WHY SEA TURTLES ARE CRITICAL TO OCEAN HEALTH
Join us in celebrating Earth Day! Since it first began in 1970 – which some say was the birth of the modern environmental movement – April 22nd has grown from just a few U.S. cities to become an international phenomenon with over 1 billion people attending events in almost every country.
Earth Day serves as a reminder of the role we all have in protecting this beautiful planet. It's what we at Gimme aim to do every day. Our mission is to bring delicious, nutritious seaweed into the snacking spotlight not only because it makes a great snack, but also because it’s the most environmentally-sustainable vegetable in the world.
In terms of earth-friendliness, seaweed is somewhat of a miracle. It helps capture greenhouse gases: the world’s seaweed absorbs 2x more CO2 than the entire Amazon rainforest! It helps de-acidify oceans, which supports the healthy growth of coral reefs. And unlike land agriculture, seaweed requires no fresh water, land, or chemicals to grow.
Our focus this Earth Day is on one of its amazing ocean inhabitants: sea turtles. They can live to 100 years, hold their breath for 5 hours underwater and have been around 110 million years! They eat mostly seagrass – and jellyfish from time to time. And while they can be found in waters all over the world, almost every species of sea turtle is classified as endangered.
But sea turtles are really important: they are a “keystone species” – meaning they perform a key role in ocean ecosystem health, and their absence would significantly impact other wildlife and fauna.
- They help beaches – eggs that don’t hatch provide nutrients for coastal vegetation.
- They help other species - turtle hatchlings are an important food source for other animals; birds, fish and mammals all rely on plentiful hatchlings to survive during their own nesting season.
- They keep seagrass bed healthy as they graze – and seagrass is critical for other ocean species. Seagrass beds also absorb and store carbon.
We are proud of our ongoing partnership with Sea Turtle Conservancy and thrilled to support their incredible work of ensuring the survival of sea turtles through research, education, training, advocacy and protection of their natural habitats. We’re also excited to feature the photographer Ben Hick’s gorgeous shots of sea turtles on social media and our website.
We wish you a very happy Earth Day! And remember, every time you eat some seaweed, it’s a little bit of love for our wonderful planet – maybe that’s one more reason it tastes so good!