The Silent Determination of Turtles
Photos taken May 20, 2025, at Itaipu beach, Niterói, Rio de Janeiro-Brasil, by Fabio Teixeira, of the Aruanã Project.
Turtles are majestic creatures. For many reasons, they have become icons of longevity. First, they survived the event that caused the mass extinction of the dinosaurs. Today, they can live for over a century. Or rather, they could live — they should be able to live. Human civilization is essentially behind everything that threatens them. Pollution of various kinds, real estate developments, maritime traffic, industrial fishing, sea level rise and extreme weather events caused by global warming, habitat loss, beach soil erosion, and the unimaginable damage from oil spills in the oceans all seem more overwhelming than a massive comet or asteroid hurled at Earth.
For thousands of years, human civilizations on every continent have revered the figure of the turtle. Over 35,000 years ago, this animal was already worshiped at the core of West Asia (the Levant), considered the oldest religious symbol in one of the oldest societies in our history. And until just half a century ago, North America was known as Turtle Island by local Indigenous peoples.
The deterioration of mythology, legend, and folklore centered on nature’s entities is recent, but they are rapidly losing ground to those centered on large industries and global enterprises. The cultural paradigm that has emerged with industrialization does not seem concerned with human or more-than-human longevity, and that cannot remain the reality.
On Itaipu Beach, in Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, the Aruanã Project has been monitoring sea turtles in the surrounding of Guanabara Bay for the past 15 years. For the biologists, collaborators, volunteers, and supporters of this project, it is clear that the prosperity of turtles is inseparable from human prosperity. This animal plays a broad role in maintaining the balance of the planet's natural ecosystem, of which we are a part and on which we depend to survive. In other words, the decline of turtles as a species triggers a chain of damage in marine ecosystems, which in turn harms our subsistence.
Photos taken May 15, 2025, at Ilha do Governador beach, Rio de Janeiro-Brasil, by Fabio Teixeira, of the Orla Sem Lixo (Garbage-Free Waterfront) Project.
Several actions can be taken to protect turtles, beyond denouncing and demanding that large industries stop polluting and destroying their habitats. For individuals like us, without decision-making power in multinational corporations, it is possible to reduce plastic consumption, and when we do consume it, to recycle, ensuring that this waste does not end up in the oceans. The Aruanã Project headquarters in Itaipu accepts clean, disposable plastic packaging and used sponges to ensure that the destination of these materials does not cause future harm to the oceans.
An even simpler and more accessible initiative for the public is what Aruanã calls “Citizen Science.” If you see a turtle somewhere, alive or dead, you can take a photo and send it to them with the location, date, and time. With this data, the organization’s team monitors the life cycle of these creatures, identifying challenges and obstacles they face in completing that cycle.
This year, Aruanã renewed its funding contract with the Petrobras Socio-Environmental Program and will be able to launch a new project—tracking sea turtles by satellite (Satellite Telemtry). With this technology, it will be possible to monitor the migratory patterns of various turtles with precision and efficiency. For the project’s biologists, it is always exciting when a turtle is found again, years later, in a region far from where they were first recorded. Not only because the chances of finding them in the vast oceans are slim, but also because it is gratifying to see and record evidence of their prosperity.
Photos taken April 21, 2025, at Ilha do Governador beach, Rio de Janeiro-Brasil, by Fabio Teixeira, at the ecobarrier on the cunha canal.
Today, turtles can be identified by the number on their tags or by the pattern of the scales on their heads, which serve as fingerprints. With Satellite Telemtry, valuable data can be collected about the turtles' preferred locations and water temperatures, and how these regions interact with human behavior. For the green turtle, for example, which, according to the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation, “is the only species that reproduces on Brazilian oceanic islands,” irrefutable scientific evidence can be recorded about them. This evidence, in turn, can be used to “facilitate the establishment of multinational conservation agreements.” We know that reaching agreements, such as the ones discussed at COP30 in Belém, Brazil, and ensuring they are fulfilled at institutional and global levels are daunting challenges, which is why fulfilling agreements among ourselves and within our communities is an achievable first step.
The oceans do not submit to the will of industries or the restrictions of state borders. What happens in them is the responsibility of all humanity. As members of this humanity, we have the power to help shape it. Confronting anthropogenic threats to crucial sites in the life cycle of animals like turtles is not only beneficial for humanity—it is also essential to prevent us from triggering our own mass extinction event.
The Aruanã Project carries out detailed work collecting and systematizing data, developing academic research in marine biology and sustainability, and also engaging the local population in what they call “environmental concern related to the marine environment.” 'Concern' is nothing more than fostering a collective, community narrative aimed at stimulating the prosperity of flora and fauna in our corner of the planet, also because we are part of that fauna. The technological and economic advances we have witnessed over the past century do not need to become solely a source of environmental annihilation, where consumption and waste increase infinitely, without regard for long-term impacts. If the turtle teaches us anything, it is that longevity is achieved through small, decisive steps. And every day, we make impactful choices.
The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially SDG 14—“Life Below Water”—reinforce the urgency of conserving and engaging with the oceans sustainably in the long term. The protection of sea turtles is part of this global effort, reminding us that there is no possible future for humans without ecological well-being. Projects like Aruanã demonstrate that even in the face of overwhelming global challenges, local and everyday actions are fundamental and effective. The turtle symbolizes the need to slow down consumption, to reflect, and to act responsibly, without losing sight of the fact that change is made, above all, by those who insist on treading the path of nature’s preservation. By protecting turtles, we are, in fact, defending the possibility of a healthy future for all, where nature can exist in balance. May humanity be inspired to follow the same silent determination of turtles, toward a healthier and more dignified planet.
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Mirna Wabi-Sabi
Mirna is a Brazilian writer, editor at Sul Books and founder of Plataforma9. She is the author of the book Anarcho-transcreation and producer of several other titles under the P9 press.