Plastic Does not Belong in Whales

Today’s drawing was done first thing in the morning, while I was drinking coffee. I had read the news last night that huge amounts of plastic were found in the stomachs of the 13 sperm whales who beached themselves in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. And while the cause of death was actually their inability to find the calamari they feed on due to storms at sea, the existence of wads of human waste in their stomachs turned mine.

Whales swim through fields of plastic debris.

This is why I pester my young compatriots at work to recycle, recycle, recycle; it’s why, first thing in the morning, I take the copious amounts of plastic and glass out of the trash bins where people left it the night before and put it in the recycling bags. Because maybe my co-workers think it’s inconvenient to walk 3 feet to dispose of their plastic waste properly, but I bet it’s even more inconvenient for the animals with which we share the planet to suffer from eating that waste.

I’ve been meaning for a long time to do some prints about the Pacific gyre. It might be time.

Author: Melissa

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