Talbot the Turtle: The Plastic Ocean

Talbot the Turtle wakes up from his sleep.

He comes out of his shell, ready to eat.

A lively young turtle, he’s only five.

He needs lots of food if he wants to thrive.

Talbot hatched on the beach, with no mom or dad.

He lives on his own, but it’s not all that bad.

Sea turtles are smart. They rely on instinct.

They’ve lived for so long and not gone extinct.

Talbot lives in the coral and eats what he wants.

He has to find food. There are no restaurants.

Now it’s time for a swim to find some food.

Talbot better eat soon to avoid a bad mood.

In a hurry to eat, Talbot has to explore.

He ate last night, now he’s hungry for more.

Talbot thinks twice. What do sea turtles eat?

Seaweed, sea sponge, and jellyfish are a treat.

While swimming around, Talbot gets confused.

He chomps on a jellyfish but isn’t amused.

When he looks closer, it’s not what he thought.

It’s a big plastic bag that he caught!

Twirling and swirling, they look almost the same,

but he knows that plastics cause stomach pain.

Talbot knows plastic bags are not the best.

He spits it out. It will never digest.

Looking around, Talbot sees more plastic.

Wherever he looks, the issue is drastic.

Plastic bottles, caps, fishing line and more.

The deep, blue ocean looks just like a store.

There isn’t any land for thousands of miles.

So, how does this plastic end up here in piles?

The wind blows it out of big garbage dumps.

When it lands in the ocean, it ends up in clumps.

Talbot wonders when the trash will go away.

Plastic doesn’t decompose. Forever it will stay.

Larger pieces break down from the water and sun.

Small bits of plastic can weigh up to a ton.

Not only Talbot has made this mistake.

Whales, seals, birds ... it’s an error they all make.

They bite down on their food, and to their surprise,

it’s not what they thought. It’s plastic in disguise.

The overuse of plastic needs to stop.

There are better habits humans can adopt.

There are reusable bags and water bottles to start.

Single use plastics just need to depart.

By avoiding plastic as much as we can,

Talbot the Turtle can eat in peace once again.