A Gift for Sea Turtles & How They Accepted It

Simone Lipscomb (right) and friends and their RadJoy sea turtle, 2013 Global Earth Exchange. Photo by Simon Lipscomb

When Simone Lipscomb and her friends did their 2013 Global Earth Exchange on the Alabama Shore, their intention was to honor nesting loggerhead sea turtles.
The turtles live almost their entire lives in the ocean, but the females come ashore to lay their eggs in the sand. The nests are often disturbed by off-road vehicles, dogs, and trawling nets and the turtles are now on the Endangered Species list.
 
Describing the Earth Exchange and the sea turtle they ade of seaweed and other beach finds, Simone wrote, "I have had such grief about humanity's path of destruction and greed. We are in hopes the art we left will inspire a mama sea turtle to nest tonight..."
 
Although no turtles showed up that night, two weeks later Simone wrote excitedly, "A sea turtle mama nested very close to our Radical Joy Sea Turtle! The art is still there and she nested very close to it." The next night, another sea turtle also laid her eggs around the big image of the turtle that the three women had lovingly made.
 
People who create beauty for wounded places and endangered species often say that they feel the difference in themselves. But Simone's story implies that the Earth, too, is changed.

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