Two years ago, my friends and I took part in a beach clean-up in Pantai Morib in Selangor. It was organised by our club – Sarina Rhythmic Gymnastics Club (SRGC) – and Selangor princess, Tengku Zatashah Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah.
We started our journey around 5am. I was tired and sleepy as we made our way to the beach.
As we sat on the bus, I assumed there would only be bits and pieces of trash scattered along the coastline, and that our work would be easy.
How wrong I was. As we alighted the bus, I noticed the brown water and wondered who dared swim there. Then, I saw the beach, it was a mess!
We were split into groups to cover different areas of the beach.
While collecting rubbish, I found a dead fish on the shore! It was traumatising to see a helpless fish dead on the ground.
I felt a great sadness. The poor fish could have lived longer if we humans were considerate. Luckily, we found a proper place to bury it.
I also found a hermit crab using a plastic cap as its shell! This shows how much rubbish we throw into the ocean.
My team found around 500 pieces of cigarettes all over the beach, which I thought was disgusting!
Why can’t we throw our rubbish in the bins?
Because of that experience, I would like to raise awareness against throwing rubbish into the ocean since it can harm the ecosystem and cause bioaccumulation (the accumulation of plastics or chemicals in living organisms), which causes living organisms to die faster.
I am speaking up on behalf of the ocean – we should stop littering, throwing trash everywhere and the over collection of seashells on the beach.
I would strongly encourage you to pick up trash you see on the ground. If each one of us contributes, we can make the world a better place.
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