I have teamed up with three other people from the class for the final project. We are also writing a children’s book but ours has a different approach on how the message of climate change will be portrayed. We came up with the idea that a group of kids are going on a trip to the zoo. They are eager to see the animals but soon realize that majority of the cages are empty and the animals are gone. Each person in our group will focus on one animal to write and illustrate on. The layout with be similar to IDP:2043 where there will be a continuous story line but each page will have its own unique style.

I chose research sea turtles for my portion of the final project. I lived on the beach in Florida for around 10 years so I am familiar with sea turtles and their habitat. I learned that the seven existing species of marine turtles are critically endangered. Sea turtles can produce around 100 eggs but very few survive, mostly due to natural causes. While living in Florida, I learned that when baby sea turtles hatch, they migrate towards light-usually the moon light. Sometimes, the babies take street lamps as the natural light and therefore never make it towards the ocean.  “Most marine turtle species spend much of their lives in continental shelf waters. Males do not leave the sea and females only come ashore to lay their eggs on sandy beaches during the appropriate season. During the nesting season, mature males and females migrate from feeding grounds and mate near the nesting beach.” In one of the smaller discussion groups in class, the rising of sea levels was mentioned. If sea turtles are not able to reach the sand to lay eggs, then the entire species will become extinct.

In a few articles we have read on adaptation, building sea walls to protect from flooding was one of the top choices to prepare for the future climate. Sea walls “change long-shore drift patterns and can cause erosion or destruction of entire beach sections” therefore making it harder for the sea turtles to rest upon shore. Also, the feeding habitats for turtles such as coral reefs are being destroyed by “sedimentation, insensitive tourist development, destructive fishing techniques and climate change.”

The main influence that climate change has on the life of sea turtles is that “increase in global temperatures could change the proportion of female and male turtle hatchlings and could result in marine turtle populations becoming unstable.” With sea turtles, the outside temperature controls the sex of the egg. For example, the colder temperatures produce male offspring, while females tend to hatch in warmer weather. If the temperatures continue to fluctuate, one sex may possibly overpower the other making it difficult to reproduce.

The book will close with the zookeeper telling the students why most of the animals are gone thus introducing climate change and global warming to the reader.

http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/endangered_species/marine_turtles/