The Negative Effects of Light Pollution on Sea Turtles

I have never been fully aware of the light pollution problem, I knew that certain animals like sea turtles are very susceptible to it but never realized exactly how much it is affecting them. The City Dark, a documentary directed by Ian Cheney, helped to open my eyes to the fact that our light pollution has the potential to kill thousands of sea turtles each year. For millions of years the turtles have adapted to follow the moon's light into the ocean, but recently mankind has created a new light source that attracts them and leads them in the wrong direction, the light bulb. If a newly hatched turtle gets confused and goes in the wrong direction, they quickly lose their strength and become easy targets for predators on the beach. The purpose of this paper is to help people understand the problems with light pollution on our beaches and even just in general, and potentially create solutions to this growing problem. I plan to use rhetorical appeals, logos, pathos, ethos and kairos to help convince the reader of the problem at hand. For logos(arguing with reason), the simple fact that you can save on your electricity bill by turning off the lights each night would be enough to convince me! Everyone has a soft spot for babies, and most people would agree that baby animals should be protected from harm. Pathos(persuading with emotion), will be helpful to convince the reader because no one likes the idea of a baby struggling to survive whether it is a human baby or a sea turtle. In the past 100 years our planet has industrialized so much that the natural world can't keep up with it, and mankind has a responsibility to help protect the environment. Ethos(persuading through moral authority or credibility), can be used to show that we need to protect our environment for future generations. Finally kairos(arguing at the right moment or to stress the timeliness of an issue), can help the reader see that in our growing society that if we do not start trying to find solutions to this growing problem, it can easily get out of hand and destroy our home. During The City Dark, Ian Cheney interviews a few of the volunteers that go out and help the sea turtles each hatching season. While this is not an ideal solution, it is at least helping the survival of thousands of turtle hatchlings each year. These are helpful sources because they are firsthand accounts of the problem. So far most of my research has come from databases from the Lee College libraries website, along with a few very helpful websites that have multiple links to websites with great information. Without this research I would still have no clue how important light pollution is to our environment and how much it is hurting it.