Endangered blue waters…

ocean1

Deep blue waters, an amazing handiwork of God’s creation. Yesterday, its turquoise waters smelt of salt. It was a home to infinite marine creatures and a lifeline to fishermen. Its tranquil persona provided a soothing balm, to calm the troubled mind. Its mesmeric beauty always held one in awe.

But sadly today the oceans reeks of a toxic scent the world over. Its pristine blue water turning into a dull grey. The plastic and junk strewn recklessly by careless tourists have poisoned its waters, endangering the eco system and the innocent sea creatures.

All images are from the internet. The pictures are a testimony to the dire imbalance we are causing due to our insensitive behavior, without realizing that its adverse effect will boomerang on us.

Recently I read that Maya Bay beach in Thailand and Boracay beach in Philippines are being shut down to tourists, to facilitate its clean up before the damage done is irreversible. Isn’t it an irony that we, despite being the most intelligent creatures on the planet, cause the most damage to it?

Isn’t it time that we help the ocean regain its lost splendor?

 

66 thoughts on “Endangered blue waters…”

    1. Thanks Kunal. I read about one Mr. Afroz Shah from Mumbai who did a clean up job of the Versova beach last year. What initially started as a one man show picked up momentum when many other volunteers joined him. They cleared tons of plastic waste from the coastline. Kudos to such Samaritans 🙏

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  3. I feel so sad for these creatures. Even though people are educated, but still they throw the plastics, garbage all around the seawater which causes a lot of problems to the aquatic animals and to the water as well.

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    1. Reckless and selfish. I am sure ensuring small measures undertaken by him at individual level will go a long way maintaining the balance of the environment. Thank you Neel for stopping by.

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  6. There are days I despair, but I also rejoice in human creative responses to the problem. Then I despair a little more because we’re patching the problem not dealing with teh cause because we cannot discipline ourselves to respect creation. Gah. Great piece and necessary.

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    1. Thanks Paul. I can relate to what you feel. Only a few good men are trying to clean up the mess and repair the damage done by the greater humanity. It’s high time we change our attitude and stop taking things for granted.

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      4. Oh! Guess that’s the initial reaction. But in the long run it works. Somebody in Bombay too started a similar endeavor and he was instrumental in cleaning the entire stretch of the beach.

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      7. no argument from me, but often that’s an Australian attitude!
        One local guy was cleaning up rubbish from road and river side and people complained he wasn’t taking the bags of rubbish away. But he didn’t have a vehicle and thought council could at least do that.

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      8. Seriously 🙄 I find it so hard to understand this attitude in people. I think we do have these kinds all over the world, who ensure to leave behind all the crap and also look down upon a genuine soul who wants to clean up their mess. Guess they are the reason for the trash being at the wrong place.

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  10. Yes, that’s the sad truth that we human being the most intelligent and the dominant species is causing the natural imbalance instead of preserving it.So much for being on the top of the food chain.

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  14. This is the sad reality!! Just yesterday i was reading about gulf of oman being declared worlds largest dead zone or oxygen free zone…nothing can survive in it now! We have plundered the earth -mountains, rivers, oceans and everything …and we are not stopping! We are now going after the artic regions in search of minerals!! Greatly endangering the glaciers and penguins!
    The plastic dumps and oil spills are endangering our oceans and beaches. I saw one video of how a plastic straw got stuck in nostril of turtle and how painfully it was taken out. Then we have over-fishing and military buildup by countries to blame for further decline on ocean resources. And then we have us littering the beaches and commercialising them. There is some ray of hope by various organisations who are spreading awareness about it…cleaning beaches…etc. There is an activist Afroz Shah who is doing a phenomenal work in ensuring our oceans are plastic free…he launched the versova beach cleanup recently and was widely supported by everyone! And as a result the famous ridley turtles are back on it! This news had made me really happy! Do you know that India contributes 60% of the global plastic waste that is dumped into the oceans? It’s pathetic!! I read that Afroz is working with a team from Norway to setup plastic recycling process here…our major source of pollution is plastic bottles which i fail to understand why no efforts are made to stop or atleast lower the usage. I see people mindlessly buying plastic bottles when they can carry their own water bottle! I have stopped buying mineral water…i take my own bottle or stay thirsty but dont buy….atleast one small way to contribute! In Norway there is no plastic dumped in oceans as more than 90% of the plastic bottles and other plastic waste is recycled..ensuring whatever goes out is recycled back into the system! We need such efforts here and more people like him…recently plastic was banned in Maharashtra which made me very happy and i hope people understand and take it seriously now before it’s too late!

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    1. 60 percent of plastic dumped by India. This is so shameful. Here too they had banned the plastic bags, thanks to all the lobbying nexus, sadly the bags are back.
      Yes I have read about afroz Shah. Wish we have more people like him. But the basic attitude of people towards the environment needs to change.
      I had also written a post on how Sweden imports garbage to take care of their power generation. We should learn from such countries. We have so much garbage and plastic in our country, why not recycle it? The governing agencies need to enforce stricter laws with regards to pastic waste.

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      1. Yeah here too plastic is banned in malls and big shops and branded showrooms but small shopkeepers still use it
        Yeah i had read about Sweden! They have shortage of garbage and in order to keep their garbage processing plants running they are importing it from other countries!! So amazing!
        Our politicians instead of focusing on such real issues are mostly fighting on petty things amongst themselves….reservations, castes, religion, statues, asking for apology on remarks and everything with an eye on next elections!!

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      4. It’s really shameful indeed that we Indians contribute so much towards polluting Mother Nature, while worshipping the same Mother Nature religiously. It’s time to remind ourselves that God is not a service provider for our instant gratification, rather we should purify ourselves and keep our surrounding natural gifts clean.
        Thanks Radhika for reminding us the harm we are continuously doing to our own existence and towards the fellow creatures.

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  15. Every year so many of these creatures choke due to plastic. Yet, the use of plastics reduces the felling of trees. Plastic packaging prolongs the shelf life of eatables and reduces the wastage of food. What we badly need is the mechanism for proper disposal and recycling of plastics, so that animals are not harmed due to the consumption of plastics. Thank you, Radhika for writing on this topic.

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    1. Thanks Somali. The proper use and disposal/ recycle of plastic needs more awareness among people. It takes hundreds of years for plastic to even start degrading into the soil. Manufacturers use inferior quality of plastic for many products. The long term usage of such items too is harmful. We were better off during our childhood days where we took our own shopping bags, grocery was given the in paper bags and milk and jams in glass bottles. Plastic was hardly used then. Somehow it seems to be more of a hazard now than a benefit.

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      1. Yes, plastic takes years to degrade. That’s why the need to recycle while reducing usage. Taking jute shopping bags instead of plastic ones is fine. But for other products made of plastics, proper management and recycling are needed.

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  17. A great message, Radhika. The children at school are currently working on campaigning to end the menace of straws. Calling it the ‘last straw’ they are raising awareness to put an end to the use of straws and plastic stirrers that are killing turtles and many other sea creatures. This has to stop before we endanger these species that help maintain the ecological balance, for our own sake at least.

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    1. That is so encouraging to hear P. Awareness and follow up is definitely called for. Today had gone to a restaurant where they were serving the drink with steel straw. Felt happy that some people are taking little steps to make this planet a better one 🙂👍

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      1. That is wonderful, Radhika. Yes, in the days of yore we followed it all and had all the happiness and enjoyment minus the plastic, it is all about going back to basics. We simply have to.

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  18. It’s a devastating situation. Hopefully the message will spread to as many people as possible so that we can take care of our incredible planet instead of destroying it. Thanks for helping to spread the message with your beautiful words.

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