Save the Whales: Why a Drip of Dedication Equals Conservation

“Turn off the hose! There’s motor oil by the storm drain! Save the whales,” I remember chanting with a childish vigor to my mom. I was a 6-year-old who wanted to save the world, starting with the whales, and that meant that she needed to turn the water off. Now.

What it gave her was amusement, but what it gives me now is a questioning of my memory; I am curious to know what on earth got me so fired up.

So, nearly 18 years later, I simply typed, “Save the Whales” into Google. The pages of answers stunned me almost as much as this technology would have stunned my parents back in 1991.

The site that stood out came up first, straight from the source: www.savethewhales.org, and next to it was “10 Ways You Can Save Marine Life Every Day.” The very first prompt made my memory of my first grade teacher much clearer. I remember that she had told us that we were now a group dedicated to saving the whales, and that meant that we needed to know that we were polluting in our own front yards. Filtered through a 6-year-old’s brain, the message was most likely word for word what the Save the Whales site stated:

“Did you know? Storm water pollution (urban runoff) is the leading cause of water pollution nationwide? Pollutants such as motor oil, antifreeze, detergents, litter, paints, pesticides, pet waste and copper (from brake pads) are flushed off the streets and into storm drains, which lead straight to rivers, creeks and oceans.”

The second item on the list? Call a group or classroom into action. And so, the 6-year-olds took it upon themselves to save the whales because Mrs. Teacher said that it was a good idea. And, she was right. But, was she effective? If my remembering to look it up 18 years later is any indication, her impact falls in very well with our current environmentally conscious efforts; the effectiveness is measured over a long period of time. Like drops in a bucket, one person after another chooses a cause, tells their peers, friends or, in my case, students, and the message spreads. That sounds like a worthy cause to me.

As for actually saving any whales? Well, time will tell, but I definitely saved motor oil from being carelessly washed down the drain that day in 1991. It seems a very fitting moment for a 6-year-old who went on to write for an environmentally focused website. Hey, it was a start.