Once upon a time there was a mermaid who loved to spend her days swimming through the lush green seagrass meadows with her millions of friends. She loved the way her tail swished through the grass blades in clear water. As the blades of grass dance and sway shiny little fish scurry to try and hide from the bigger fish, and ground dwellers hope that they don’t get exposed to their prey. Seagrass meadows are the place to be for not just marine critters, but for lots of land and sky creatures, as well as humans, so there is always plenty of excitement. However, one day the mermaid noticed that the grass wasn’t so lush, the water wasn’t always as clear, and the hustle and bustle of the seagrass life had dwindled. After some time watching and observing the changes in her sea, she took notice there was a lot more humans, water wasn’t flowing into the grass beds the same and things were just off. Being the curious mermaid she was, she decided to trade in her tail for legs and head to land to see if the humans had anything to do with the dwindling grass and changing water.
Once on land the mermaid noticed it was much different than the sea, besides the obvious of it being much dryer she noticed there was not as much life or diversity as the sea. Everything was the same, there was no wild, just blocks and squares filled with hard rock that gets very hot, grass similar to seagrass but no variety, and dwellings everywhere. Now that didn’t make much since to her, because mermaids have a deep understanding of the interconnectedness of all things, and how lots of different living organisms working together is what creates the balance of life. It was very clear the lack of wild had something to do with the changes in the mermaid’s water and seagrass meadows.
What the mermaid learned by exploring the uplands and freshwater ecosystems, as well human cities is that humans changed the way the water not only flows on top of the land but how it flows down into the ground. They also took away all the different plants that clean the water before it flows into the sea and use an enormous amount of chemicals that make things grow as well as an incredible amount of chemicals that kill things. This has created an imbalance in the natural nutrient cycles that feed the algae and bacteria that create 50% of the earths oxygen and that are the foundation for life on the planet. This was all very concerning to the mermaid so she slipped back into the sea and decided that she would spend her days teaching humans about how their behavior is affecting her seagrass beds, her water world and why it's important that they protect and conserve her home because their home depends on hers. There is much more to this story and its best heard right from the mermaid herself while you are out exploring her world with her! Come get salty on an adventure with the mermaid and hear the rest of the tale.
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