There’s a Shark-Shaped Fin in the Water of My Dreams.

Today I’m thinking about the ocean, and whales washed to shore like gory, nightmare pinatas stuffed with the carelessness and greed of humankind.

On March 16, in Davao Gulf in the Philippines, a young male curvier beaked whale was found vomiting blood, his body eating itself from the inside. Researchers pulled 88 pounds of plastic trash out of his stomach. He died from starvation and dehydration, the plastic having blocked his ability to absorb water or nutrients from food.

A few weeks later, a pregnant sperm whale came ashore in Sardinia, Italy with her baby still inside of her- along with 50 pounds of plastic waste.

An estimated 100,000 marine mammals die each year from plastic pollution. Plastic debris also causes the deaths of millions of sea birds and fish annually.

I know, I know. Facts and figures bore people, but we also do not want to see the physical evidence of our trespasses. A recent campaign showing graphic photographs of the impact of plastic waste on wildlife was met with outcries of rage- not at the horrors themselves, but at the shock to the viewers. I’m left speechless by this. It needs to be shocking in order to wake people up. These images need to be seared into our collective memory. We should not be permitted to turn away.

I imagine the same folks who are too delicate to view the horrors we are all complicit in creating are also the ones who make snarky, entitled comments about the banning of plastic straws and grocery bags. I get it, humans are hardwired to be terrified of change and we seem to believe that any new changes that affect us personally are somehow encroaching on our “rights”. Here’s the thing, though: even if you don’t care AT ALL about wild creatures or the preservation of natural beauty and diversity, you should still care about this. On a purely selfish level, plastic waste in the oceans has an impact on you. Since plastic isn’t biodegradable, it simply breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces that become increasingly more difficult to remove from the water. The entire food chain absorbs and ingests these pieces of micro plastic, eventually ending up in the food on your plate.

However, I would urge you to care about more than just your own dinner. I want to tell you another story about whales, this time an orca (which are actually dolphins, but I digress).

Last summer, an orca gave birth to her calf in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Canada and the Northwest US. The baby died shortly after birth, but the mama whale would not let it go. That night the females from her pod surrounded her in a protective circle, swimming for hours as the moon shone down upon them. This was not the end. For 17 days, the mother refused to let her baby sink into the sea, diving down each time his body slipped away, nudging it back to the surface. During this time, as she grew increasingly exhausted, members of her pod began taking turns balancing the calf on their noses so she could have a rest.

Scientists studying the whales suggest the mourning was so prolonged in part because this pod hasn’t had a successful birth in years, the supposition being that the toxicity of the water and their food sources is causing neonatal deaths to rise.

Think about this. I know humans who don’t treat each other as kindly as these whales treat one other. And we have the audacity to say they do not matter as much as we do? It’s one thing to cause ourselves to go extinct, but we are destroying the home of every other species too.

This post was prompted by the brand Zak, which makes reusable, stainless steel, double-walled cups. They even have a built-in bendy straw so you have no excuses. This isn’t a sponsored story, but they sent me a very nice tumbler and asked if I’d take a pledge for Earth Day to only choose reusable containers for the next 30 days whenever possible. I have accepted the challenge and I would urge all of you to do so as well. Zak has offered a 20% discount code on their Alfalfa Tumblers to help get you started. Just enter code CHOOSETOREUSE at checkout.

For one month let’s all try to treat each other and our planet as kindly as the whales do. Let’s circle around, lending support and helping each other up when we fall. Let’s be mindful of how each seemingly tiny choice we make echos across the water and the land and the sky. Maybe after one month, we won’t stop and we can just continue. That’s the kind of Earth I want to live on and leave behind for my children. How about you?

3 thoughts on “There’s a Shark-Shaped Fin in the Water of My Dreams.”

  1. I hate plastic, really and truly. I try and avoid it at all costs if possible. I read several articles where some countries ARE burning plastics for fuel, and to me it makes perfect sense since it is a petroleum product and does generate a whole lot of heat plus then the plastic are gone forever. The emissions are harnessed too in this process.
    What surprised me the most about plastics is microfiber material is actually a form of it. It is a polyester. Each time you wash it, microscopic pieces fall off and get into waterways etc. and then into the ecosystem.
    Frankly humans have screwed alot of things up. While plastics did seem to be a good idea, in the long run they are not.
    One of the biggest which people never seem to mention is DISPOSABLE DIAPERS. They are disgusting, and stay in the landfills forever.

    Reply

Leave a Comment

CommentLuv badge