Plastic ocean

Microplastics - plastic particles smaller than a grain of rice, quietly invade every corner of the earth. They are everywhere but often ignored by us. Whether it's mineral water in the supermarket, coral reefs at the bottom of the sea, or even in the stomachs of penguins in Antarctica, scientists have found their traces. Plastic products have indeed brought convenience to life, such as lightweight food containers, durable plastic bags, and a cup of iced latte in a coffee shop. But behind these "conveniences", the environment faces a huge crisis. Over 8 million tons of plastic waste flow into the ocean every year, they are cracked by the sun, shattered by the waves, and eventually become countless microplastics that are invisible to the naked eye, like powdered sugar mixed in sand, impossible to clean up.

The impact of these microplastics on marine life is far more terrifying than we imagine. Small fish and shrimp mistake them for food and swallow them, and the plastic gets stuck in their stomachs and cannot be digested. Worse still, plastic acts like a "sponge" and easily absorbs toxins in seawater. These toxic substances gradually make their way onto our dinner table through the food chain.

Living in a coastal city, I have always had a unique emotional connection to the ocean since I was a child. Earth is a blue planet in the universe, with about 71% of its surface covered by oceans. When I was a young boy, I often spent weekends at the beach with my parents. I remember seeing plastic garbage on the beach often. In this project, I went to the beach again to film those discarded plastic products. I tried to express the impact of plastic, especially microplastics, on marine life in my own way, and presented the urgent need for solutions to the marine environment in an intuitive manner.