Tasty Plastic 5/9

Dear Diary,

Today I, Alexander Albatross, went out with a few of my good friends for a nice tasty brunch. Carl Crab, Terry Turtle, and Patricia Pelican joined me, and we met up at the Mossy Rock. Top-notch, high-quality restaurant right there. 10/10 recommend. They have the best-tasting bottle caps; very filling. At the Mossy Rock, I ordered some microplastic smog water (their signature drink – it’s a delicious mixture of seawater and microplastic) a nice dish of sauteed plastic bag, with a side of steamed nurdles, all seasoned with microplastics, of course. My friends ordered similar dishes, all plastic-based. Even the very expensive and hard-to-find sardine that Patricia ordered was stuffed with plastic. Plastic is slowly taking over the ocean, and it’s getting harder and harder to find good fish around these parts. A few birds and other creatures are dying here and there, but I’m still kicking, so it’ll probably be fine. I don’t even know why they’re dying, the plastic is so much easier to find and catch than the fish ever were, and it’s waaaay more filling. It’s not like the plastic just sits in our stomachs and makes us feel full constantly even though we don’t gain any nutrients whatsoever. That would be absurd. Anyways, I have to go collect some shiny rocks for my rock collection that is so much better than Carl’s. Don’t tell him I said that

Update: It’s been a few weeks since the day I visited the Mossy Rock, and disaster has struck. First off, someone had the AUDACITY to steal MY rock collection!!! Also Terry, Carl, and Patricia have all died. A few days after we went to the Mossy Rock, they all slowly lost their appetites, and then they stopped eating. A few days after that, they all died from starvation. More and more birds and other creatures are dying every day, and now I’m starting to get a little concerned, because I haven’t felt the need to eat anything in a while. I feel full from all of the plastic, but the fullness just won’t go away. Yesterday, a few humans came, and they took Albert Albatross, and they forced him to drink seawater until he vomited, and when he threw up, all of the plastic left his stomach. He said that afterwards he felt a lot better, so I’m thinking about drinking some seawater until I barf up the plastic. Hopefully it’ll work. But even if I do upchuck the plastic that I’ve already eaten, there’s not much else that I can eat besides the plastic, so it doesn’t even matter if it works or not. The humans did clean up the beach a little bit, and they removed a good chunk of the plastic, but more and more just keeps on washing up. Hopefully one day it will all stop, and I can stop feeling uncomfortably full and hungry at the same time, and be able to go back to eating easy-to-catch fish that aren’t stuffed with plastic. Ciao for now,

Alexander Albatross

P.S, I’ll update you if I find my rock collection.

Sadly, Alexander Albatross never found his rock collection, and he died from a lack of nutrients four days after the previous journal entry. Rest in Piece Alexander Albatross; along with the millions of other creatures that have also been killed by the deadly plastic.

 

Is there a way to remove the microplastic fog or will it stay in the ocean forever? Will the sea creatures evolve ways to defeat the sea plastic, or will they all die out? How many creatures worldwide are dying from all of the plastic?

1 thought on “Tasty Plastic 5/9

Savannah,
I am a student working on my Master’s degree in Online Teaching and my course is exploring student blogging. I encountered your blog post while looking for creative science blogs. I am so impressed with the way that you were able to raise awareness for a real-world issue and ask readers to further investigate this problem and take action, all through creative writing. I love your characters’ names, places, and dialogue. Your story is fun, creative, and also very eye-opening. I hope to invite my own science students to complete similar projects inspired by yours. Thanks for sharing your creativity and passion for science!
Here is a link to my blog post about your project: https://mrsmorrisonscience.wordpress.com/2022/11/09/3-3-blog-project-inspiration/

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