plastics everywhere
It’s been some time since my last post. Since then I have been surfing, reading, talking to people – and beach cleaning. Despite the beautiful nature and its seclusion from big cities, the beaches here in Santa Teresa are covered with plastic trash. It’s sickening and heartbreaking and making me angry at the same time. How can we humans care so little about our environment? And why do so few people take action against the pollution?
Admittedly, picking up plastic trash on the beach is not very entertaining or rewarding – one can go on doing it forever and never clean the beach completely. But at the same time, the thought that the pieces picked up are not anymore going to harm whales, dolphins or any other marine wildlife, is a pretty good feeling. It’s also a good feeling when random people start helping you picking up trash at the beach, just like that. I believe that a monthly beach cleaning in Santa Teresa would be quite a success, especially as the village starts to become more and more alive with surf tourists. A joint effort from the local shops, surf schools and hostels should do the trick – and if the local administration threw in some support it could become a regular thing.
In my three weeks here I was not enthusiastic enough to actually organize a big beach cleaning, but at least I did my fair share when on the beach and people started helping…! It was surprising how many shoes I picked up – next to the 1000s of bottle caps and straws single shoes were the most common thing. Unfortunately they’re rarely washed ashore in pairs, otherwise the beach would be the perfect shoe shopping venue…
I know I’ve been complaining about this issue for some time and maybe some of you are already bored of hearing about it. however, I believe it’s important to stay aware of the problem and try to change as much of our behavior as possible, to reduce the amount of plastic we use. So here are some simple ideas to help with the issue even when you’re not at the beach to pick up plastic:
- Consider buying unpackaged groceries and other stuff – or prefer the one that is packaged in paper. Use as little plastic packaging as possible!
- Bring your own bag for shopping – or re-use the plastic bags as garbage bags at home.
- Try to re-use plastics, or use them for something else completely. Plastic bottles for example can be used for decoration purposes, hydroponic gardening or storage. The web is full of great ideas what to do with plastic bottles!
These are simple but effective small steps towards a future with less plastic trash on our beaches and in our oceans. So please keep them in mind and share with everybody!