– Die Ärzte – [German punk rock band]
My name is Milan, I am 14 years old, I live in Elze, Wedemark, Germany and I visit the 9th grade of the Gymnasium Mellendorf.
Since I was 9 years old I have been involved in environmental, climate and biodiversity protection and as you might have guessed my favorite animals are Turtles.
I am a “Climate Justice Ambassador” for plant-for-the-planet, planted trees, made a presentation about climate justice at my school, and collected donations for planting trees.
At NABU Wedemark I helped with toad walks and took part in several weeding campaigns in the Otternhagen Moor and the Black Moor in Resse.
I participated in beach cleanups with Sea Shepherd Germany in Kiel and on Fehmarn, cleaning the beaches from trash.
Thanks to Sea Shepherd Germany, I learned about the turtle organization CICI in Papua New Guinea and collected more than 2500 Euros for the protection of sea turtles with my own trash collection campaign in 2021.
Photo: © Hayley Versace und Magnus Will
Turtles are great animals and have already survived the dinosaurs. Because of us humans they are now sadly endangered by extinction and therefore I decided to do something about it.
Of course there are many more animals and plants that are critically endangered and also need help, but you have to start somewhere. Hopefully this will inspire more children and adults to do something for endangered species. If everyone would do something for their favorite animal or plant, our planet would be a very different place.
So with the help of my parents I found the organization TEAMTURTLE to be able to work even more for the protection of turtles.
In addition to collecting trash and donations for CICI, we started PROJECTRECYCLING to raise awareness about the global problem of plastic waste and to collect even more donations.
I also learned that there used to be turtles in Germany as well: the European Pond Turtle [Emys Orbicularis]. In the Middle Ages it was caught and eaten in large quantities as a lenten food, but today it is almost extinct in Germany due to the destruction of its habitats. Happily, there are a handful of projects that breed and release these animals.
With TEAMTURTLE we will also breed the European Pond Turtle and release the animals in cooperation with NABU Wedemark. You can find more information about this under PROJECTEMYS.
Small but nice.
Press inquiries please under presse@team-turtle-wedemark.de