HERE COMES THE SUN and consequently the garbage and rubbish!

HERE COMES THE SUN and consequently the garbage and rubbish!

Ipanema in Rio de Janeiro is blessed with one of the most beautiful beaches to be found in any urban setting in the world. Yet, all it takes to turn this idyllic beach into something resembling a dumpsite of garbage and rubbish is a hot sunny day attracting hundreds of beachgoers who leave their garbage and rubbish all over the sands. 

There are large plastic garbage and rubbish bins on the sands near the promenade. Although the bins are no more than 50 paces from the waterline, beachgoers are apparently too lazy to carry their trash to them. Instead, they leave their plastic waste and garbage on the sands in complete disregard for the ugly spectacle it creates, the inconvenience to other beachgoers and, worst of all, the harm to the environment. 

In a blatant demonstration of abject ignorance, selfishness, social irresponsibility and a complete lack of environmental awareness, people regularly litter the sands with hundreds of kilos of plastic drinking cups, plastic mineral water bottles, plastic straws, biscuit wrappers, plastic supermarket bags, polystyrene food trays with remains of food, used female sanitary towels, dirty nappies/diapers, beverage cans, glass beer bottles, open sardine cans with cutting edges, old flip-flops and even sometimes used syringes with needles. 

In a world threatened by global warming, rising sea levels, toxic pollution and the man-made degradation and possible imminent destruction of the natural environment, this behaviour by beachgoers beggars belief.

The greatest threat to the environment comes from the hundreds of kilos of garbage and rubbish that people leave on or near the waterline. The waves and tide sweep such waste into the sea, causing harm to the marine environment and marine organisms. The tide and waves claim the tidal zone trash before the municipal garbage collectors have a chance to get it when they arrive at the end of the afternoon or early evening.  

On Sunday 02/11/2014, I collected about 90 kilos of plastic trash and garbage left by beachgoers on the waterline and within the tidal zone on the sands between Rua Farme de Amoedo and Arpoador Rocks.  This stretch represents about a third of the beach.   Multiply that figure by 3 and that will give you an idea of the total volume on the waterline and within the tidal zone of Ipanema beach that day, i.e. 270 kilos.

At sunset, beachgoers gather at Arpoador to applaud the sun as it sets over the horizon. It is a nice poetic gesture but, if they really loved this beautiful beach, a better gesture would be to use their hands to pick up the garbage. If humanity carries on laying waste to the Earth, we may not have many more sunsets to delight us.   

The photos below show the ugly scene that met my eyes when I went down to collect the tidal zone garbage and rubbish at the end of the day on Sunday the 2^nd of November 2014.

The next photos show the following:

(i)            the type of food waste and trash that is regularly left in the tidal zone;

(ii)          the plastic ice cube bags left on the sand by beach goers and used by me to fill with rubbish and garbage.  (The black backpack is mine)

Each bag weighs about 10 kilos when full and I throw the contents into the municipal garbage bins. On Sunday November 2^nd, I collected about 9 full bags of trash just from the tidal zone.

I pray that people come to their senses and start doing what they can to save the environment before it is too late. To quote the immortal Joni Mitchell in Big Yellow Taxi: “Don’t it always seem to go that you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone?”