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Music

Carl Cox Has Released a Turtle Into the Sea and I Can't Stop Thinking About It

Look at this picture of Carl Cox releasing a turtle into the sea.

Image via Carl Cox's Facebook.

There are images, scattered across the scrapbook of modern history, that have stopped people, communities, nations, in their tracks. Images that have arrested the common consciousness and averted all available attention to a cause through sheer visual evocation. Images with the power to tell a thousand stories. Images that exist far beyond the borders they exist within. This is no truer of any picture, than it is of this photo of Carl Cox releasing a turtle into the sea.

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Look upon the scene. Carl stands on the edge of the azure waters, his close-to-denim-blue paisley shirt unbuttoned to his chest as the growing humidity of the aquarium cove begins to smother him. The stern determination in his face, aware, of course, in the back of his mind that his photo is being taken, but overwhelmingly concerned that the turtle (named Coxy) is returned to its natural habitat as soon as possible. Trickles of sweat rolling down his forehead, but no, he mustn't stop now. He can't. He must return the turtle to the sea.

Carl Cox is clearly a very good bloke (hence releasing a turtle into the sea). He's been become the face of Ibiza, moved effortlessly with the times, and held a residency at Space so celebrated, that the announcement that next year will be his last was met with near mourning. Yet here, in the belly of a supervised turtle enclosure, the hands that mere nights ago were rolling big room house cuts out to spangled twenty-somethings in floral vests and ankle socks, are now applying the same delicacy and poise to the balance of life itself. Carl Cox releasing a turtle into the sea is a sage reminder of so many things; the fragility of our planet, the hubris with which we treat it, and how ultimately we can only truly hope to excel if we respect and nurture the creatures with which we share this mortal rock.

I think from time to time, what happened in the moments after Carl Cox released a turtle into the sea? What did he think to himself? What would I have thought? The photo of Carl Cox releasing a turtle into the sea made me think of an old haiku by Matsuō Basho, and I'd like to share it with you:

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An old silent pond
A frog jumps into the pond
splash! Silence again.

Now the haiku obviously refers to a frog, whereas Carl Cox was releasing a turtle, but I think the point still stands. It doesn't matter if it's a turtle, in fact, really, it doesn't matter if it's Carl Cox. This photo could be Solomun nursing an injured heron, Eats Everything helping a park ranger coax a frightened pheasant out from under his jeep, Ricardo Villalobos cleaning oil from the wings of a seagull, Jackmaster adopting a retired greyhound, Richy Ahmed freeing a reindeer's foot from a bear trap, Ben Klock petting a shrew. The details are elementary, the power is in the action. The frog jumps into the pond, splash, then silence. It only takes a moment to restore order. It only takes a moment for a superstar DJ to recognize that when the records stop spinning…the world carries on.

Carl Cox releasing a turtle into the sea might not seem like a big deal to you. You might think "oh big deal!" in a sarcastic voice. Well let me tell you something, Carl Cox releasing a turtle into the sea might not seem like a big deal to you but it sure as hell is a big deal for the turtle. That turtle is now free to exercise its right as a free, wild sea creature. To coast the sandy bed, perusing algae and nibbling krill, and you know why? Because Carl Cox released it.

Perhaps in the end, it's nothing to do with the environment, or litter, or even house music that means I can't stop thinking about Carl Cox releasing a turtle into the sea. Perhaps, in the end, it's the simple proof, in a simple but beautiful image, that whether we are just average men or women going about our daily routines or superstar DJs like Carl Cox, we all have it within us to release a turtle into the sea. And that's a dream I think we can all share in.

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The author would like to add that he's obviously not actually taking the piss out of anyone who saves turtles because that's obviously one of the better things you could ever do. Carl Cox has also said that he released the turtle into the sea to raise awareness around the harm littering in Ibiza can cause marine wildlife which, again, is good stuff.