center at Juno Beach for all the work you do!!