Millions of tons of plastic trash end up in the world’s oceans each year (see "How Plastic Is Trashing the Planet"). This waste is especially dangerous when it becomes part of the oceans’ food chain. That term refers to the process in which small animals are eaten by larger animals—which in turn are eaten by even larger ones.
The food chain is crucial to preserving the oceans’ ecosystem. But plastic garbage disrupts that ecosystem. Plastic breaks down into tiny bits that sea creatures, including fish, eat. The results can be disastrous—killing those fish and threatening the food supply of other, larger, fish too.
This cartoon imagines the danger to the food chain in a different way. Study it, then answer the questions.
1. How does the cartoon depict a food chain?
2. What is the largest “fish” in this food chain?
3. What does the plastic bag represent? What purpose does it serve in the cartoon?
4. How does the cartoonist personify, or give human characteristics to, the fish?
5. What do you think is the cartoon’s message?