Trapped In Lace

Ten

I sit down in marine biology.

"You brought in the work right?" Alex asks

"No i thought you were bringing it in" i say

"What?" He snaps, "are you being serious, we're going to fail!"

"Alex calm down, yes i brought it in. I was just having a laugh" i say and he freezes

"Oh" he says and i laugh

"How was your weekend?" He asks

"What do you mean?" I ask

"You said you weren't free all weekend and you were all dressed up in target so I'm guessing you did something" he says

"Oh yeah, oh it was great" i say

"What about you?" I ask, "how was the party?"

"Shit, every party I get my ex coming up to me. Just like fuck off" he says and i laugh

"I know what that's like" I say

"Really? You don't look like the type to have had an ex"

"Well i wouldn't say ex" i say, "more ex fling"

He smirks and raises his eyebrows at me.

"Get your mind out of the gutter I'm not a slut, we just got drunk and one thing lead to another now every time I see him he things it will happen again. Even though i told him it was a one time thing" I say

"Well, at least your away from him right? My ex follows me around like a moth to a flame" he says

"Okay class" Mr Martin says and everyone stops talking.

"Please hand in your reports with both names on at the end and today we will be learning about plastic pollution" he says

•

•

"Oh my god this is awful!" I outburst and everyone in the class looks at me

"Sorry, it's just it says here that day approximately 8 million pieces of plastic pollution find their way into our oceans. There may now be around 5.25 trillion macro and microplastic pieces floating in the open" i say

"That's the harsh reality" Mr Martin tells me

"There must be something we can do though" i say, "and yeah recycling and all that jazz but we need something that will make more of an impact. Why hasn't anyone done anything?"

"Banning plastic straws and bags is going to do fuckall, this is ridiculous" i say before leaning back in my chair and I see Alex look at me from the corner of my eye

"You done?" He mumbles at me and i smirk slightly

"I agree one hundred prefect with you Ella. We can't just scoop it all out though. For a start, only 1% of marine litter floats, with the vast majority sinking to the sea floor. Even if we tried to scoop up that 1%, in international waters who would pay for it? To further complicate matters, the majority of it is microscopic" he says

"There is no way because even if miraculously we managed to get all of these pieces, most smaller than a grain of rice out of the sea, what would we do with it then? All we can do is stop using more" he says

"But what some people don't know is that some of the nastiest, most polluted rivers in the world are in China and India. These countries are such big polluters is because... well, they're poor. They don't have good infrastructure for dealing with waste so they just end up dumping the waste near water and they just get washed out to sea. As countries become wealthier, they are better able to clean up their messes. This is a phenomenon known as the environmental Kuznets curve. Instead of banning plastic straws, we should be focusing our efforts on helping developing countries become wealthier and healthier" Mr Martin tells me

"Can't they just get more money?" Someone asks

"It's not as easy as it sounds" I say before I can stop myself from talking, "like sir said if most waste is coming from countries like Asia it's more difficult. A lot of countries such as Iraq and Pakistan are at war. Their concentration isn't on plastic waste they will be putting their funding into war and arguing over stupid things like oil, money and trade agreements. They have a lot of corrupt leaders that only care about themselves. The leaders will be focusing on protecting themselves against the threats. They don't use their money efficiently and effectively to invest in the urban populations that are struggling"

"MEDCs have higher levels of plastic consumption, so many produce more waste than LEDCs because MEDCs have a higher population meaning they will have a higher demand for plastic and waste. But they still should have better waste systems, at least they are telling people about the damage"

"But in the LEDCs they need to invest in the struggling countries that have no idea what they are doing. They need to educate them on the consequences of their actions but to be fair to them they don't have anywhere to put the rubbish and waste so it builds up and and up and when the tide comes in it just gets swept away with the tide into the ocean" i say

"There need to be more efficient ways to deal with the waste and the minimal money they have they need to spread it evenly between to the less developed countries like the LICs and HICs because the LICs are facing more than one struggle. They have development issues such as squatter settlements and disease they can not economically cope with because they have a low GNI meaning overall they score low on the human development index. This means they don't just lack in waste control the lack all over the country with death rates, immortality rate, life expectancy and education etc" i ramble leaning back in my chair

"There need to be change and it's not going to happen soon unless someone pulls a thanos and kills us all" i say making a few people laugh

Mr Martin looks at me with an impressed look on his face and the bell goes.

"That's all for today, I will set your next assignment tomorrow" he says and I get up

"Ella can I borrow you for a moment?" He asks and I nod

Everyone leaves the classroom and I walk up to him, "what's up... sir?"

He smiles, "you've impressed me today"

"Thanks sir" i say

"You seem to know a lot about other countries" he says and i nod, "every year at the end of September the science team pick a student to do a speech about the problems of the world. This year the school is hosting and its an incredible opportunity. Would you like to be our speaker for your year group?" He asks

"Yeah, why not" i say

"That's great!" He says

"What's the topic?" I ask

"Anything, marine pollution if you want. Counties development issues, air pollution. Anything. All I ask is can you have a draft of your speech as soon as possible?" He asks me and i nod

"Yes, I'll have it to you as soon as I write it" I say and he smiles

"Great! I'm excited to see what you can bring to the team" he says

"Team?" I ask

"Yes, we have a team. Mainly of younger students but there principal added a new member on the team due to lack of involvement. That and because he was going to get kicked out of the football team because of the lack of his grades and involvement" he tells me and i nod

"Okay" i say

"We meet on Wednesdays lunch, in Miss Wilson's room which is just across the hall" he says and i nod

"I'll see you then" I say