This story features a dystopian world where fish live on land and have suffered a lot due to the effect of fish-created plastic- but nothing at all, compared to the agonies that aquatic humans suffer.
I dived into the ocean. With an oxygen tank, of course. I was not a human, to live underwater. I did not have lungs like them. Instead, I had gills which helped me live in my domain, land.
I dived into the ocean, knowing what I would find- millions of humans, lying there, entangled in plastic. I knew that I could free some of them, but who was going to free the rest, from those in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch to those in oceans all around the world?
Millions of humans were going to die, all because of us. For who else would have created something that would destroy themselves? Who else would create something meant to save the ecosystem but ended up destroying it? Who else would create that disastrous invention that could not be destroyed but destroyed everything around it? Who else, but ourselves, fish, would have created plastic?
Look at what we had done to the albatrosses on Midway Island. In an uninhabited island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, that was supposed to be untouched by our influence, albatrosses that had survived for ages had died, because they had eaten plastic. Plastic pieces had been swept out to the island by ocean currents, where albatrosses picked them up, attracted by their bright colours. So, we were responsible for their deaths- the deaths of countless innocent birds with plastic lids and cigarette lighters in their stomach.
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Look at what we had done to Boracay Beach in the Philippines. It was supposed to be one of the most beautiful beaches in the world, and we had forced the government to shut it down because of the sheer amount of plastic that had settled on the shore. Tourists visiting the beach had dumped all their plastic waste there, polluting the beautiful beach. So, we were responsible for the ruined ecosystem surrounding the beach. All because we, fish, wanted everything, but gave back nothing. Nothing except plastic waste.
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And, as I dived into the ocean, I looked at what we had done to countless humans. Humans had once brightened up the ocean with their vibrant colours. Now, all that I could see was the colour of plastic bags and plastic trash. Humans trapped underneath plastic containers, humans trapped in plastic bottle packs and plastic strewn all over the ocean floor- that was the only view I had. Gone was the old beauty of the oceans. Now, diving into the ocean was as good as jumping into a landfill.
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I had always been forbidden to dive into the ocean waters. So had everyone. At the entrance of the beach, there had been a sign saying that diving was hazardous to health. But now, nothing could be done to reprimand me. After all, there was nobody else left. Everyone else had died due to the effect of plastic. It was just me, all alone, with no other fish in the world for company, all because of plastic.
