The One Percent; A Ray of Light

The One Percent; A Ray of Light
In today's world, 99% of fish found in the ocean contain at least one microplastic in any of the three studied tissues in their bodies. An average of 60 percent of fish—198 species captured in 24 countries—contain microplastics in their organs. Now, we could use the argument that we simply harvest the fish that don't have microplastics, but we wouldn't be able to tell if every bite is safe. There is an estimation of 3.5 trillion fish in the sea (oceanconservancy.org), which means if 99.9% of those fish contain at least one microplastic contaminant in their system. That would mean there are only 3.5 billion fish without microplastics. A billion alone seems like a lot, but when you remember that there are approximately 8 billion people on earth, the number doesn't seem as promising anymore. This means, if we were to harvest the fish without microplastics, there would still be about 4.5 billion people who would be forced to consume fish with microplastics. My piece is called The One Percent; A Ray of Light in reference to the one percent of fish that remain without being contaminated by microplastics. I've made a border with newspaper clippings of current events, plastics, and objects if found lying around my house. Objects that have been left discarded, like many plastics that end up in our oceans. The fish, free of any plastic beads or other decorations, glows as a ray of hope, illuminating my face and filling me with home for the future.

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