Simple things, like just changing a behavior; for example, we teach
Spider crab
them to pick up a plastic bag. Or encourage their parents to stop using plastic bags. Or
cut back on bottled water. It doesn’t need to be life-changing effort; it just needs to be a
choice. Because if you make one choice, you’ll be inspired to make another choice.”
While it’s easy to get kids to care about turtles, how does Dorsey reach adults, different
interest groups and the largely socially and politically conservative constituency of Bald
Head? It’s all about knowing the pressure points.
“I don’t talk about the spiritual aspect of the forest,” Dorsey says. “I talk financial issues,
like storm insurance, which often doesn’t pay out after a disaster. But if we invest in the
natural habitat, if we preserve those forests, it will pay. People view their homes as a multi-generational
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WBM september 2012
she says, like a proud mother. “We hatch out
more babies than everyone else, and our turtle
mortality rate is the lowest in the state.”
Educational kids programs include touch
tanks, also designed by DeChesere, and pro-vide
children the tools to make an individual
impact on conservation. “We try to show the
kids things they can do within their control.
R E S E A R C H
investment, a place where kids and grandkids can
gather across the ages; so I get them to look 25, 40, 100
years down the line. And we will have a real plan, with
practical solutions.”
Patrick Amico,
conservation
biologist, checks
salinity levels in
one of the study
center’s tanks.