Guilty

With wings of death
And crown of black
A sea monster more terrifying
Than any creature of the deep
Is this the epitome of man?
All pride for greedy production
So serene in self-destruction
If suicide is a crime
We would all be guilty

The Problem:

Bycatch is all the unwanted animals that accidentally get caught in fishing nets and lines. An estimated 300,000 whales, dolphins and porpoises die as bycatch each year, because they are unable to escape when caught in nets. 100,000 albatrosses are killed by longline fisheries every year and because of this, many species are facing extinction. Bycatch victims also include sea turtles, sharks, and other marine mammals. www.greenpeace.org/internation…

More than 100 million sharks are killed each year for their fins. Endangering many species who have suffered a population decline of 90-99%. To put that in perspective, imagine 9 out of every 10 person you know is dead. In comparison, only a few people are killed each year by sharks. That’s right, more people die from falling coconuts than sharks. blogs.scientificamerican.com/e…

Globally 100,000 marine mammals and sea turtles, and 1 million sea birds die every year from ingesting or becoming entangled in marine debris. www.seaturtlefoundation.org/th…

Oil spills happen everyday. About 20,000 oil spills are reported to the U.S. government annually, and that’s just America. It’s hard to estimate how many occur globally since not all spills are even reported. As long as we rely on fossil oil, spills will happen everyday and everywhere, but they happen so often that they don’t even make the news. Not only do the oil spills kill wildlife, but they also pollute the water and food chain, meaning the fish we eat contains toxins from the oil spills. www.good.is/post/big-oil-s-dir…

The Solution::

Pick up your trash. It’s not that hard. Don’t just throw plastic bags and other crap on the street. It’s going to get washed into the streams and oceans where it can choke and kill many endangered wildlife.

Recycle what you can. Those plastic bottles can be made into other things so don’t just trash them, recycle them.

Be conscious of what you eat. It’s nothing extreme like becoming a vegan. Helping endangered animals can be as simple as buying the right kind of seafood. The Monterey Bay Aquarium has many guides and free pocket books on which seafood is eco friendly to eat, and there are plenty of choices so it’s not the end of the world for your stomach, and better yet, it’s not going to be the end of the world for those endangered species. www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr…

Switch to a hybrid car if you can, or try to use more public transportation. You’ll save money on gas, and save the environment from toxic spills and global warming. Not only that, you can buy food from your local farmers market where food is locally grown, and not transported across the world by burning petroleum.

Lastly, spread the word. Education is the best cure. Many people don’t watch what they eat simply because they’re unaware of the environmental damage humans are causing. People need to understand that helping the environment is simply helping themselves. Once the over fished tuna goes extinct, and all the other animals that eat tuna also dies off, what’s there left for us? So even if you don’t care about the animals themselves, do it for yourself and your children. Don’t let anyone stay ignorant, because the future they ruin will be your future as well. Spread the word, reblog, share, tweet, word of mouth, do what you can to cure ignorance.

Thank you!