An Empty Planet

         A spiderweb with glistening dew drops creates a cascading rainbow across the aged stone ground that so many feet have walked on. The dew drops on the freshly cut grass, that delectable smell of fresh cut grass, cineamon rolls and pure mountain air overwhelms a person's senses and your drowned out by the natural beauty. The sunset orange robin with a belly full of baby creatures, chewing on a juicy pink worm, washing her feathers in Great Grandma Jackie's bird bath and basking in our neighboring star's glow. The stunningly unique lady bugs that buzz through the air, a hum that sounds like a million violins playing in sinc with the breeze. The seemingly unreal butterflies that fly through the air in harmony, drinking up the juice of so many vibrant flowers and enjoying their natural home, clean and calm. Seeing these maginificent sights is what fuels me to wake up every morning and protect those creatures, those thriving organisms! If there is even a slight chance I will be able to see an animal thriving in it's natural environment, I will wake up at any hour, go to any length to make that true. Zoo's are wonderful places, most of those animals were hurt and/or abandoned, in need of human rescue and care and medical support! Seeing those animals recovering, learning how to live a normal life, healthy and growing strong is amazing and I couldn't be more happy they are getting cared for like their meant to be! But... most of those animals are never released back into their natural environment, most of those animals live and die inside a cage. If those animals are born captive, it would be very, very hard to adapt them into the wild, but the animals that are rescued from the wild, born in the trees or in the ocean... they know where they belong, they know how to forage for food and avoid predators! It's simply not fair to keep them in a stone cage with real trees and a kiddy pool for the rest of their lives. They deserve the wild! The pure ocean, the serene breeze flowing through the highest of tree tops, the moist soil under their feet... their TRUE HOME. Elephants have creative, very strong memories. They remember losing their parents, they remember the long ride to an unknown place in a dark cage with heavy steel bars, with tons of hands with white gloves on prodding at them the whole way. They remember a brand new place, not knowing anything... the ground too soft or too firm, the trees not native to their real home, the food already man-handled. In the beginning, it is the best for them... they need care, they need medical attention, but if their never let back to their true home, it's practically abuse. Those interesting elephants remember it all, they remember their natural home... and they remember never going back. Just thinking about all those animals, not just elephants, but all the creatures being taken from their pure environment... cared for, given medical treatment... but then never taken back, it brings tears to my eyes. A long time ago, when I was... around 9 and a half years old, I was at my aunt and uncle's house and we were eating hamburgers. I told my uncle that I was sad that those cows got killed, what about their families? They must have felt all the pain and really missed their home when they were taken to the beef farms. My uncle told me that the cows didn't have feelings and they were just "animals", they didn't even know what was family and what was grass. That made me think really hard... and now, I know very well that those cows had feelings, they knew what was going to happen, they probably missed their family and in some animal language, said goodbye and I love you. People think that just because animals can't speak ENGLISH that they can't speak at all, their just dumb "animals". But we're forgetting that they may have a language all to their own, mysterious to us "humans"... private, just for them to speak through. Cats meow... that's them speaking, arguing with us humans when we dress them up, or purring when their telling us they like us caressing their fur right behind their ears. Dogs bark when their explaining to us how their bone tastes different then the other bones they've had, they growl when their telling us to back off, or to tell other dogs hello or goodbye. Cows have this grunt noise, that's them having a conversation with us. I bet in their minds, or in their own way, their laughing at us for looking at them like "What now?". "An animal is not an "it" or a "what", an animal is a "he" or a "she" or a "who".-Jane Goodall. Nothing is more true. That's why we need to protect those creatures, not just them... their homes, their families, their lives, their environment! This planet is not owned by us "humans", it's inhabited by human beings and all other living creatures. They are not below us, just mindless peasents, no... all those animals and living organisms are our equals, maybe even above us. They deserve respect and care from the one species that is destroying Planet Earth. Us "humans". When I went to the beach, I was about 5 years old or so, I brought my beach buddy with me. She always told me she wondered what was beyond the horizon, what happened after the sun set below the sea? Where did it rise again, where did it go? What was beyond the horizon. But I never thought like that, it just never... puzzled me. When I saw the horizon, the vast expanse of deep blue, I wondered not what was beyond it, but below it. What mysterious creatures thrived underneath the surface of the ocean? I only ever saw the top of the sea, the clear blue water glistening under the summer sun. But I always wondered what it was like below. When I was around 7 years old, we went to the San Juan Islands for the first time. My mom and dad got married there, in the beautiful Rose Gardens, one of the most historical places in Roche Harbor, other than the big white church, it's bells still ringing. My dad rented a boat and we went fishing for the day, I can still remember feeling slightly sad that those fish had to die. Secretly, I let the bait go, telling them to swim away and have a nice day! The next day, I was ready for some more bait-rescue missions, but when we rounded the corner of a small island.... a humongous pod of Orca whales was jumping in and out of the surf, catching glimmering salmon jumping high out of the water, swimming for their lives. I was stunned! At first, I ran into the bottom room of the boat and hid under a million life vests, but then... I cautiously came back out and watched them hunt and interract with each other. After a little while, it was the most amazing experience of my life. I had never really seen marine creatures.... that close! There were a few moms with their babies by their sides, it was absolutely adorable. Then, the largest Orca whale of the pod, the leader, came right towards our boat. My mom and dad got a little bit worried, he could tip our boat easily! My mom checked the life vests, my dad had his hands on the boat ignition, ready to jump out of the way... if possible. But for me... I just stood there, leaning against the side of the boat, looking him right in the eyes as he hurdled towards us. It was so mesmorizing, I couldn't move, couldn't break my gaze away from his. Then, at the last second, he turned over and glided beneath our boat, barely skimming the surface. I ran to the other side of the boat and he surfaced, blowing water out of his spout, creating a magestic, watery rainbow. He came so close to me... if I reached out, I could have touched his fin. But I didn't, for some reason... just looking at him, just being that close... it was enough. Most people say Orca's eyes are black, colorless, meaningless. But as I stared into his eyes, there was glint of crystal blue around a very dark brown... not black, just a very dark brown. I could see the sparkle in his eye, so pure and stunning. Then, he made a low noise, reverbrating through the water and him and his pod dissapeared beneath the waves. Within minutes, the water settled and it was like his family never even came. But they did... I could never forget that. When we got back, I had to know everything about their migration patterns and history. I may have been only seven, but I had to know... when I'm passionate, I'm a force to be reckoned with! I found out that the exact same pod of Orca whales migrate from the San Juan Islands to the tip of New Mexico, every year until the leader dies and his heirs take over from there. I learned so much about Orca's, everything about them fascinated me. The next summer, instead of going to the San Juans, we went to Kona, Hawaii. Everything was kind of surreal to me, it was my first big trip other than Disney Land when I was 6 and the San Juan Islands when I was 7. Hawaii was across the ocean... the other side of the horizon. We did all the normal activities, I could go on for days explaining, but when I first went snorkeling...that's when everything changed. I got to see below the deep blue water, I got an insight on the lives of marine animals. It changed my perspective completely. The coral reefs... I saw the vibrant colors, I saw the adorable clown fish, there's Nemo! I saw the sea urchins and the grumpy eels, but... all that I could see was a thriving village, workers and families and neighbors and jobs everyone had to do to survive! The coral reef had little nitches and caves and coves for the microscopic organisms to hide and eat dinner! The sea anenomes made room for their renters, the clown fish. The grumpy eels stayed in their homes, eating and cleaning house, but really... their not grumpy at all! They may be known for their painful stings, their solomn faces, but when you look closely, their smiling and complaining about the partying angelfish next door! Their sweet marine creatures that don't want human beings to invade their village. We're huge giants stomping on their homes and food supplies! The sand sharks moving swiftly through the golden/white sand, eating smaller fish and organisms with other small fish eating the algae around their gills. All the jobs each of the animals have to fulfill, volunteering in the sea kelp, scouting out for larger, meaner predators... or just hanging around the coral reef, chatting with everybody and having a good time! When I looked down at the villages beneath me... I was astonished. I always thought the colors would be vibrant, the animals would be adorable and magestic, but this was pure... magic and normalcey wrapped up. This wasn't some show, some fish tank that you bought at Petco... no, this was their natural environment, this was every day for them. Marine ecosystems have fascinated me ever since then. When I turned 9, we went back to Roche Harbor. I still the let bait go, I fished... a little, but I was dead set on catching sight of the whales. When we turned the corner of the same island, there was the pod...minus one. I was amazed, I knew what I was going to see, but the experience was still like freezing time. I watched them interract, a couple swam under our boat and I cheered after they jumped on the other side. But then... the leader never came and after a while, I knew he was gone. I could just feel it... I know it's impossible to "know" and feel that his spirit has passed on, but I knew... he was gone. At first, I was so confused... they said that the same pod comes back every year to mate and to re-fill on food and to just rest until next migration, why wasn't their leader there? When we got back, I had to know the reason. After a little research, it had become obvious.... while migrating to the border of Mexico, he had become a victim of whaling. I was shocked and digusted and horrified that any human being could kill such a majestic creature, but.. I knew it was true. And I knew, from then on, I couldn't just leave it... I had gone too far, I had learned too much to just not care. The next year, when spring break came around, my mom signed me up for Camp Orkila on Orcas Island. I was so excited... when we got there, my nerves just buzzed with the information I was going to find out and what I was going to do! I learned so much. We spent every day studying marine biology, climate change, global warming, whaling, shark finning, poaching, deforestation and all the marine ecosystems. I stored all the information in my mind and wrote pages of notes in my journal. We learned how the tiniest, micrsocopic creatures provide us with half of the oxygen we breath, and that climate change is caused solely on human greed and human actions! I also found out that if I wanted to pursue marine conservation or marine biology, I would find things out that would be absolutely mortifying, I would see many, many animals lying dead... killed by humans, spears still in their fins. I would have to face the stone cold truth and nothing but it. It was a lot to take in, when I got home I just relaxed for the summer and didn't think much of what I learned... I tried to just go back to normal. But I found out, there was no going back. That summer we went to San Diego, Cal... and the first place we went: Seaworld. I was ecstatic, the joy was radiating off me... my mom said I felt like sunshine to the touch. My dad got us behind-the-scenes passes and we rode a small boat taxi to the secret entrance, around the back of Seaworld. I was so interested, I wanted to store everything I saw in my mind forever. It smelled like sea weed, elephant ears and salt water. But as I looked closer, focused on the people and the animals and the interactions between them... I could see the fear and anxiety in the dolphin's eyes, I could see the Orca's fin twitch, the bones shot, the fin folded in on itself. I could see that some animals were rescue, but like zoos, I could see the healthy animals given steroids with terrible effects and getting beaten, so they could preform and please people. It was great... mainly because it was a humongous eye-opener. When we went to see the Orca's preform, I was genuinely excited... these shows are advertised all over the country, very big deal and we had front stage seats. But throughout the show, all I could see was a mysterious, fearful creature in a cement tank with bright blue water, so un-natural with toxic chemicals, and when the people stood on top of the Orca's back... I had to grit my teeth to clap about it. Those animals deserve to be in the wild, like at the San Juans! The oceans seem to go on forever, and that made me wonder... the water might go on, but slowly, the animals will dissapear... all we'll see is an empty ocean... an empty ocean that goes on forever.That's when I knew, I could go back to eating methane producing cows, I could go back to worrying about boys and trying not to care... but I could never forget what I learned... what I saw. It was too late to go back, and I was happy. For once in my life, I didn't have an excuse to quit or an easy-way-out. I was dug in deep and as long as I could do something... I would.