Recycle and Save a Turtle

The world has always struggled with recycling and throwing away their trash. No one ever puts a lot of thought into it when they throw around their plastic bags or soda can holders. Because of this, sea turtles of all different species are dying. A world-wide survey was conducted and concluded that "91% of the entangled turtles were found dead. They also suffered serious wounds from entanglement, leading to maiming, amputation or choking. Others that survived were forced to drag discarded rubbish or debris with them." Sea turtles enjoy eating jellyfish, and when they see a plastic bag floating in the water, they try to eat it and end up choking and suffocating themselves. We take our planet and our oceans too much for granite, and will end up destroying the earth. It is not hard to properly throw away garbage or recycle. The things that are found in the ocean is shocking. "Turtles are being tangled up in lost fishing nets, plastic twine and nylon fishing line, as well as six pack rings from canned drinks, plastic packaging straps, plastic balloon string, kite string, plastic packaging and discarded anchor line and seismic cable. Turtles were also discovered entangled in discarded plastic chairs, wooden crates, weather balloons and boat mooring line." Plastic pollution is a real and serious threat. We are endangering species because of it and if we do not act now, they will end up going extinct. Turtle hatchlings depend on riding with the currents to get them far out to sea where they are safe and can grow. However, most of the trash rides with the currents too so the baby turtles barely have a chance when they are born. With predators and the trash floating through the ocean, baby turtles surviving the first couple of days are slim to none. We all live together on this planet, animals and humans together. As humans, it is our job to protect the planet and the animals and keep them safe so we can all live a happy and healthy life together. We take advantage of the earth and its resources and don't even think twice about it. We need to change our actions now, otherwise we will end up hurting our already dying planet even more. 

Therapy Animals

I recently spoke with Dr. Lauren Bergey, a biology professor at Centenary University in Hackettstown, New Jersey. She has a four-year-old french bulldog named Ramsey that she is trying to train to become a therapy dog. I though I'd sit down with her and ask her some questions about some concerns that come with therapy animals. She told me that only service animals are allowed anywhere but therapy animals are not and have to be approved by the DSO office and one must have a doctors note proving that they need the animal. Service animals are considered a need, while therapy animals are considered a comfort. While service animals are allowed in classrooms, the professors must take extra caution that no students are afraid or allergic to the animal. I do not think that it is fair that only service animals are allowed anywhere and therapy animals are not. I brought up the point of what if someone has anxiety and needs that comfort of an animal in class? If they cannot focus in the classroom because of their anxiety, it makes it almost stupid not to have an animal there that can calm them down and help them get through the class without their grades suffering because of it. Dr. Bergey was talking about how she had a student in one of her classes who had such bad anxiety presenting in front of others that she had to stay after class to do her presentation privately. "She was not doing well and she reached down and pet one of the dogs and then her presentation skills were phenomenal." Dr. Bergey stated. Sometimes it just takes something as simple and minuscule as touching an animal to completely remove the psychological barricades. Dr. Bergey was also saying that experts think that eventually it will become a federal law to allow therapy animals around as well. In order for a dog to become a therapy animals, it must get certified. Ramsey trains every week to get ready for his certification test. He needs to be able to sit and stay, lay down and stay, sit and wait 100 feet and then come to the owner, and must be able to get up on a chair so people can pet him. Biology students come twice a week for an hour to help train the dog. Dr. Bergey got Ramsey in July and must wait six months before taking him for his for his test. He will be tested sometime in January. I personally do not think its fair that a dog needs to be a certified service dog in order for students to take them around with them. Just because someone does not have a disability where they need a service animal doesn't mean they should not have one. I've talked to some students about this and they all agree that if someone has anxiety or depression or something where the presence of an animal comforts them and helps them through difficult situations, then they should have all the right to bring them around as long as they have permission from the professors. Luckily, Centenary University is pretty accommodating with things like that. No one seems to mind that kids bring their animals to class. It almost makes the class more enjoyable. I feel lucky to be able to go to a school and be around people who are very accepting of one another. 

Make Campus a Greener Place

A lot of exciting things are happening for the science department at Centenary University. Since last January, the campus EVERGREEN group was collecting plastic all around campus for their TREX challege and they had a goal to reach 500 lbs of plastic by June 2017.TREX is a program that sponsors local recycling programs in universities and communities. If the team collects more than 500 lbs of plastic in a six month period, TREX will donate a bench to whatever school or community reached the goal. As a result of the spring 2017 TREX challenge, they exceeded their goal and collected 569 lbs of soft plastic in 5 months! TREX donated a bench to Centenary's EVERGREEN group and it is now placed in front of Trevorrow. They had a little dedication ceremony for it on November 6th. The library followed their example and are now collecting soft plastics too! The collection bin is at the entrance of the library. The science department also purchased a greenhouse over the summer and the facilities are about to install it next to Trevorrow. They will be growing their own plants to use in biology labs and in the community garden instead of purchasing them from lab suppliers! The science department is working hard to form a campus wide energy audit and find the places with the most energy waste. They hope to reduce awareness and reduce energy waste! Students seem very excited about this initiative because it is a chance to make our campus cleaner and help our community and the world become a better, healthier place.

Clean Ocean Action

 

For the past few years the Evergreen group and the Biology Honor Society, Tribeta, here at Centenary University participate in Beach Sweeps every Fall season. The Beach Sweeps are a part of a state-wide initiative of The Clean Ocean Action. The Clean Ocean Action has thousands of volunteers that come very season to help clean the beaches, waterways and underwater sites. The Evergreen group and Tribeta usually choose Union Beach because it is easy to get to and is not very far from Campus. The organizers of The Clean Ocean Action ask the group to collect trash from the beach and record what they find in an effort to trace back where it came from and hold the litterers and polluters accountable. They usually find a lot of debris and lumber left over from the Sandy storm that happened five years ago. They had 10 students doing over three hours of work at the beach. I think that this is a great effort to try and help the animals of the shore that can't help themselves. As inhabitants of this earth, it is our job to protect the things that live here and help keep it clean. To learn more about The Clean Ocean Action, visit www.cleanoceanaction.org 

A New World!

Scientists are investigating an Antarctic ice shelf that broke off back in July because it seems that there is quite literally a new world underneath the ice. They have discovered an entirely new ecosystem hidden beneath. It is said that the ecosystem has been hidden from the outside world for up to 120,000 years! Scientist are working very quickly sending radars and GPS signals down in hopes that it can tell them the ice movements for short term and long term periods of time. They are also getting ready to go under the water on a voyage in February in order to investigate the new ecosystem. Now that light has penetrated through the dark the new ecosystem can thrive even more creating more food and inviting new specimens to live there. Life and data that we've never know before may be exposed! This is a very exciting breakthrough in the scientific community!