Urge School District to Ditch Massive Plastic Dump

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BACKGROUND | SOURCE PETA

An estimated 20 million tons of plastic litter enter the world’s oceans annually, killing more than 1 million seabirds and 100,000 marine mammals and turtles. Yet on February 8, Alvin Independent School District in Southeast Texas plans to release 10,000 plastic turtles into Mustang Bayou—a  waterway that flows into the Gulf of Mexico. Foraging birds and other wildlife find small brightly colored pieces of degraded plastic irresistible, and many ingest the plastic or feed it to their babies. Their digestive systems become blocked, ultimately resulting in starvation (see more here).  Alvin school officials claim to make dedicated efforts to retrieve all 10,000 plastic turtles at the end of its “turtle race” fundraisers, but a single one missed could have devastating consequences. Your voice is needed!

Please urge Alvin Independent School District officials to replace this event with one that won’t pose a threat to animals or the environment. And please forward this alert far and wide!


WHOM TO CONTACT

Fred Brent, Superintendent, Alvin Independent School District:

fbrent@alvinisd.net

Alvin Independent School District Board of Trustees:

twennerstrom@alvinisd.net ; rmetoyer@alvinisd.net ; charris@alvinisd.net ; sstringer@alvinisd.net ; mike@insurancetexas.net ; cmccauley@alvinisd.net ; ntonini@alvinisd.net


SAMPLE COMMENT

Dear Superintendent Brent and Alvin Independent School District Board of Trustees:

An estimated 20 million tons of plastic litter enter the world’s oceans annually, killing more than 1 million seabirds and 100,000 marine mammals and turtles.

Yet on February 8, Alvin Independent School District in Southeast Texas plans to release 10,000 plastic turtles into Mustang Bayou — a waterway that flows into the Gulf of Mexico. Foraging birds and other wildlife find small brightly colored pieces of degraded plastic irresistible, and many ingest the plastic or feed it to their babies. Their digestive systems become blocked, ultimately resulting in starvation.

School officials claim to make dedicated efforts to retrieve all 10,000 plastic turtles at the end of its “turtle race” fundraisers, but a single one missed could have devastating consequences.

Please act with responsibility and compassion and cancel this event and replace it with an environment- and animal-friendly occasion.

Thank you for taking the time to consider this urgent appeal.


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plastics are important in our daily routines,
but we need to find a way to keep them
“green”.
plastic litter destroys and kills animals
and the places they reside.
these are innocents that have no place
to hide.
so do not unleash 10,000
potential instruments of death,
or many animals will end up
taking their last breaths.

Karen Lyons Kalmenson