The plastic bag started its' journey into the water in a factory where once processed and manufactured, it was shipped to the local fast food and sandwich shop along with hundreds from the same batch. A busy shop with hundreds of daily customers who are not the most conscientious of consumers, leave the shop to enjoy their lunch and a fresh breeze at the nearby park. At the end of this lunch rush, the park is left more than a little worse for wear with trash spilling out of the available bins and with some simply left unattended were the lunch had previously been enjoyed.
Snatched by the wind from the littered park close by, the plastic bag floated in the air for several meters and was further dragged along the ground into the nearby water source. The plastic bag joined similar objects in the churning, frothy water, mixing up with broken branches and fallen leaves to form a large pollution patch.
The water continuously beat against the shore at a steady rate. Although the flow rate was constant, it had as of late become slightly sluggish. The level of pollution in the water seemed to have tripled in the past few years. While the pollution had initially been small in quantity, with the dramatic increase in the population up-stream had increased the waste down-stream to such a point that it had formed itself into a floating island.
The continuous flow is strangled and the flow has slowed down. This sluggish flow has changed the environment and thus the eco-system allowing certain organisms to thrive while decreasing or killing off others.
I watch now with a sad smile remembering a time when fish were abundant and the water was clear and did not give off a foul odour. A time my grandchildren will only read about.
