A Message in a Bottle
The waters are calling and crying for assistance
But no one is listening and there is no persistence
Caused by our over consumption and greed
Nevertheless we humans must feed.
The ocean was once blue and full of life
Now it is facing a life full of war and strife.
A growing hunger with no means to an end
We continue this never ending trend.
The ocean is sending a message for its health to be restored
In the form of plastic bottles washed up on the shore.
But will we ever listen to the one without a voice?
The time is now for change, it is our choice.
But no one is listening and there is no persistence
Caused by our over consumption and greed
Nevertheless we humans must feed.
The ocean was once blue and full of life
Now it is facing a life full of war and strife.
A growing hunger with no means to an end
We continue this never ending trend.
The ocean is sending a message for its health to be restored
In the form of plastic bottles washed up on the shore.
But will we ever listen to the one without a voice?
The time is now for change, it is our choice.
A Message In A Bottle
I was inspired to write my poem from my Science 10 project about climate change. My topic was about ocean acidification of the Great Barrier Reef. My poem focuses on how humans have been continuously polluting our oceans because our population has been on a steep rise and we have not found a solution to our waste problem. I wanted to raise awareness by posting my poem on garbage cans and also talking with people on the streets about how they can reduce their pollution of the ocean by being cautious of what chemicals you put down the drain.
I decided to roam around with a group of people to be more safe. My friends Jason Sun and Steven Yang asked me to be in a group. We started our adventure at Blenz Coffee in Wesbrook Village as Jason had a tutor to finish. We were originally going to share our poem in UBC, but after Jason's tutor he surprised us by telling us he had an Apple appointment at Oakridge Mall. This ruined our plans, but because we are good friends we decided to share our poems at Oakridge. At Oakridge Mall Jason finished his appointment and we looked around for a good place to share our poem. There was no good place and Steven felt nervous inside the mall as there were lots of people. So we decided to exit the mall and walk around the neighborhood and place our poems on peoples cars. While we were placing our poems I ran into one of the car owners and their kids. I initially thought that they were going to be mad at me, my partners and I were ready to run for our lives. But the car owner approached us with a smile and read my poem. His name was Mike and he said he liked how it talked about a global challenge. He read the poem out loud to his 4 year old girl and 6 year old boy they both smiled at us and shook our hands. Our group felt motivated and our morale levels increased as a stranger enjoyed our poem! Steven then had a good idea, he told us that it good be cool if we decide to share our poem on the Skytrain. We thought it was great, I added how we should go to the YVR, and Jason added with the idea of going on the Seabus to North Vancouver. This is how our plan evolved from UBC to Vancouver.
Commuting on the Canada Line was memorable, We looked at the good views on the way to the YVR. Jason and I laughed at Steven as he is a very funny guy. Steven stuck his poem called Tiny Star on the Canada Line, and Jason stuck his poem on the Langara 49 train station. At the YVR we were surprised by the sheer amount of people, it looked like it was Christmas time because there were so many people returning to see their families. I talked to one woman at YVR, she seemed to be in a rush as she just glanced my poem and told me she liked it and then handed it back to me and minded her own business. I felt discouraged but I carried on with my task and I posted my poem on the garbage can next to the international arrivals. After a quick snack at Tim Horton's we continued our journey to our final destination North Vancouver.
To get to North Vancouver we had to take the Canada Line to Waterfront station, as you might know YVR and Waterfront are both terminus stations so we had to sit in the skytrain for 30 minutes. Jason and I joked with Steven again, we learned a lot about him and we didn't know he can swear so much :o. At Waterfront station we got off the skytrain and went onto the Seabus to North Van. The ride on the Seabus was beautiful as we could see both Downtown and North Van. It was also a clear sunny day so we could see the water shimmer as the sun shone down on it, the mountains also added to the beautiful scenery. When we arrived at North Van we took some photos of the view of downtown from Lonsdale Quay marketplace. We handed out a couple poems and moved on into the interior of the marketplace. Inside there were many different foods to eat such as a pressed panini sandwich with short ribs and caramelized onions. I was tempted to eat but wanted to finish my project first. I posted my poem on a wall for people to read. After this we were all hungry, we started our day in UBC, commuted to the YVR, then took the Canada Line and Seabus to North Van all of our growing bodies were begging for food. We looked around the neighborhood and found a restaurant that was called The District. I ate a great Steak Sandwich with raspberry relish, Steven ate their specialty burger, and Jason opted for a warm pear and arugula salad. We enjoyed our meal and spent the rest of our time walking around North Vancouver sightseeing and enjoying our company.
I will not forget finishing this project as I had lots of fun with my group sharing my poem. Spending time with my friends brought be closer to them, I feel like this experience strengthened our relationship. I also learned that not everyone will like what you do, as I ran into many people who ignored me, but I also met many friendly people. I enjoyed the company of my group while travelling around our beautiful city and sharing my poem. I really like the way we had to present our poem, it is different from the other English projects I had in the past in which I had to prepare a presentation. This is much more free and allows us to put our creativity into the project. Overall I enjoyed this experience, thank you to Jason Sun and Steven Yang for travelling with me and having fun together.
