On Greta Beach, Christmas Island, a staggering sight was caught by an environmental scholar and shared by PTS Our Island. A mother turtle who returned to her place of birth to lay eggs found herself amongst a sea of garbage. Surrounded by the plastic trash and other items discarded by the human visitors of the beach, the animal had no chance of making a nest and laying eggs the way it should naturally happen for the species. Instead, she had to leave her eggs on a trash heap.
Once the baby turtles hatched, they were welcomed by the exact same landscape and had to struggle desperately to make it out to the ocean. These animals deserve better.
It is estimated that around 270,000 tons of plastic are now floating on the surface of the ocean. This overwhelming amount of pollution currently threatens 700 different marine species with extinction – and that number will only continue to grow over the years unless we ALL act!
To find out how to help the planet by cutting down on plastic, check out One Green Planet’s #CrushPlastic campaign!
There is a mis-representation in this article that the plastic trash on this beach is discarded by the human visitors to the beach – this is incorrect. Greta Beach is one of our turtle nesting beaches on Christmas Island, with Dolly Beach being the other – turtles nest here all year round. Greta Beach is located on the East Coast of Christmas Island, and is subject to receiving much debris, mostly from the southern Indonesian islands and Sumatra. Christmas Island residents are very proud of our Island, and are against ocean plastic pollution, especially as we see first hand the potential harm it causes to the marine life who chose Christmas Island as their home. You may be interested in this article by Dr Peter Green "Greta\’s Garbo: stranded seeds and fruits on Greta Beach, Christmas Island, Indian Ocean" (Google it) – although it concentrates on seeds and fruits, it gives a good indication as to where the debris on the beach comes from – and unfortunately over the past 16 years since this paper was written, the plastic pollution problem worldwide has increased. There are many concerned citizens and groups on Christmas Island which do their best to tackle the marine debris problem, including Island Care Christmas Island, and the Christmas Island District High School – all of which arrange beach cleanups on Greta on a regular basis to provide the best opportunities for our nesting turtles.