'Look! A Light!' | Digital Painting by hiddenblade

This is my entry for the Plastic Drawing Contest hosted by @jacinta.sevilla. The concept is simple but exaggerated a bit for humor.

The Turritopsis dohrnii, or what we call the immortal jellyfish is a type of jellyfish that is capable of reverting back to its immature stage, colonial stage after having reached sexual maturity. By the term immortal, yes it is biologically immortal. It has the ability to revert back to its polyp stage once it reaches maturity, starvation, sudden temperature change, is threatened or if there are several changes in the environment. They can be killed when predated or when they get disease.

ASSUMING that they live even though there are changes in the environment due to plastics and other garbages, this illustration is something that I think would happen. Plastics can biodegrade for 450-1000 years. Imagine if we completely filled the ocean with plastics, the natural sunlight coming from the sun will be covered resulting in changes in the marine ecosystem. Aquatic photosynthesis would not be possible, and that would greatly affect the food chain. ASSUMING that humans have died due to the lack of food in land and ocean and massive disease, and also ASSUMING that these immortal jellyfishes are one of the creatures that survived, then they would be lonely. If they were able to live and adjust to the changes, then they will be living all their lives in the dark waters.. and that is really lonely. In the future, the light (that is supposed to be natural to them), would be strange for them. And did I ask how would you be able to enjoy swimming in the ocean full of plastics? Well, nobody wants to live in the dark and be lonely, right? So let's not hope that this will happen.

So, as a person who always think of worst case scenarios, this is just my exaggerated opinion. Since the immortal jellyfish has not been observed in its natural habitat (only observed in laboratories), this might or might not happen. This may be a ridiculous theory. But let us still hope that we will not fill the oceans with plastics. We should do something about the problem as early as now.

The Process

Allow me to share the process:

Using Adobe Photoshop, I painted the canvas with a dark blue color that will serve as the ocean. Special note: I could have made the water brown since I am representing the ocean to be very dirty but I thought that blue would be visually appealing. lol.

Then I added several tones of blue.

Then I added the garbage and the light.

Then I enhanced the colors.

Then I added the jellyfish and some garbage.

Lastly, I added the other jellyfish and their dialogues.

If we recycle our plastics, then the immortal jellyfishes would enjoy their immortality in the future. Of course, I'm not only concerned about them, but we would also enjoy living on earth in the future. So, would you rather just die and let the immortal jellyfish be lonely or would you rather just recycle and do something about it for all of us to enjoy the beauty of earth? The decision is ours.

Sources:
https://immortal-jellyfish.com/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turritopsis_dohrnii
https://www.postconsumers.com/2011/10/31/how-long-does-it-take-a-plastic-bottle-to-biodegrade/
https://www.whoi.edu/oceanus/feature/shedding-light-on-light-in-the-ocean

Some plastic facts from @jacinta.sevilla 's post:

Plastic is known as a very durable material made of long chained molecules classed as polymer that resists degradation, sunlight and can last from 100 - 200 years.
READ MORE HERE: When will indestructible plastics finally degrade?

One pitfall of plastics is that it usually ends up as trash in two places:
Landfills
Natural environment (the ocean)

_{PLASTIC TIDE: Photo credit}
Other things you might as well know!
➡️ Plastic is a multi-billion dollar industry which is expected to grow in coming years due to increasing population and economic demands.

➡️ Trash/plastic that ends up i the ocean is a health hazard to the environment and us. Thanks to the TOXINS called:

• The toxic chemicals such as bisphenol A (BPA) and PS oligomer. These end up in the guts of animals or wash up on shorelines, where humans are most likely to come into direct contact with the toxins.

➡️ Biodegradable plastics are being made such as hydro-biodegradable plastics and petroleum based oxo-biodegradable plastics. But these do not efficiently break down because it depends on how it is disposed + weather/temperature conditions; they may last as long as non biodegradable plastics. But in favorable conditions they only last 47-90 days. Source

➡️ Surveys show that people always have a negative impression on plastics compared to glassware and paper bags. Source

➡️ By 2050 there will be more plastic in the sea than fish. And plastic particles broken down in the ocean which is ingested by wildlife will be hard to remove. Imagine, does'nt that scare you?. Source