In my early childhood, together with my parents we visited a turtle station in Sergipe, Brazil. Since then I’ve been fascinated by the peaceful animal. From turtle t-shirts to turtle toys. It’s what I loved. But I’d never really thought about what they meant to the ocean.
At school, we always learnt how plastic was endangering marine life. We talk about it without end in some classes and then the next day we’d move on. It always made me upset but I never really did anything about because what could a small girl like me do for the animals.
Recently I went surfing on the shores of Oahu, Hawaii, by far one of the best vacations in one of the most beautiful place I have ever seen. One day next to my surf board a large sea turtle surfaced to take a breath and swam right past me. I realized that in many places in the world their habitats have become polluted with pieces of plastic which endangered the most beautiful animal I ever knew.
I thought about the different things I could do to help. It was hard because I couldn’t think I could make much of an impact. However, I remembered seeing an article by National Geographic about the straw bans going on around the world. Some places weren’t going to get rid of them but they would have to if no one asked for them. So, I bought reusable metal straws.
I figured there could be more I could do and what if everyone had their own reusable straws. I decided to start doing my part to help sea turtles by taking small steps to eliminate some of the dangerous materials we use on a daily basis and inspire other to do the same.