The ocean is truly dying. The biggest threats to marine life is 1) the water is too dirty 2) the water is too hot. As a species, humans dump 17 billion pounds of trash into the ocean every year. There are now five plastic islands in the ocean some larger than Alaska. And that plastic will stay there, indefinitely growing, until someone physically picks it up. But we will see consequences long before these islands grow to reach to our coastlines.

By 2050 enough ice will have melted to raise the ocean 14-18 inches, oceans will carry more plastic than fish by weight, and over 90% of all coral is expected to have died. This will unleash waves of mass marine extinction for decades to come. That is less than 30 years from today.

Sea turtles are particularly important as they are of the few marine animals that eat sea grass. And what does that have to do with saving the the ocean from mass extinction? Well seagrass is not only a habitat for countless marine species, but also one of our greatest allies against climate change. Seagrass captures carbon up to 35 times faster than tropical rainforests and despite covering less than 0.1% accounts for 18% of the entire ocean’s carbon storage. Seagrass, much like land grass, needs to be constantly cut and maintained to stay healthy and continue expanding across the ocean floor. So Turtl Manifesto 2 without these ancient ocean lawnmowers the ocean would get significantly hotter exponentially faster meaning we could see ocean horrors in a much shorter time. Turtles are vulnerable both on land and in the water. Freshly hatched baby turtles choke on cigarette butts and other beach microplastic just minutes after being born. Adults on
the other hand are threatened by floating ocean plastic that ressemble jellyfish, sea turtles favorite meal, as well as replaces natural habitats with islands of trash. So we can tackle both the heat problem and the trash problem at once by cleaning up the environment and ensuring sea turtles thrive in our oceans. “Our project started as a beach cleanup to save turtles, and now the mission continues the same, with each wetsuit cleaning up 5lbs of trash” reveals Nestor Cano, CEO and Co-Founder of Turtl Project.

This commitment is echoed in every product release, with a direct connection to marine turtle conservation. From hatchlings struggling amidst plastic debris to adult turtles ensnared in discarded waste, Turtl Project’s mission transcends water sports gear – it’s a promise to create a healthier ocean ecosystem where turtles and marine life thrive, turning the plight of these creatures into a call for collective action.