Hours of Operation: Mon - Fri 8:00am - 8:00pm

WELCOME TO THE OCEAN LIVES MATTER WEBSITE

(Still Under Construction/Copyright for each child participant/2023)

This website was designed by Aiyani, Bryan, Keira, Keya, Lorelei and Ni'ma to encourage less pollution impacting our oceans and the ocean lives of people, of sealife, of beaches, and of those who use the ocean to earn a living and to enjoy spending time there.

WHAT DO SEA TURTLES EAT

Informative Essay by Bryan


Did you know that there are seven different species of sea turtles and they all eat different things? Sea turtles live in all of the world's oceans with the exception of the Arctic and Southern Ocean.l


Unfortunately pollution is also found in every ocean in the world.More than half of the world's sea turtles have eaten plastic waste and 1,000 sea turtles die every year from it.


Depending on where sea turtle live, they can change what they eat.


   Most baby sea turtles are omnivores, which means they eat both plants and animals. But different species of adult sea turtles can change from being omnivores to just being carnivores or herbivores. Did you know that sea turtles do not have teeth? They use their hard beak made out of keratin to grasp their food.   


  Adult Sea Turtles Types of Sea Turtles What Their Favorite Foods Are


Loggerhead favoring crabs, whelks, and conchs.


Green scrape off seagrass and algae from coral reefs. 


Hawksbill eat just sea sponges.


Leatherback only eat invertebrates such as jellyfish and sea squirts.


Flatback eats everything from seaweed to shrimp and crabs.


Kemp’s Ridley Enjoy crabs, fish, jellies, shrimp, and mollusks.


Olive Ridley Eats jellies, sea cucumbers, fish, and a wide variety of plants. 


Pollution is found in many sea turtles habitats. They have to deal with plastic waste, oil spills and chemical runoff. Lots of sea turtles eat plastic, for example plastic bags look like jellyfish floating in the ocean.


A lot of sea turtles eat jellyfish and other invertebrates.


When oil gets spilled into the ocean it will create tar balls


If a sea turtle eats a tar ball it will get very sick and can die. Another way pollution gets into the oceans is when farmers use fertilizers. The runoff can pollute the nearby streams and rivers that lead to the oceans. Scientists have proven that the increase in certain chemicals are responsible for an increase in bacteria blooms known as red tides. Scientists have found that 22% of sea turtles that eat plastic will die. Even if the sea turtles don't die they can be unnaturally buoyant which will affect their health for the rest of their life. When they are unnaturally buoyant, sea turtles can not dive down to the seafloor to eat and have to rely on what they can find floating in the ocean. Sea turtles can get very sick from swimming through or eating foods that have been affected by Red Tides.


Sea turtles have been known as bioindicators for the health of our oceans because they are found in most of the world's oceans. There have been sea turtles swimming through our oceans since the time of

dinosaurs. Scientists off the coast of China discovered a 220 million year old sea turtle fossil.


With all of the pollution in the oceans almost all of the sea turtle species are in danger. Scientists suggest that 52 percent of all world's sea turtles have eaten plastic. 

You can do your part by reducing plastic pollution with recycling and reducing single-use plastic items. If you want to learn even more about what sea turtles eat and how it affects their health you can visit seaturtle.org and worldwildlife.org to learn even more.

  









Keya's Poster 1


The Future of Human Life Depends on the Ocean

Jacque Cousteau said that the sea is "the universal sewer."  "Water and air, the two essential fluids on which all life depends, have become global garbage cans."

Lorelei's Animated Helper

Everyone needs to help in whatever way they can because ocean lives are being harmed by the things that people are doing. Lorelei created Bill, along with more than 30 additional animated characters, to try to help us stop polluting.

Keya's Poster 2


Keira's Dance to "Calypso"

Original Choreography Developed by Keira

To sail on a dream on a crystal clear ocean        (Sailing and dreaming motions)

To ride on the crest of a wild raging storm            (Spinning like a tornado or water spout and raging)

To work in the service of life and the living            (Working motions along with motions related to life)

In search of the answers to questions unknown     (Seeking and thinking motions)

To be part of the movement and part of the growing    (Movement and growing motions)

Part of beginning to understand     (Thinking movements with a sudden understanding movement)


CHORUS (free movements of choice):

Aye, Calypso, the places you've been toThe things that you've shown usThe stories you tellAye, Calypso, I sing to your spiritThe men who have served youSo long and so wellOlole iiiii, ololo ululululuOlole iiii, ololo uu


Like the dolphin who guides you

(Swimming movements with hands)
You bring us beside you

(Hug or enveloping movements)
To light up the darkness and show us the way

(Turning on light and a "come on" movement)


For though we are strangers in your silent world

(



To live on the land, we must learn from the sea

(

To be true as the tide

(
And free as the wind-swell

(


Joyful and loving in letting it be.


Joyful and loving in letting it be


Aye, Calypso, the places you've been toThe things that you've shown usThe stories you tellAye, Calypso, I sing to your spiritThe men who have served youSo long and so well


Aye, Calypso, the places you've been toThe things that you've shown usThe stories you tellAye, Calypso, I sing to your spiritThe men who have served youSo long and so wellOlole iiiii, ololo ululululuOlole iiii, ololo uu  

Lorelei's Animated Slide Presentations

Experimenting with Google slides, Lorelei decided to create and animate some new characters for the purpose of demonstrating the harm people can do when they ignore the habitat of ocean lives. The dolphin, in particular, was designed to dance in the background as part of Keira's presentation of "Calypso." Calypso is the research ship that Jacque Cousteau used to explore the ocean and educate others about the importance of taking better care of it. John Denver wrote the song and lyrics to the song, "Calypso."

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Example Subheading

This is just example text. Click to edit and add your own content. This section design focuses primarily on text-content, which can be used to communicate information to your website viewers. You don't need any professional writing experience to create great text-content, all you need is an idea and a keyboard.

Ni'ma's Pirate Story

Ni'ma is very good at writing script and has already written a book with more than 35 chapters. She shared this shorter story to help children understand the importance of taking better care of our oceans. The story is called "A Pirates' Love."

Chapter One: A Voyage to "Paradise"

A pirate named Gusto was a crew member upon a ship called "Dolphina." They were sailing to find a treasure on an island called Ariel. On this island, they hoped to find food and treasure. But because of the island's begrimed condition, no food would grow.  Gusto was heartbroken seeing as though this Island had become a wasteland.


 When Gusto saw that a turtle was tangled in plastic and dross. He called the crew and was determined to fix it.  He assembles his men and gather some waste bins. Some Men were lazy and did not want to clean this rubbished island. Instead of Forcing them Gusto told them something that they would think back to.  He said "When those who litter and debris, Are those who ruin the health of the world." He finshed, "The ocean provides water for plants and animals to drink. When they do not have a clean ecosystem, they become unheathy and sick. DO you not eat the same as they do?"  



Chapter Two:

 The men then an felt uneasy pool in their stomachs as they noticed the poor turtle that laid on the ocean bank covered in muck.  They pick up their shovels and got to work.  Yes, It may have take all night and day but what's better than a health place to lay? When it was done, they felt this serene feeling in their hearts.  

OCEAN LIVES MATTER: A Limerick Created By Aiyani

Ocean lives matter because oceans produce lots of stuff.


With dirty poisoned oceans, our lives could be so rough.

So pick up your trash.

Don't be so rash.

You're making life tough. STOP! ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!

Bryan's Plea

Did you know that a lot of plastics are polluting the oceans around the world? All of the

trash that people dump into the oceans is harmful to the sea life that has to live there. If more

people would understand how important it is to reduce, recycle, and reuse plastics then we may

be able to save the endangered species of sea turtles. If people would stop using larger

cleaning bottles, like laundry soap, dish detergent, shampoo, and window cleaners and start

using reusable Eco Friendly Products such as Mother Nature’s Cleaning or Nature’s Best that

reuse the same bottles, to reduce the amount of plastic we use.


Another way we can reduce the amount of plastic in our oceans is to stop using plastic

grocery bags. Instead of using disposable plastic grocery bags, People could be using reusable

shopping bags that can be used more than once. Reusable plastic shopping bags are made

from recycled plastics that also helps reduce the amount of plastic we find in our oceans.

Disposable plastic grocery bags resemble jellyfish when they are floating in the ocean, and sea

turtles accidentally eat them thinking that they are food. This makes the sea turtles very sick

and kills about 1,000 sea turtles every year.

Did you know that over 300 million plastic Ziploc bags ends up in the Atlantic Ocean

every year. Most families use about 500 Ziploc bags every year. New York City dumps a lot of its

trash in the ocean because there is no room for landfills. Even families that are just visiting the

beach can leave plastics like, sandwich bags, potato chip bags, snack wrappers and plastic

silverware on the beach to end up in the ocean. 10% of all plastic used ends up in the ocean

making over 150 million tons of plastic in the oceans at given any time. If people were to start

using reusable glass containers we would help out our sea turtle friends.

It takes over 400 years for plastic to break down naturally. This means every plastic

water and soda bottle that you use will sit in a landfill or the ocean, if not recycled, for over 4

centuries polluting our planet. Environmentalists pulled 5 tons of plastic waste from the Pacific

and Atlantic Oceans in 2018 and reused it to make The Bruges Whale sculpture. This 40 foot

tall whale sculpture nicknamed “Skyscraper” which is in Belgium and stands to show the world

just how much plastic pollution is floating in our oceans. The floating seaweed and kelp beds all

over the world's oceans are the natural habitat of baby sea turtles. Lots of plastic waste and

pollution like soda caps, plastic soda rings and snack wrappers end up floating in baby turtle

homes. The turtle eats the plastic not knowing that it will hurt them. Marine biologists estimate

that more than 700 marine species, everything from the large blue whales to sharks, sea turtle

and ray have been found to ingest plastics from our oceans. Even the smallest barnacles in the

oceans are affected by plastics.

Only 10 states in the U.S. have deposits on plastic water and soda bottles. If more states

would pass laws to have a mandatory deposit on plastic bottles, people would be more likely to

return or recycle them. Some states like New York and California have passed laws that banned

the use of plastic grocery bags. These laws help to greatly reduce the amount of plastic that

gets into our oceans. Another way that People can help is to reuse plastic bottles and

containers. They can be used to make bird feeders, piggy banks or even a terrarium. These are

only some of the many ways that we as a community can help protect our oceans and its sea

life.