The poorest workers did their best to clean the drains before monsoon and I'm sure it made some small difference, but when you see all the rubbish washed out of the city through its choked rivers to the open sea where it is then thrown back to land by the turbulent monsoon waters, you can only feel disgust and a desire to do something, anything to prevent this from happening....
The Maharashtra government banned manufacture, sale and use of all plastic bags under 20 micron, saying they choked drainage systems during recent monsoon rains. This was the call to action after the terrible floods of 2005. This proclamation has not resulted in a cleaner Mumbai as the the lazy habit of littering and an ineffective garbage disposal which may prevent littering are the culprits.
What must the guests of the $300 a night 5 star JW Marriot think as they look out their windows to the scene?
The local committee has tractors attempting to clean up the rubbish. They load truck after truck with the debris and ship it off to a refuse area, we have to hope, otherwise in the next rains we will probably see it all again..
It would be really heartening to see this city of Mumbai and it's people, whose government wants to change to levels of Shanghai or Singapore, take action, long term action and education to prevent these scenes from repeating year after year.
6 comments:
on ma god.. how depressing... plastic... the eventual killer of humankind...
I notice a fire in the background of one of the pics taking attention away from the beach debris..
i just cant belive that beach scene.. imagine what is floating out to sea now???
wow that is NUTS! i'm such a litter nazi here - i often put on the teacher voice when i see someone throwing rubbish in the street! i don't even want to think about how much is still out there choking up the ocean and waterways.
am loving your blog guys. very interesting and informative on the goings on in your part of the world.
cheers,
rachel.
Oh My GoddessNESS,
these Photos are making my tummy churn.
Our Poor oceans & sea creatures that suffer along with those in the Marriott.
Thanks for waking us up.
xx
Mrs M
these pics may be awful but I was just brought to tears a moment ago but a woman possibly in her 50s who has her right foot missing from the shin, pushing a very small plastic bag of her belongings down the street as she shuffled along on her backside. She stopped for a moment and we gave her food, some money and some clothes in a new canvas shoulder bag which we hope helps in some way. There could have been 100 people pass her buy in the time we were there including 2 police who just stared.
This breaks my heart to see this when my office is the ocean and I know the damage it can do to the creatures and the environment in it. I too am having realisations in Sth America about the massive task we have as humans to clean the world up. There seems to be no education on how damaging it is to litter and how we can actually make a difference it we decide to. The most infuriating of all is when the gringos just do as the locals do because 'everyone else does it´ and they are too lazy to make a difference. I too sound like a school teacher when I get on people´s backs for littering and particarly those damned cigerette butts. As you said Mark after looking at such a major problem as the pollution we are still faced with bigger problems like human poverty and sometimes it all seems so overwhelming. I too love your blog and find it very interesting to read....keep it coming.
Take care
Jane xx
Thanks for your thoughtful comments Jane. We walked the beach on the weekend and were faced with a fresh covering of garbage.. and still locals simply cast aside their litter while they walk around the piles of crap.. It makes you wonder, who, how and why should you help people who can't help themselves, then you remember it's not the simple act of little but the eco disaster that it creates and the helpless creatures who don't have a chance to complain or to educate. stay tuned
cheers
Markus
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