The Turtle Guy Interview
By Claudette Vaughan

Mitchell Bolt is known as “The Turtle Guy”. Here’s why.

Abolitionist: Who is the Turtle Guy?

The Turtle Guy: The “Turtle Guy” is an ocean advocate who, through education, attempts to affect change in the world by reaching out to the local community, especially children. I designed two presentations, one for young children and one for teenagers and adults, about sea turtles, the causes of their rapid decline, and what we as responsible (hopefully!) stewards of this planet can do about it. My goal is to make enough of an impact on kids that they are then motivated to make better and/or different choices for the good of themselves and our planet. In short, if the kids I’m speaking with walk away from my presentation and do nothing differently, I have failed.

I try to bring value to the environmental movement by bridging the gap between our small group of environmentalists and everybody else. Many environmentalists are ineffective at doing this because the masses perceive them as too extreme, and people immediately turn them off. In the education realm, this is death. Once your audience has turned you off, you’re wasting your time. The loud protests, the antagonism, and self-righteous stances tend to alienate the masses and ultimately hurt our cause.

I look, act, and speak “mainstream”. This is especially important in the community where I live as it is staunchly conservative and insensitive to environmental issues. And this makes it all that more important to be talking to the children of this community, since they’re not getting positive environmental messages at home.

I try to make the subject of sea turtles interesting and compelling, and never present a problem without also presenting the solution. There’s nothing worse than going to a boring lecture and listening to someone drone on and on about a problem without addressing a solution. Both of my presentations are absolutely solution oriented.

All important change in the world begins on a grass roots level. I hope my efforts contribute, in some small way, toward creating a tipping point for environmental sensitivity and global change.

Abolitionist: Do Sea Turtles have rights?

The Turtle Guy: Absolutely. They have the right to continue living. Sea turtles made the ocean their home a hundred million years before the dinosaurs existed. So it is absolutely appalling that this entire species has been almost completely wiped out in the last fifty years due solely to human wastefulness.

Abolitionist: Why are they endangered?

The Turtle Guy: They are four careless things that humans have done and continue to do that have brought sea turtles to the brink of extinction.

First and most devastatingly, we inadvertedly drown them with our shrimp nets, gill nets, driftnets, and longlines. Second, we are poisoning them with our cruise and military ship garbage, chemicals, and storm drain litter that every day end up in the ocean. Third, we destroy their nesting habitat with our beachfront hotels, condominiums, and excessive lighting. Fourth, we continue to slaughter them for their skins and body parts, and steal their eggs from nesting beaches.

The only good news here is that since we (humans) are the ones who started this destruction, we have the power to end it.

Abolitionist: What kind of personalities or special qualities do Sea Turtle possess?

The Turtle Guy: Sea turtles are gentle, curious, and highly intelligent. Most of all, they are very mysterious. For centuries human cultures have revered mysterious sea turtles, and their importance has been paramount in myths and legends for thousands of years. Even modern scientists, with all of their sophisticated information gathering technology, are baffled by the life cycle and behavior of sea turtles. These ancient creatures leave us with more questions than answers.

Abolitionist: How can people reading this, Save a Turtle?

The Turtle Guy: I thought you would never ask! On our website (www.theturtleguy.org) we’ve listed a dozen things that anybody can do to save sea turtles. They are:

1) Don't eat shrimp (the most important)
2) Never purchase or use helium balloons
3) Recycle or properly dispose of all plastic bags
4) Don't take cruises
5) Pick up litter every time you visit the beach
6) Never pour motor oil or any chemical down a storm drain
7) Reduce your consumption (or no consumption) of all seafood
8) Always recycle
9) Regularly sweep the gutter in front of your house to keep it clean (more important than you might think!)
10) Join organizations that defend sea turtles / Adopt a sea turtle
11) Join organizations that defend our oceans
12) Share this list with others

Abolitionist: What about the Sea Turtles who get caught in fishing nets. What can be done to save them there?

The Turtle Guy: The way we show our support or opposition for something in our society is by how we spend our money. Since the number one killer of sea turtles is fishermen, the most effective action we can take on behalf of sea turtles is to NOT GIVE OUR MONEY TO THE FISHING INDUSTRY. If enough people stopped supporting the seafood industry, sea turtles just might survive. Never forget that we are a completely consumption driven society. So what can be for sea turtles who get caught in fishing nets? Simple: Don’t participate in it! Don’t buy or eat seafood.

Abolitionist: Tell us 10 things we should know about Sea Turtles.

The Turtle Guy: Sea turtles are the world’s largest reptiles. The leatherback sea turtle can grow ten feet long and weigh two thousand pounds.

1. Most reptiles and some mammals (cats for example) have diamond shaped pupils. Sea turtles have round pupils, just like humans.

2. The armor plating or “scutes” that pattern a sea turtles face are as unique to each sea turtle as a fingerprint is to a human being. Marine biologists who work with sea turtles become able to recognize individual turtles, just as you would recognize an old friend by looking at their face.

3. Sea turtles migrant up to 10,000 miles each year from feeding grounds to breeding grounds.

4. It takes between fifteen to fifty for sea turtles to reach reproductive maturity. Yet after swimming in the open ocean for thousands of miles during each one of these years, the female sea turtle is able to navigate her way back the her exact “natal” beach where she spent only the first five minutes of her life.

5. Sea turtles love to munch on shrimp, sea cucumbers, squid, sea grass, algae, and crabs.

6. Both the black and the green sea turtle eat shrimp when they are babies, but become strict vegetarians upon reaching adulthood.

7. The Cado Indians of Oklahoma believe the Earth was once completely covered in water. According to their legend sea turtles brought individual grains of sand from the ocean to establish the land we now stand upon.

8. Although they breath air like you and me, sea turtles can remain under water for up to four hours.

10. Only people, working collectively, can save them.

Abolitionist: What kind of parents do they make?

The Turtle Guy: If you look up the term “tough love” in the dictionary, you may see a picture of a sea turtle. Momma sea turtles bury their eggs in the sand and then return to the water, leaving hatchings to incubate and find the ocean completely on their own. Ancient folklore tells us that momma sea turtles cry when they lay their eggs because they’ll never see their babies.

Abolitionist: Where do Sea Turtles like to hang out?

The Turtle Guy: Sea turtles generally prefer warmer, temperate waters located around the equator. Popular nesting spots are the Caribbean, eastern United States, South and Central America, Mexico, Hawaii, Australia, Indonesia, Africa, and India.

Abolitionist: How can people contact you?

The Turtle Guy: You can contact me by logging onto my website: www.theturtleguy.org. You can also make a promise to help save sea turtles by clicking on http://www.theturtleguy.org/SaveaSeaTurtle.html.