Essay/Term paper: It's tough being a turtle

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Science Research Papers

It"s Tough Being a Turtle


Everyday, I go about my daily activities of slowly waking up, taking a walk with my family to the Mississippi River, bathing daily, and many other activities. Sometimes I just enjoy sitting on the shore with the water splashing up on me every once in a while. Occasionally, when we"re hungry my friends and I hunt for mussels or clams along the river bank. We basically go about doing our own thing. Sporadically something exciting happens, like when my mother laid her eggs, but usually nothing too thrilling occurs. I don"t really see too many humans or human activity where I live, but my buddies downstream say they"ve seen more than they"ve wanted to. So from what I"ve heard, I"m pretty lucky in that I do not have to deal with them too much.
Contrary to my regular sightings, when I was walking sluggishly down to the river one day, a group of teenagers came striding down the hill after me. They were pretty noisy and disturbing. They walked right by, not even noticing me. I watched them throw rocks in the river. I think they were trying to see how many times they could skip them or something like that. They all seemed a little barbaric to me, like they had never seen a body of water before. They splashed around in it hooting and hollering.
Finally, after playing around for a few hours, they decided to eat lunch. I kept on watching them because I found them quite amusing. After unwrapping their sandwiches and opening their soda cans, they began to feast. Next thing I knew, they were done eating and wadding up their trash. I could not believe my eyes at the next thing they did—they threw the trash in the river! Those silly teenagers had littered in my home. By that time, I was very upset.
Soon after their display of stupidity, they packed up and left. As they walked past me again to leave, I stared into the river. I could not understand why those kids had done that. All they had to do was pack it up along with the rest of their things and take it to the nearest trash can. I guess they just don"t know what they are doing to animals like me, my friends, and their own water supply.
Do they not realize that these substances remain in the water and can make it poisonous for most forms of life? Even biodegradable pollutants can damage a water supply for long periods of time. As any form of contamination accumulates, life within the water starts to suffer. Many species of plants and animals have become endangered or are now extinct because of this. Not only does it effect us in the water, it exposes people all around the globe to new risks from disease. I guess they just don"t even know that the extent of environmental pollution caused by humans is already so great that some scientists question whether the Earth can continue to support life unless it is immediately corrected. I really love being who I am, but it"s days like these when it is really tough being a turtle.