13 August 2013

Shame on the human race


In the early 1960s, "surf rock" came to Minneapolis via "Surfin' Bird," a song by a local band called "The Trashmen."  Nowadays the connection between surf and trash has become more literal.
Noyle was shooting Indonesian surfer Dede Surinaya in a remote bay when he and Surinaya discovered the water to be covered in garbage, according to GrindTV. The bay was miles from any town, yet strong currents had carried the trash of the world’s most populated island, Java, to its once pure waters. "It was crazy. I kept seeing noodle packets floating next to me,” Noyle told GrindTV. “It was very disgusting to be in there..."

Indonesia, a country comprised of more than 17,000 islands, suffers from a terrible trash problem that is polluting its waters. Some of the population centers have little to no trash collection infrastructure, leading locals to dispose of their waste in the street or in river beds, after which it inevitably is washed out to sea...

Residents of large population centers are often the ones improperly disposing of their trash, which storms and currents carry to beaches and islands most locals have never even seen. "There is little cultural awareness when it comes to trash,” according to Time magazine. 
I know humans have done this since time immemorial, and that many who do it have no choice and no concept of the sequelae.  But the seas can't continue to absorb the inpact.

3 comments:

  1. I wouldn't be so quick to blame Indonesians and their lack of collection infrastructure, either: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/real_story/4493728.stm

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    Replies
    1. Very interesting, Dan. I hadn't heard about that.

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  2. Wow! That's pretty awful Dan=( That water looks so pretty too so it's shameful to see all that trash. It really peeves me when I see people throw their trash on the ground (usually with a trash bin a few steps away).

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