Planet or Plastic

The Milky Way, in all of its ineffable beauty, displayed on the viewing screen of the spacecraft. Jeffrey had never seen anything like it; he was only eight-years-old. His grandfather, Samuel, sat beside him. They were among the lucky ones. They were on the last spacecraft to leave Earth.

Jeffrey turned to his grandfather. "Why did we have to leave?" Jeffrey's mother had died years before, as most humans on Earth had. Jeffrey's father, Samuel's son, had died a month ago.

"I told you why," Samuel replied.

"Tell me again."

"The planet is dead."

"Who killed it?"

"We did."

"But... how can a whole planet die?"

Samuel's answer was only one word. He said it quietly, in almost a whisper. "Plastic."

"But... how?"

"Many kinds of man-made plastic were invented. Everything from paperclips to spacecraft was made of it... toys, furniture, cars, houses. Plastic doesn't break down."

"Never?"

"It takes hundreds, sometimes thousands of years. Then it turns into tiny particles that contaminate the soil and water. Every year, humans made more plastic than the year before. Over fifteen billion tons of it ended up on the planet. Do you know how much a billion is?"

"A lot?"

"Numbers with over twelve zeros."

"Wasn't there anything else to make things from?"

"Oh, yes. Wood, stone, glass, ceramic."

"Why didn't they stop making plastic then?"

"The chemical companies that made plastic made hundreds of thousands of billions of dollars."

"But what good is money if everyone's dead? If even the planet's dead?"

"Indeed." Samuel took hold of Jeffrey's hand. "Plastic poisoned our food, our water, the air we breathe."

"How did it get in the air?"

"When plastic is incinerated, it produces cancer causing chemicals.  Plastic eventually affected climate change.  The fish were the first to die off."

"What's fish?"

"Fish were before your time. They used to swim in the ocean. That should have been our first clue. The birds died off next."

"What are birds?"

"They were creatures with wings that flew in the sky. Larger animals and humans began to die off next."

"Why didn't people know?"

"They did."

"Why didn't they stop?"

"They didn't care about the next generation. All they knew is it wouldn't happen in their lifetime. But then it did start to happen, and no one paid attention."

The controller of the bilge panel on the other end of the spacecraft typed a code in; it was time for the once-a-week waste extraction. A panel slid open on the side of the craft. A quarter ton of waste soared into space.

Back in the passenger cargo, dinner was served. Jeffrey picked up his plastic fork and dipped it into his plastic bowl. Samuel took a drink from his plastic water bottle. On the viewing panel, thousands of plastic containers, plastic utensils, plastic bottles and plastic bags billowed into the pure pristine atmosphere. Yes, they still had their plastic. The formula for different plastics was on board too. They couldn't live without plastic.

Or could they?