My name is Chelonia mydas but you can call me Chelly for short. I am a green sea turtle and I live in a coral reef off the shore of the Caribbean. My home is in danger and I need help to save it. The coral reef that I live in is being threatened by the change in climate and effects of the human beings.

       Some of the things going on are the warming of the ocean and fishing and the carbon dioxide evaporating from oil and fossil fuels in the air. My home is in danger because of all these things and my home isn’t the only one in danger by these things. Not only is it my home but my coral reef is inhabiting thousands of different species, I guess that’s why it’s called the rainforest of the sea. I hear that if no changes are made right away that by the year 2050 every coral reef in the world will be threatened by these problems.

  You may be wondering why you should care about what happens to coral reefs and I can surely tell you why you need to care about them. Coral reefs protect coast lines from damaging shores that humans live on and they provide species of fish that humans sell and eat. Coral reefs inhabits more than 25 percent of all oceans marine species which is a lot. Without sea turtles the ecosystem will weaken which will have harmful effects on humans. If just my family alone losing our home effects humans negatively, can you even imagine what the effects of all marine species losing their coral reefs would mean for humans?  

           My family has been living in these oceans for more than 150 million years in our coral reef homes and the fact that things have gotten so bad now is crazy about how much has been ruined since the beginning. I want to be able to have a family one day and watch my children swim through this reef but that can’t happen if pollution and global warming don’t stop. Too much of my home has been taken already and it saddens all the community because we don’t know how much longer we will be able to stay here. I am going tonight to talk to our coral reef leader her name is Asteroidia, she’s a starfish and we usually just call her Aster for short. She was attached to a dolphin for years and swam around the world with their pod. They told her all the secrets and stories of the ocean and they even told her everything they know about the human world. We go to her for everything now because she is the wisest.

     I entered her sea grass where she was eating her dinner. I called her name and said “we need your help to save our reef.” she approached me slowly and said “The only hope for our home is the humans to change their pattern of life.” “I know what the humans were doing I just don’t know how to stop them or change them.” I said. Aster said “ we need to call out to the dolphins and get them to tell the land birds and carry the information to the humans.” The land birds would go to the parrots who knew how to communicate with the humans. I went home and just sat there and thought of what to say to the dolphins. I waited for morning to make any decisions so when morning came I would have a perfect message to give them.

I told the dolphins what they needed to say to the birds and they agreed and said they would make sure my message got across to them. A few months later things did start to improve and I heard some talk going around that a man named Bill Clinton created the largest protected area for reefs. I was happy to hear this news because it shows that change can be made and help can be found. The coral reefs still need protection and positive change so we don’t have to worry about losing our home any longer.