Plastic Whale

There’s a beached whale in Naic, Cavite looking worse for wear and spewing trash out of its open, unmoving mouth. You can see plastic bottles, plastic bags, and everyone’s favorite used ice cream tubs tumbling out of the whale’s mouth.

At first glance, it looks real. The beached whale lies along the shorelines 50 feet in size, blood-like substance spews out of its decaying back, and it looks back at you eerily. But it’s not—it’s not real.

Yet, on a certain level it is, because the fact of the matter is: there are marine animals out there carrying our trash in their stomachs. Let’s get real, people.

The 50-foot whale installation in Naic, Cavite was set up by Greenpeace Philippines to raise awareness on our trash problem and how our trash still winds up in the ocean for all marine animals to gobble up. Over the past years, there have been numerous cases of animals consuming trash in the ocean and when their bodies wash up on shore, once opened up, a plethora of garbage just spews out of their stomachs.

It makes you wonder how it would feel like to have plastic bottles, today’s shampoo sachet, and ice cream tubs stuffed into your stomach. Must feel horrible.

When my friend Vince posted the image on Facebook, I initially thought the whale was real. The idea of a beached whale on our shores made me panic. Whales are beautiful creatures and seeing a whale in such a condition was quite depressing. We did this. We killed a whale. (In the same way, it depresses me how whales in Oslob these days just stay so close to shore, lured by constant feeding and tourists.)

Thankfully, the whale was fake after a closer inspection of the flaky skin, the plastic body, and the red bags of plastic acting as blood. Yet the sight was unnerving.

Our trash shouldn’t end up in any animal’s stomach.

According to Greenpeace, a 2015 study identified five ASEAN countries as the biggest sources of plastic pollution in the world’s oceans, the Philippines included. It makes you wonder where your plastic bottles and shampoo sachets will wind up.

We have to do something with our garbage trail and stop dumping trash into the ocean.

After seeing the image of the beached plastic whale, I attended a meeting that evening. They served water in plastic bottles. As I took the water bottle, I paused and stared at the clear plastic and wondered what it would feel like to have the 500ml bottle in my stomach.

I returned the bottle to the serving table and ignored it for the rest of the night.

What will you do?