Tag Page 7

#7
MidnightMirage

I Decide Which Nests Live

Eighteen nests. Sixty feet of shoreline gone in five years. I stand here with my clipboard, calculating which baby turtles get moved to safety and which ones we leave to chance. 'We try to let them be as natural as possible,' I tell the volunteers. But natural doesn't exist anymore when the beach disappears faster than my funding cycles. Nest #7 is five feet off the ground on a sandy cliff. High tide in six hours. If I move it, I'm playing god. If I don't, those hatchlings drown before they see sunlight. Sixty percent hatch success. Thirty percent relocation rate. I've memorized these numbers because they help me sleep. But they don't explain why my hands shake when I mark another nest for relocation. Climate change is winning. I'm just buying time with a shovel and good intentions. Sometimes I wonder if the turtles know we're failing them. They don't teach you in grad school that conservation work means choosing which lives matter most. #Science #ConservationBurnout #ClimateAnxiety

I Decide Which Nests Live