“All by myself, I don't want to be

All by myself...anymore;

All by myself, I don't want to live,

All by myself...anymore.”

Celine Dion, All By Myself

Scientists recently tracked a solitary turtle

That journeyed 13,000 miles in search of food

It traveled all the way from Indonesia to Oregon

Yet many still believe the state of the Earth is good

Today, the leatherback turtle is extremely endangered

It’s also the oldest and the largest turtle on planet Earth

Once, there were hundreds of thousands of leatherbacks

And soon, they may be gone, leaving me with little mirth

We continue to pollute Earth’s oceans at an astounding rate

And as we overfish its waters, they become entangled in our nets

They also very often mistake our floating plastic garbage for food

Causing far too many of these ancient mariners to meet their deaths

Massive new beach erosion and our never ending modern urban sprawl

Have now left the female leatherback fewer places to lay its eggs in nests

I wish this stoic old seafarer much luck in finding some food and company

And I mourn the decline of another ancient Earth species, one of its very best

Leatherback Turtles have been on Earth,

For at least the last 110 million years;

And very soon, they will vanish forever;

I wonder how many of us will shed a tear

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Balloons, plastic bags, styrofoam, and other garbage

Floating in the water can all be mistaken as food;

And these ancient mariners die a horrible death,

When our callous human trash blocks their intestines.

And in some parts of the ocean today,

There are six pounds of plastic,

Per pound of fish.

It has now been estimated

That our ocean garbage today,

Horrifically kills over 100,000

Innocent sea mammals and turtles

Each and Every Year.

©2008, Mr. Ed