Mei and Manu: The Turtle and Gooney Bird

Mei is the name of a female turtle whose shell, when still very young, became entangled in the center of a discarded plastic six-pack ring. Marine life ensnared by drifting plastic trash usually does not survive as they cannot move about to find food or escape from predators. And yet, miraculously Mei survived, while she and her shell continued to grow, except for her middle with that awful plastic ring still attached. Fortunately Mei was rescued by kind researchers from NOAA and set free.

Now, HUI300’s Mei character has agreed to wear a removable plastic-ring skirt around her unplanned hourglass figure to remind everyone of the disastrous effect of plastic debris. While Mei enjoys doing the hula to natural ocean rhythms or cool sounds of Jack Johnson, she loves R.A.P., Surfrider’s “Rise Above Plastics”, that is! Check out R.A.P. and see what you and your friends can do to make your community less dependent on plastics, one of the most common throwaways that end up in the ocean.

Mei’s buddy Manu, a Hawai’ian Gooney Bird, also pleads for all to get into R.A.P., as too many sea birds get tangled up in plastic trash. In addition, birds like Manu often mistake shiny bits of debris as edible food. Yikes, the indigestible trash pieces remain inside until it is too much for the body. Sometimes the swallowed junk has poisonous toxins, like that found in cigarette butts.

It’s no wonder Manu is also an enthusiastic supporter of Surfrider’s “Hold-Onto-Your-Butt” campaign. Manu and his friends are already benefiting by Surfrider victories banning smoking on beaches, installation with cities’ support of cool-looking ash cans along boardwalks and by businesses, and the distribution of pocket HOTYB containers for smokers to store their smugly butts.

HUI300 aims to rid our watersheds, beaches, and oceans from plastic, debri, and cigarette butts, which will help sea life like Mei and Manu. How much is it worth to protect these guys? At least the minimum energy it takes to meet the HUI300 Challenge!