The Last Straw

© 2020 Pam Ferris-Olson

This stylish green sea turtle is the subject of The Last Straw. A green sea turtle contributes to healthy sea grass beds and coral reefs, areas valuable to a host of commercial marine species including shrimp and lobster. The turtle’s survival is endangered due to global warming, habitat loss, unintended entanglement in fishing gear, human consumption of their eggs and meat, and plastic pollution.

Plastic pollution is particularly problematic because the ingestion of even one item can be deadly as a result of suffocation or intestinal blockage and slow starvation. Sharp plastic objects such as straws can rupture a turtle’s internal organs leading to hemorrhages.