Local Teacher Making an Environmental Difference
Topics: sea turtles, turtles, Mitchell Bolt, ocean, ocean conservation, bakersfield, students, teach, Teachers, save, hero, heroine, environment, help
Anonymous user Mon Mar 26, 2007 11:47:29 PDT
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1. Who is the Turtle Guy?
The “Turtle Guy” is an ocean advocate who, through education, attempts to affect change in the world by reaching out to the local community, especially children. Mitchell Bolt has spoken to more than 6 thousand Kern County elementary, middle, and high school students. "I designed two presentations, one for young children and one for teenagers and adults, about sea turtles, the causes of their rapid decline, and what we as responsible (hopefully!) stewards of this planet can do about it. My goal is to make enough of an impact on kids that they are then motivated to make better and/or different choices for the good of themselves and our planet.
I try to bring value to the environmental movement by bridging the gap between our small group of environmentalists and everybody else. Many environmentalists are ineffective at doing this because the masses perceive them as too extreme, and people immediately turn them off. In the education realm, this is death.The loud protests, the antagonism, and self-righteous stances tend to alienate the masses and ultimately hurt our cause.
I look, act, and speak “mainstream”. This is especially important in the community where I live as it is staunchly conservative and insensitive to environmental issues. And this makes it all that more important to be talking to the children of this community, since they’re not getting positive environmental messages at home.
I try to make the subject of sea turtles interesting and compelling, and never present a problem without also presenting the solution. Both of my presentations are absolutely solution oriented. Hopefully, in some way, it will create a tipping point for environmental sensitivity and global change."
2. Do Sea Turtles have rights?
"Absolutely. They have the right continue living. Sea turtles made the ocean their home a hundred million years before the dinosaurs existed. But in the last fifty years, this entire species has been almost completely wiped out due solely to human wastefulness."
3. Why are they endangered?
"First and most devastatingly, we inadvertedly drown them with our shrimp nets, gill nets, driftnets, and longlines. Second, we are poisoning them with our cruise and military ship garbage, chemicals, and storm drain litter that every day end up in the ocean. Third, we destroy their nesting habitat with our beachfront hotels, condominiums, and excessive lighting. Fourth, we continue to slaughter them for their skins and body parts, and steal their eggs from nesting beaches."
4. What kind of personalities or special qualities do Sea Turtle possess?
"Sea turtles are gentle, curious, and highly intelligent. Most of all, they are very mysterious. For centuries human cultures have revered mysterious sea turtles, and their importance has been paramount in myths and legends for thousands of years. "
5. How can people reading this Save a Turtle?
On our website (www.theturtleguy.org) we’ve listed a dozen things that anybody can do to save sea turtles. They are:
1) Don't eat shrimp (the most important)
2) Never purchase or use helium balloons
3) Recycle or properly dispose of all plastic bags
4) Don't take cruises
5) Pick up litter every time you visit the beach
6) Never pour motor oil or any chemical down a storm drain
7) Reduce your consumption (or no consumption) of all seafood
8) Always recycle
9) Regularly sweep the gutter in front of your house to keep it clean (more important than you might think!)
10) Join organizations that defend sea turtles / Adopt a sea turtle
11) Join organizations that defend our oceans
12) Share this list with others
6. What about Sea Turtles who get caught in fishing nets. What can be done to save them there?
"Since the number one killer of sea turtles is fishermen, the most effective action we can take on behalf of sea turtles is to NOT GIVE OUR MONEY TO THE FISHING INDUSTRY. Don’t buy or eat seafood."
7. Tell us a few things we should know about Sea Turtles.
1. Sea turtles are the world’s largest reptiles. The leatherback sea turtle can grow ten feet long and weigh two thousand pounds.
2. The armor plating that pattern a sea turtles face are as unique to each sea turtle as a fingerprint is to a human being.
3. After swimming in the ocean for thousands of miles during each one of these years, the female sea turtle is able to navigate her way back the her exact “natal” beach where she spent only the first five minutes of her life.
4. The Cado Indians of Oklahoma believe the Earth was once completely covered in water. According to their legend sea turtles brought individual grains of sand from the ocean to establish the land we now stand upon.
8. How can people contact you?
Log onto my website: www.theturtleguy.org.
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