Sadly, we may not have enough of them to get the job done… but my plan would be to find some American drunk drivers who are really good people at heart and we’d send those people to the beaches of the Caribbean to clean up all the plastic crap that is quietly washing up on the ocean facing coast lines of some wonderful places.
There’s a lot of it. Miles and miles and miles of coast line are silently being buried under blankets of discarded scraps and buckets and wrappings and packaging…
- Image totally lifted from http://elcieexpeditions.blogspot.com/
It occurs to me that it is bad now, but it is bound to get worse. In 20 years there is going to be even MORE of this crap and it is bound to accumulate in the places that are furthest from resorts, furthest from towns… the places I want to fish, places I want to soak my soul in.
Garbage in paradise. It makes me angry and it fills me with a bit of hopelessness because I know there are not enough drunk drivers in the world to clean up the mess we are making for ourselves. There are not enough people living on the little islands where this crap washes up to actually clean it up.
Is there no beautiful thing we cannot destroy on our own? Oil Sands, Pebble Mine, De-watered rivers, de-fished oceans and plastic lined beaches.
If you happen to be a secret billionaire reading this post… please hire an army of the un/under-employed and send them to make the beautiful places beautiful again. I’d really appreciate it.
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Tags: Caribbean, drunk drivers, plastic, trash
My mantra:
Eliminate trash…neuter litterbugs.
Trash begets trash…neuter litterbugs.
Saw a lot of places on Cozumel that looked like your photo.
Ifs its any consolation trust me there are enough drunk drivers in the world to help your cause. Just spend any time on the roads in Joburg SA on a friday after midday and hope will be restored. Yeah this does suck. I remember seeing a sea of flip flops washed up in a bay on St Joes which is as far away from anything as you can get. You cant get away from it no matter how far you are willing to sail.
During my first season on South Andros I walked along our beach for the first time and thought to myself “this beach is going to be really nice once we get all this trash cleaned up”. So we cleaned up the beach and it was indeed beautiful.
Then the tide came in. More plastic came along for the ride.
Every tide and every onshore wind…we’ve turned the ocean into a never-ending conveyor belt of plastic. At least the beach cleaners have steady work…
Where’s my magic wand when I need it?
Little did we know what this meant at the time
Remember Dustin Hoffman In “The Graduate”?
Mr. McGuire: I just want to say one word to you – just one word.
Ben: Yes sir.
Mr. McGuire: Are you listening?
Ben: Yes I am.
Mr. McGuire: ‘Plastics.’
Ben: Exactly how do you mean?
Mr. McGuire: There’s a great future in plastics. Think about it. Will you think about it?
Ben: Yes I will.
Mr. McGuire: Shh! Enough said. That’s a deal.
Yup, that is where I was going with the title… plastics indeed.
Want to know where it is coming from??? I used to surf a lot in a certain spot in the Bahamas. Year after year more and more trash and glass was on the beaches. The island kept getting more and more tourist etc as the years went by. Finally i just asked a local why this was so. Turns out they dump all the garbage at one end of the ilsand and it washes up on the opposite. Brilliant! I have also seen beaches paved with garbage in Central America. It is sad. We all need to support resorts and buisnesses that look after/protect our oceans and fisheries whenever we travel as well as here at home.