Ever since I was a child, I loved the natural environment. Having grown up in the inner-city area of South Los Angeles during the 70's and early 80's, with its limited access to greenspace, thick air pollution and the harsh noises of a big city, our back yard garden was my haven. As a child I was awed by all the creations there and I loved to explore and learn about every aspect of our miniature "jungle".
My father, an early proponent of Organic Gardening in the 70's, taught me the principle of working WITH the environment as a "wise Steward". He helped me to see the elegance and efficiency of natural systems, when they are given a space to do what they do best.
Beyond our home garden, my favorite place to spend time was the beach. The raw power of the churning ocean, the smell of the cool Pacific salt air mixed with the twang of composting kelp and the ever changing landscape of the sand was magical.
Now that I live on Florida's east coast, I have loved seeing sea turtles come to lay their eggs in nests above the high-water line. Each nesting site is identified, marked off with tape and monitored by local volunteers. It has been a pleasure to study and learn about these magnificent creatures.
Unfortunately, the more I learned the more it became clear that sea turtles are in a fight for survival. Destruction of habitat, the killing of sea turtles to use their shells in fashion and jewelry, the eating of sea turtle eggs and most critically of all, the impacts of pollution (specifically waterborne plastics) all work in concert to push for the sea turtle’s demise.
In the summer of 2022, against great odds the largest sea turtle nesting season in over a decade on Central Florida’s east coast occurred and things were finally looking up for the endangered sea turtles.
Then Fall came and with it the last 2 major hurricanes of the 2022 season hit Florida. Hurricane Ian and, within just a few weeks, Hurricane Nicole slashed the east coast of Central Florida. All remaining sea turtle nests with all the unhatched baby sea turtles were destroyed. Worse still, unprecedented erosion attacked the shoreline. Roads and buildings collapsed into the sea as the protective dunes were stripped away and carried out to the depths.
Unfortunately many of the nesting sites in Eastern Florida which have been used over the millennia by 5 of the 7 living species of sea turtles have become terribly degraded. The already endangered sea turtle has now lost ground where legions of volunteers have actively monitored and protected the nests for years.
The stark reality hit me of how precarious sea turtle survival really is. Nesting sites in other parts of the world have now become even more critical as the sites along our beloved Florida beaches are compromised. The challenge is that many of those beaches in other countries have no volunteers looking out for the sea turtles like we do here in Florida.
Wondering what I could do to help led me to research organizations already engaged in the struggle. What I found was encouraging. There have been many individuals and organizations engaged in doing a great work and have made great strides in the preservation and protection of sea turtles. One site in particular caught my eye and that was SEETurtles.org. Only one thing was in short supply for these organizations- funding.
One day as I was gazing over the ocean and meditating on these things an idea struck me. If I were to take my hobby of collecting of sea glass and turn it into jewelry, and sold it, I could take proceeds from the sales of that jewelry and use it to actually save baby sea turtles!
I was thrilled with the idea and loved the irony of being able to take what was once trash thrown into the sea as pollution and use it to make one-of-a-kind jewelry that could save threatened and endangered sea turtles.
And so, Tortuga Sea was born.
Now, we are expanding our offering to include fine silver, German silver, copper, brass and bronze jewelry, Larimar jewelry, Tagua vegetable ivory jewelry and figurines.
We are excited that our hand made one of a kind products will not only bring people joy and beauty, but will save thousands more baby sea turtles along the way! Join us in our fight to save baby sea turtles!
Thank you.
T0RTUGA Zack
