What is plastic doing to our
beaches?
The pristine Varkala beach in
Kerala
A close-up view of the waves at
Varkala beach, Kerala
"Mother earth is a temple,
not a dustbin" screamed a notice board in a tea shop at Varkala beach,
Kerala.
This plastic bottle was found lying quite close by to the above notice
Further away, more bottles
The plastic, thermocol, Styrofoam etc which we so carelessly throw
away, finally lands up in the ocean, carried by rain, rivers etc.
When I write
"plastic" and hit the search button on http://IndianwildlifeClub.com, I get
a few pages of results. Here are a few random one liners from those
results, which sum up our plastic malady.
"Major cause of floods was
Mumbai’s plastic bags choking the city’s drainage system."
"Storm-water drains choked
with ubiquitous plastic carry bags are partly responsible for Mumbai's
woes."
"The Maharashtra
government announced the decision to ban the use of plastic bags across the
state after reviewing the situation."
"A landmark 1990 study by
the research firm Franklin Associates—says
Plastic is not
biodegradable, it litters our waterways and coastal areas, and has been shown
to choke the life out of unsuspecting wildlife."
"The leather-back turtle
feeds almost exclusively on jellyfish and cannot distinguish between plastic
bags and jelly fish"
Fish and sea birds have been
choking on plastic litter
What is plastic doing to our National Parks?
We saw a tiger in Corbett national Park with a plastic gunny bag in its
mouth.
If we go by road from Delhi to
Corbett National Park, we have to pass a place called Kashipur. Here, for
miles at a stretch, we see plastic gunny bags, just like the one our tiger is
carrying. These are filled with more plastic and more non-bio degradable
stuff. They seem to be piled on the road sides for ever awaiting
disposal/recycling.
We need to empower the waste
recycling factories and give them visibility before we drown ourselves in
plastic waste.
The short video I put together on World Oceans Day, portrays the
simmering anger of the oceans through the incessant beating of the Dhol.
Watch it at
And now, we have the Bengal tiger holding up a plastic cement bag
left out near a water hole, as if to ask what am I supposed to do with this?
Watch this terrible episode we
were witness to at the link
Let us empower the rag picker
who helps recycle bio-degradable waste.
Dr.Susan Sharma is the Founder of http://IndianWildlifeclub.com
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