according to even montejo, tropical science educator at the tropical education center of the belize zoo, the belize zoo takes in about 13 to 15 of these problem jaguars each year and attempts to rehabilitate the jaguars. those problem jaguars who “graduate” after being trained to peacefully interact with humans go on to larger sites off site at the belize zoo.

the cockscomb basin wildlife sanctuary of the belize audubon society works closely with the belize zoo to humanely capture jaguars. this video essay centers specifically around frederito villanueva, an assistant site manager at the sanctuary, who tells the story of the evolving technology for the humane capture of the jaguars, as well as his own role in educating visitors about the issues.

virginia burns perez, the technical coordinator for the wildlife conservation’s sea turtle program in middle caye, belize explained several possibilities for the hawksbills thriving at glover’s. she highlighted laws protecting sea turtles from fishing, as well as their evolved strong  jaws which allow them to consume the barrel sponges along the glover’s atoll.

the wildlife conservation society operates the glover’s reef research station on middle cay. it opened in 1997 to promote and facilitate long-term conservation and management of the wider belize barrier reef complex. the wsc worked with the belize fisheries department along with other local stakeholders to create a conservation plan for the glover’s reef site. the hawksbill sea turtle was one of the target species for conservation. a field study featuring research conducted between 2007 and 2013 showed that more than 1,000 juvenile hawksbill sea turtles currently thrive at glover’s reef in atoll, belize.

according to zach flotz, the ccre station manager and dive master for the caribbean coral reef ecosystems program at the smithsonian marine station in belize, described how the best way for anyone to help the turtles involves “staying out of their way,” and that “the best way we can help them is by not affecting them at all.” at the smithsonian site, foltz and his crew have kept track of where the turtles nest and how they nest in order to maneuver around them.

but to truly grasp the nature of the problem, i needed to float among huge piles of plastic, and try to see the coral formations while dodging pieces of garbage. i needed to pick up bottles, flip-flops, bags, toothbrushes, utensils, and plenty more plastic products from the beach, only to see even more of it wash up again the next morning.

this was a deeply affecting experience for me. beyond just the realization of how massive of a problem this is, i could see a direct link between my actions and the consequences.

many times in america we only find out about the effects of climate change on the news, in heartbreaking social media posts of polar bears floating away from the mainland on chunks of ice, or in documentaries. these are good for arousing sympathy for a few moments, but as soon as the next thing comes on the screen it slips from the mind. most of the visible environmental challenges are happening on such a large scale or so far away that it seems impossible to help anyway.

however, apathy became impossible for me when i saw, for example, hundreds of plastic forks floating in the water, because i used plastic forks for most of my meals. there was no evil corporation or greedy politician to blame for this pollution, just the habits of me and millions of ordinary people.

according to a plastic ocean’s website, over eight million tons of plastic end up in the ocean every year. while there are certainly institutional reasons more of it is not recycled or responsibly disposed, a lot of this could be alleviated if people made a few simple changes to their plastic consumption. worldwide, more than one million plastic bags are used per minute. in 2014, the average american consumed 315 plastic water bottles. a lot of plastic usage is unavoidable in modern society, but getting reusable shopping bags and water bottles are affordable and easy solutions.

the point of this post is not to encourage everybody to get up and go to central america to see first-hand the effects of plastic consumption (although you should, it is an eye-opening experience), but to show that every person’s actions have a tangible effect on the environment. large-scale societal changes to save the environment may or may not be coming, but instead of waiting around helplessly for that, there are things we can and should start doing today.