SUSPENSION OF BEACH PLOGGING FOR ORTHOPAEDIC REASONS

UNFORTUNATELY, MY ENVIRONMENTALISM HAS TAKEN ITS TOLL PHYSICALLY. 

I WAS FORCED TO SUSPEND PLOGGING ON IPANEMA BEACH IN MARCH 2024, DUE TO TO BACK PAIN,  TENDONITIS, TENOSYNOVITIS AND CARPAL TUNNEL SYDROME CAUSED BY STOOPING TO PICK UP TRASH AND CARRYING AND LIFTING HEAVY BAGS OF PLASTIC TRASH, BOTTLES AND GARBAGE LEFT BY CARELESS BEACHGOERS ALONG THE SHORELINE AND WATER'S EDGE.

A soon as my orthopaedic condition  improves, I hope to return to beach plogging as I fear that very little is being done to reduce the trashing of Ipanema Beach. 

Alarmed by the never-ending environmental threat of the hundreds of kilos of trash left by negligent beachgoers along the water's edge on Ipanema Beach, I started plogging in 2010. However, in the ensuing 14 years of plogging, I have seen little or no improvement in this careless behviour. 

This is the sort of plastic trash and garbage left by beachgoers in the tidal zone. If such trash is not properly collected and placed in the wheelie bins, it is swept into the ocean by the waves and incoming tide.  All of the trash seen in these photos was collected by me and properly placed in the municipal wheelie bins for disposal by the municipal garbage collectors.

 

This is the sort of scene that meets the eye at the end of the day on Ipanema Beach. I collected and disposed of all the plastic trash seen in the following photo.

WE CANNOT GO ON TRASHING OUR BEACHES LIKE THIS. 

FACED WITH GLOBAL WARMING, THE CLIMATE CRISIS AND DESTRUCTION OF THE MARINE  ENVIRONMENT, IT IS INCONCEIVABLE THAT WE CONTINUE TO BEHAVE SO IRRESPONSIBLY. 

WHAT IS NEEDED IS A NATIONAL CAMPAIGN TO PERSUADE PEOPLE TO RESPECT THE BEACH AND MARINE ENVIRONMENT AND TO STOP SIMPLY DISCARDING THEIR PLASTIC WASTE AND GARBAGE UPON THE SANDS. MORE WHEELIE BINS ARE NEEDED TO TAKE THE EVER-GROWING VOLUME OF PLASTIC WASTE AND GARBAGE. PLASTIC WASTE AND GARBAGE HAS TO BE CORRECTLY RECYCLED AND DISPOSED OF WITHOUT FURTHER DAMAGE TO  ECOSYSTEMS.

 JUNE 5TH IS WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY. 

IT IS A DAY WHEN WE SHOULD REMEMBER JUST HOW PRECIOUS OUR NATURAL ENVIRONMENT IS AND HOW WE SHOULD ALL STRIVE TO PRESERVE IT.

Our natural environment is not just something outside of us. We act as if we were separate from it and had the unquestioned right to do with it as we please. Therein lies the problem. We are part of it and everything we do do to the Earth, we do to ourselves. We are just part of the tapestry of life.

The Covid-19 Pandemic forced me to suspend my beach plogging in February 2021, for fear of infection. When cleanning up the mess of plastic and garbage people leave along the water's edge and shoreline, I get exposed to the mucous, saliva and fluids that people leave in their plastic bottles, cups and food wrappings on the sands. They also leave dirty nappies, sanitary towels and even condoms on the sand. The sand is packed cheek by jowl with people on the weekends and so avoiding closely packed crowds is an impossibility and thus presents a definite infection risk in the pandemic.

I feel an urgent need to return to my beach plogging because I fear that people have learned little about the need to preserve the beach and the marine environment.  I fear that they have not changed their habits and continue with their selfish littering of the beach. 

I am trying to build up the courage to return to my beach plogging because our environment sorely needs people to defend it. Even the little that I can do on my own helps. I reckon that since I started beach plogging in Ipanema in 2010, I must have removed over a ton of plastic trash, bottles and garbage from along the shoreline.

The following is a video made by Nicolas Mandri-Perrott, when he interviewed me about my beach plogging. His email: nmandri@gmail.com. His site: www.3c-films.com. Nicolas Mandri 3C Films.

https://youtu.be/Z-tZ4pAhZ0Y

THE TRASHING OF IPANEMA BEACH

THE TRASHING OF IPANEMA BEACH - IGNORANCE AND SELFISHNESS ARE DESTROYING THIS ONCE IDYLLIC SPOT

Ipanema beach must be one of the most beautiful beaches to be found in an urban setting anywhere in the world. Its renowned sunset over the sea at the foot of the Dois Irmãos Mountains attracts sightseers and photographers. 

Sadly, this beauty is marred by the ignorance and selfishness of those who leave hundreds of kilos of plastic trash, bottles and garbage on the sands and right on the shoreline every day. 

This pile of about 60 kilos of trash, bottles and garbage left on or near the shoreline would have been swept into the sea before the municipal garbage collectors could have got it. It is the result of my single-handed collection from only one quarter of the beach on 09/02/2020, before I had to stop beach plogging because of the Pandemic. 

THE ROAD TO SELF-DESTRUCTION - CARELESS POLLUTION OF THE MARINE ENVIRONMENT

Oceans Will Have More Plastic Than Fish By 2050, Study Says

The above is the title of an article by Melissa Chan in the January 19th, 2016 edition of TIME. 

See the accompanying video and article at  https://time.com/4186250/ocean-plastic-fish/

In the 10 years that I have been single-handedly cleaning up Ipanema Beach along the water's edge and in the tidal zone,  I have seen little or no improvement in the careless behaviour of beachgoers as they leave or discard their plastic trash and garbage on the sands. The trash and garbage left so negligently are swept into the sea by the waves and incoming tide. This is the result of plastic pollution in the oceans:

thegreatcoursesdaily.com

Need I say more? 

BEACH HUSBANDRY 
What we need is Beach Husbandry.

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines husbandry as 
"the control or judicious use of resources: CONSERVATION".

The shameful littering of our beaches with plastic bags, plastic cups, plastic straws, empty plastic water bottles, biscuit wrappers, plastic containers, food remains, polystyrene and aluminium takeaway food boxes, empty beer bottles, empty beverage cans, diapers and sanitary towels can hardly be described as judicious. In cities like Rio de Janeiro, the seaside and beaches represent an extremely important resource for the tourism industry. Many foreign and Brazilian tourists to whom I have spoken when I clean the shoreline are horrified by the volume of ugly trash left on Ipanema beach. 

The ocean, into which the shoreline trash and garbage is swept by waves and the incoming tide, represents a vital resource for fishing and its preservation ensures marine ecological equilibrium. Beachgoers are not only trashing the beach. They are trashing the oceans. 

The above photo shows just a small part of the garbage, plastic bags, disposable cups, empty mineral water bottles, empty beverage containers, Coca-Cola bottles, aluminium foil take-away food containers and biscuit wrappers left by beach-goers on February the 9th 2020, before the Covid-19 outbreak.

I removed this litter that was left near the water's edge on this small section of Ipanema beach. The incoming tide and waves would have swept all this into the ocean before the municipal garbage collectors could have removed it. 

I collected all the plastic trash, garbage and empty beer bottles that had been left on or near the water's edge on about one quarter of Ipanema beach. The final volume of about 60 kilos is shown in the photo below. 

 

People say they want everything to go back to normal when the Pandemic is over. If  "going back to normal" means turning Ipanema Beach into a garbage dump again, I hope we never go back to "normal". 

“This is such a beautiful beach. It is a real shame it is so dirty!”

(A quote from a young foreign tourist who was dismayed by the volume of litter on Ipanema beach).

Saturday 11th of January 2020 was another beach day in Rio de Janeiro and another challenge for the municipal garbage collectors as they try to collect and dispose of the hundreds of kilos of plastic trash and garbage left by beach-goers on the sands and by the waterline in Ipanema.

Saturday and Sunday are the worst days on Ipanema beach in terms of trash and garbage. Although the democratistion of suburban public access to Rio de Janeiro’s south zone beaches via BRT lines and metro may be laudable, it comes at a cost to the environment. The greater number of people flooding onto the beaches inevitably means a greater volume of litter. The endemic culture of carelessly littering the environment heedless of the damage caused means that many beachgoers turn the beach into a seaside rubbish dump or tip.

The litter also builds up in the surrounding streets as beachgoers discard their trash on their way to and from the beach. The careless public have adopted the street plant and tree beds as trash cans, as can be seen in the following photos in Rua Teixeira de Melo, one of the streets leading from the metro to Ipanema beach. 

(Trash in tree bed in front of Super Prix Supermarket)

Somebody has actually broken off the trunk of this tree. 

The situation is made worse by the fact that the small municipal litter bins fixed to lampposts are too small to handle the volume of trash. Moreover, the municipality has removed the large wheelie bins from the promenades, streets and sands.

I asked a local municipal garbage collector if the local council would bring back the wheelie bins. He said they had been removed because people either steal or break the wheelie bins. 

Even when there were wheelie bins, people would still throw their trash on the ground and so I believe it is a question of environmental consciousness and attitude not just the lack of litter bins. 

The most serious consequence of litter in the gutter of the streets is that it clogs up the rainwater drains, resulting in flooding in periods of torrential rain. Global warming means that such torrential rainfall is becoming more and more frequent. Recently, a number of major Brazilian cities have suffered torrential rainfall causing disastrous floods with consequent destruction of property and loss of life. 

The following two photos are of trash and garbage in the gutter, clogging the rainwater drains in Rua  Barão da Torre in Ipanema, next to Super Prix Supermarket. 

The next photo is of  a pile of trash and garbage thrown into the gutter under a truck in Rua Teixeira de Melo near the Zona Sul Supermarket, in Ipanema.

The unsightly piles of litter in the streets and on the beach are not only bad for the environment but also give a very negative impression to tourists.

See this photo of a small litter bin on the corner of Rua Teixeira de Melo with the Avenida Vieira Souto beach road in Ipanema, overflowing with trash and garbage.

In the late afternoon of 11^th January 2020, I jogged up the beach and collected piles of trash and garbage just along the shoreline and in the tidal zone of Arpoador beach in Ipanema. The trash included the ubiquitous plastic beverage containers, plastic straws, biscuit wrappers, mineral water bottles, plastic bags, beer cans, beer bottles and food remains. The following photo is of the shoreline trash collected at Arpoador.

Raucous music in poor taste assaults the ears at Arpoador. The soothing music of the lapping waves is drowned out. It seems noise pursues us wherever we go: from Brazil to Bali, from Ipanema to Ibiza. The norm these days for many beachgoers is noisy music of dubious taste, a lot of alcohol and a complete disregard for the natural environment.

Some beachgoers go to the beach equipped with sound systems with which they belt out rap music. Competing sound systems, often separated by a mere 20 paces, create a cacophony and resulting bedlam for other beachgoers. 

Jogging back from Arpoador, down to the area near Rua Teixeira de Melo, I collected further trash.  The second collection included two bags containing a lot of empty beer bottles. Those were very heavy. Many young beachgoers buy 10-kilo bags of ice and a lot of beer bottles and get well oiled on the beach. They usually just leave the bottles and ice bags near the shoreline. 

The result of the two collections along the shoreline probably came to about 40 kilos of trash and garbage. It was too hot and I was too tired to do any more. It is back-breaking work and I sympathise with the local garbage collectors. 

As I was finishing, a pretty young blonde tourist came up and helped me by collecting some trash. Dismayed by the amount of trash people leave on the beach, she said, “This is such a beautiful beach. It is a real shame it is so dirty!”

I thanked her and told her that unfortunately many people did not seem to care about the damage to the environment caused by plastic in the oceans. The waves sweep the trash in the tidal zone into the sea with disastrous consequences for marine life and human beings.

As I was leaving, I met two very pleasant lady municipal garbage collectors who said they had observed me picking up the garbage and wondered why a foreigner bothered to do this when many Brazilian beachgoers could not be bothered to do the same. I replied that I was only doing my part in helping to lessen the amount of trash and said, “Thank God you exist because without the municipal garbage collectors, we would all disappear under a mountain of trash!”

Ipanema beach is beautiful and deserves better treatment from the people who enjoy it. It is a tradition at Arpoador that beachgoers clap in applause as the sun sets over the sea to the west. I wonder whether they will clap as the sun sets on human life on this planet if our environmental stupidity takes us beyond the brink of extinction.    

DON QUIXOTE DE LA PLAYA!

DON QUIXOTE DE LA PLAYA !

Saved from

Rachel Gray

3

Don Quijote en la playa de Barcino, de Augusto Ferrer-Dalmau

In the nine and a half years that I have been picking up the trash on Ipanema beach, I have been called many things but perhaps the most amusing epithet is Don Quixote. 

One day, as I was picking up the plastic cups, plastic supermarket bags, plastic bottles, hundreds of plastic straws, glass beer-bottles, remains of food, dirty nappies, used sanitary towels, and other unmentionable ugly waste left on or near the waterline by beach-goers, a casual observer shouted, “ Hey, Don Quixote, how is it going?” I was not offended by the allusion. I replied, “ I could do with some Sancho Panzas to give me a hand!”

I am sure there are many who think my single-handed beach cleaning is a quixotic idea. However, there is an important difference between Don Quixote and myself. The intrepid but delusional errant knight created by Cervantes fought imaginary enemies, tilting at windmills because he thought they were giants. 

In contrast, there is nothing imaginary about the threat posed by plastic trash left on the beach and swept into the sea. It is a real enemy of the marine and human environment and represents a giant problem, as evidenced by the immense gyres of plastic waste in the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans. 

See the following photo and chart. Click on the links to read the articles.

 (Photo – AFP/Getty/The Guardian)

https://blueocean.net/great-pacific-garbage-patch-taking-trash/

Sources: 5Gyres Institute, CBC, news wires, Ocean Conservancy

https://www.cbc.ca/news2/interactives/ocean-garbage/

Even in the off-season or winter months, beachgoers leave an incredible amount of trash and garbage along the waterline of Ipanema beach. This is waterline trash that I collected on 01.09.2019 and would otherwise have ended up in the ocean. (Photos taken by me).

By 18:00, I must have collected about 50 kilos of plastic trash, garbage and glass bottles just on the short stretch of the waterline of the beach shown in the above photos. It is back-breaking work and is not helped by the removal of many of the municipal trash wheelie bins from the beach.

I give thanks for windy, overcast days in Rio de Janeiro because at least the beaches and marine environment will get some temporary respite from the onslaught of trash and garbage caused by the ignorance, sheer laziness and deliberate, negligent littering by beachgoers.

On stormy days, the sea may well give up its dead but it also gives up the trash and plastic jetsam thrown away by beachgoers. The idiotic habit that humans have of taking the tops off plastic water bottles and throwing them away separately on the beach results in the jetsam in my photo of one small corner of the beach at Arpoador in Ipanema.

Count the number of bottle tops and bits of plastic that you can see in this photo and then multiply it several thousand times in order to get an idea of the volume swept into the sea from Rio’s beaches.  

We need to wake up before it is too late! People seem to be wilfully blind to the damage they cause to the environment.

All the signs are here that Mother Nature has had enough of our selfish behaviour. If we do not change and we give up on protecting the natural environment, one day soon Mother Nature may well give up on us!