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?”

WARNING: HELPING TO CLEAN UP IPANEMA BEACH CAN EXPOSE YOU TO DERISION, HOSTILITY AND AGGRESSION. 

Sunbathing on Ipanema beach on a Saturday and Sunday is no longer a pleasure unless your idea of pleasure is competing for a patch of sand with thousands of others and then lying surrounded by countless plastic cups, plastic bags, biscuit wrappers, beverage cans, plastic straws and even dirty nappies and sanitary towels while your ears are assaulted by the hubbub of beach vendors' cries, other beach-goers' raucous laughter and shouting and blaring music from sound systems.  How people can enjoy sitting on the beach in such conditions, surrounded by garbage and even decorate the sand with their own trash because they are too lazy to throw it in the garbage bins provided is beyond my understanding. 

Perhaps the above is to be expected in this Brave New World of complete environmental blindness and lack of personal and civic responsibility.
However, what you do not expect is to become the object of derision, hostility and aggression if you decide to try and clean up some of the trash yourself. 

Some three weeks ago, I went to the beach on a Saturday with my wife. Just before we left the beach, I decide to remove some of the nearby trash from the sand and waterline. I got an empty plastic ice bag and stuffed trash into it. As I approached the waterline, a group of some 6 or 7 drunken young men demanded insolently and belligerently that I remove their own plastic trash lying at their feet. Realising that they were deliberately provoking me, I responded politely that they could throw their trash in the garbage bins themselves. They insisted and when I refused, I became the target of verbal insults, derision, scorn and hostility. They kicked sand in my eyes and became threatening. I was reluctant to back down but since they were clearly bent on beating me up and I stood little chance of defending myself against a group of drunken yobs, I left the beach quickly with my wife. Needless to say, my wife and I found the whole experience traumatic and have not returned to the beach on a weekend. 
The moral of the story is that some people take pleasure in littering the beach with their muck and trash and resent anyone who tries to clean it up. 

RIO + 20  AND ARPOADOR + 20 

Rio + 20

Back in 1992, when I was called on to narrate the official video of the Eco-92 Global Forum in English, I believe that most people had high hopes that some definite effective measures would be taken  by government and industry to halt or at least seriously diminish the man-made pollution and consequent devastation of our natural environment. Twenty years have passed during which we have seen little more than posturing by governments and world leaders, who are evidently more concerned with preserving their own power structures and pandering to industrial lobby bodies than they are with taking any real stand in favour of the planet.

Arpoador + 20 


Yesterday, while world leaders tried to reach agreement on what to do about the devastation of the environment, beach-goers left 20 kilos of plastic garbage and assorted trash just on the water line of  Ipanema beach at Arpoador. It seems that the message is not getting through to those who carelessly leave their trash on the beach where the waves sweep it into the sea. I have a message for such people: Congratulations! You are contributing to the devastation of marine ecosystems! 

THE CONSEQUENCES OF LEAVING PLASTIC TRASH ON THE BEACH. 


"SO WHAT'S THE BIG DEAL?", YOU MAY WELL ASK.  SOME SAY:  "I DO NOT LEAVE SO MUCH TRASH AND THE MUNICIPAL GARBAGE COLLECTORS ARE PAID TO PICK IT UP!"


WELL, IF YOU LEAVE YOUR BUNDLE OF TRASH NEAR OR ON THE WATERLINE, THE SEA WILL WASH IT AWAY INTO THE OPEN OCEAN BEFORE THE GARBAGE COLLECTORS CAN PICK IT UP AND THESE ARE THE CONSEQUENCES:


1). THE PLASTIC IS CARRIED AWAY BY OCEAN CURRENTS AND FORMS ENORMOUS PATCHES OF PLASTIC GARBAGE IN OCEAN GYRES.  Plastic leaches toxic chemicals such as Bisphenol A into the oceans. Fish eat minute pieces of plastic, mistaking them for plankton and sea birds swallow plastic. Thus, plastic enters the marine food chain.  Ultimately, this has a devastating effect not only on marine ecosystems but also on the health of humans who eat fish. See this:http://www.oceanfootage.com/stockfootage/Plastic


and also https://www.google.com/webhp?hl=en&tab=mw#hl=en&output=search&sclient=psy-ab&q=PHOTOS+OF+PLASTIC+TRASH+IN+THE+ATLANTIC&oq=PHOTOS+OF+PLASTIC+TRASH+IN+THE+ATLANTIC&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&gs_l=hp.3...1791.13161.0.13552.39.37.0.2.2.0.341.9192.2-35j2.37.0...0.0.rn3IKKvNtkc&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.,cf.osb&fp=60909d0e42a1fcbc&biw=1634&bih=884

2). THE SOUTH ATLANTIC HAS A LARGE PLASTIC GARBAGE PATCH. SEE: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1629861724/another-garbage-patch-exploration-across-the-south

3). THE GARBAGE WE LEAVE ON OR NEAR THE WATERLINE ON THE BEACH LIKE THIS

IS TAKEN BY THE WAVES AND RISING TIDE AND ENDS UP IN THE OCEANS LIKE THIS.
 NEED I SAY MORE?

LET'S CLEAN UP BRAZIL

The  Projeto Limpeza na Praia do Instituto Ecológico Aqualung  (the Beach Clean-up Project of the Aqualung Ecological Institute) organised an event called "Vamos Limpar Brasil” (Let's Clean Up Brazil) for Saturday June the 2nd, 2012.

The clean-up was set to take place between 10:00 and 13:00 on the beaches of Copacabana, Ipanema, Leblon, São Conrado, Barra da Tijuca, Sepetiba, Ilha de Paquetá, Maricá and Saquarema in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. 

Such an event is laudable. Periodical clean-ups are good but what is really needed is a Brazilian national effort to build public awareness about the consequences of leaving trash on the beach. We need the promotion of government campaigns on TV, in schools and in universities. 

I do my own single-handed clean-up 2 or 3 times a week on half of Ipanema beach, along the waterline. However, I fear that the effect on the mass of the general public is practically nil. In fact, you can collect the trash along the waterline and people see you doing it but continue to leave their trash as soon as you have passed by. The fact is that they are completely insensitive about the damage caused by trash on the beach. In some cases, it is pure selfishness. In other cases, it is pure ignorance. 

Although I usually do my clean-up on Ipanema beach at the end of the afternoon, I decided to do it earlier on Saturday and see how the organised clean-up was coming on.  I got to the beach about 11:00  but must confess that I personally did not see anyone collecting trash on the beach. 

I jogged down the waterline from a point opposite Rua Teixeira de Melo to Jardim De Allah. Although there were not many people on the beach, about 15 kilos of plastic and other trash had been left along the stretch between the low and high tide marks. The waves were already sweeping the trash into the sea.  You can reckon that the volume would have been 10 times that at the end of the day. 

This is a photo of the plastic bag I used, my gloves and the trash collected: 

 DOES SLAVERY STILL EXIST ? 

One day, a beachgoer, on seeing me collect the trash left on Ipanema beach, exclaimed: "Slavery still exists, my friend, didn't you know?" 

Like many others, myself included, he was affronted and indignant about the carelessness of other beachgoers who negligently leave their plastic and assorted trash and scraps of food on the sand of the beach. Such people evidently believe that there will always be someone servile to clean up the mess that they leave behind them.

This reminds me of the time that my black maid saw me cleaning the drain in the washing area of my apartment, removing dirt that had blocked it. She exclaimed: " Oh, Mr. Michael.*  Why are you doing a black man's work?” Shocked, I explained: "This is not work just for black people! I do this work myself whenever necessary." Although she was a negress herself, she showed a deep-seated preconception about the sort of work that people of Afro-Brazilian descent should do.

Maybe the lazy, careless beachgoers also believe that it is not up to them to remove and throw away their trash because that is a servile act. What a disgrace!

The work of the garbage collectors should be merely to collect the trash that people leave in the appropriate trashcans or garbage bins provided. They should not have to comb the entire beach with a rake to remove every piece of plastic and the scraps of food that lazy, careless beachgoers leave on the sand.

* Mr. Michael is characteristic of the way slaves in the deep south of the USA used to address their masters.  Normally, a person would say Michael (if on first name terms) or Mr. Walton or Sir, never Mr. Michael. 

BE A FRIEND OF THE GARBAGE COLLECTORS

On Saturday 26th of May 2012, I got to Ipanema beach in Rio de Janeiro at about 17:00 and decided to clean up the beach along the waterline from a point opposite Rua Farme de Amoedo up to Arpoador. There was not so much garbage as I had expected. The total amount collected along the waterline was about 35 kilos. On a bad day, it would have been twice that amount at least.

I met a nice young couple from the Czech Republic, who were sitting by the waterside. They were on holiday in Rio and said they were horrified by the amount of trash people left on the beach. They were taking their trash back to the hotel to dispose of it. If everyone took their trash home and disposed of it or threw it in the municipal garbage bins or trash cans, there would be no problem.

When I got to Arpoador, I met two municipal garbage collectors I know: William and Joaquim.  They were performing the thankless task of cleaning up the mess left by beachgoers. The other day William called me the Garbage Collectors’ Friend and said he wanted to tell a journalist he knows to do a report about me in tribute to my efforts. I said that it was the municipal garbage collectors who deserved the tribute not I. Can you imagine what Rio’s beaches and streets would be like without them?  We would be buried under mountains of plastic garbage and trash. We should all be friends of the garbage collectors. We should all throw our trash in the garbage cans or take it home and dispose of it. Is that too much to ask?

One day a beachgoer said he thought the municipal garbage collection service should just stop cleaning up the beaches for a while and let it mount up because perhaps people would then realize just how absurdly wrong it is to leave garbage on the beach.

At the end of the day, this is what the sand looks like at the edge of the beachfront and promenade: 

What kind of impression do scenes like this give of the Cidade Maravilhosa or the Marvellous City as Rio is called?