Sea turtles are beautiful, fascinating creatures, and they have inspired some of our most beloved pieces of jewelry. We want to do something for them, so we’ve partnered with SEE Turtles, a charity dedicated to saving and promoting sea turtles. We’ll give $1 from every sale to support SEE Turtles work, and each dollar can save five baby turtles.
Around the world, every species of sea turtle is in danger from multiple threats. They get caught in fishing nets. Poachers hunt the turtles for their meat, eggs and shells. Climate change and human activity are destroying their habitats. Pollution, particularly plastic debris, chokes and ensnares turtles, who easily ingest our trash when feeding. And tragically, they are killed for their beautiful shells, which people covet for jewelry and decoration – despite international laws to protect them.
Education through Eco-Tourism
Education is the key to saving sea turtles. That’s why we at Ocean Jewelry are so excited about the work SEE Turtles does. They work to educate school children as well as teens and adults. Their outreach to schools includes resources and lesson plans as well as class presentations and field trips. SEE Turtles brings middle school, high school and college students and community youth groups to Mexico and Costa Rico for unforgettable, hands-on conservation work with local researchers. SEE Turtles also works with local partners throughout Latin America to train and inspire teachers to educate the next generation about sea turtles and their role in the environment.
They also have education programs for those of us who are not students. SEE Turtles organizes trips to locations around the world to give supporters the chance to see the turtles and learn about their habitat, the threats they face and the efforts to protect them. (It’s also a great way to see the world and learn about other places and cultures!) Currently, the countries they visit are Mexico, Costa Rica, Belize, Columbia, Cuba and Nicaragua. The trips are all different, but generally last about a week.
Other Ways SEE Turtles Helps Sea Turtles
SEE Turtles’ Billion Baby Turtles is a multi-pronged fundraising effort to boost the survival rates of hatchling sea turtles. These little ones have a very low survival rate – only one in a thousand make it to adulthood. But it takes just one dollar to help five of them make it. And we will donate one dollar for each purchase of Ocean Jewelry, so when you buy one gorgeous sea turtle necklace (or any other piece), you save five real turtle hatchlings. Supporters can also do a symbolic ‘adoption’ of baby turtles, and they receive an assortment of gifts when they do, including a plush turtle for gifts of $35 and more.
Too Rare to Wear is another campaign by SEE Turtles to raise awareness of the damage done to sea turtles when humans use their shells for jewelry and other items. (And why wear turtle shell when you can wear our stunning sea turtle jewelry and support real turtles instead?!)
This is a great time to shine a spotlight on SEE Turtles and the work they do. They are celebrating their tenth anniversary this year! It’s a remarkable milestone, and they are eager to protect more turtles in their next decade of work. Ocean Jewelry is proud to help SEE Turtles help the sea turtles.
