Return of the Filth.....

[Big H]

Went out yesterday and it was the first day of this new rainy season that the garbage was a large part of the in water experience....I was north of Kuta in Seminyak...estuaries that dump into the ocean around there come from heavily populated areas and the garbage in the water was intolerable after a while....the routine became - paddle out after tucking leash under body to avoid snagging garbage, jump like an electric charge was in the water a couple of times on the way out when hands brush on things underwater....get to the lineup and clear the area within arms reach all around so garbage isn't nestled right up against your body......my eyes are still burning from whatever was in the water yesterday.....I went again today to Balangan this time, beach that is at the bottom of a lightly populated relatively isolated area that is fairly arid...not many estuaries and no garbage in the water and my eyes did not burn like they did yesterday......

Looks like I'm headed east and south because west side city surfing for the next 3-4 months is going to only get worse....winds have pretty much switched over now and a friend was telling me about his last couple of times out on the east and how good it was.......time to surf on my backhand....

[dtc]

Tropical paradise...I assume it will get a little better once the accumulation of the past few months has been washed out.

[jaffa1949]

The currents will take it to,Western Australia. A few years ago 400,000 rubber thong ( flip flops for the non Aussies jandals for the Kiwis) wash up on a WA beach , from an Indo factory, oddly enough there was not one matching pair.

[BoMan]

garbage in the water was intolerable after a while....the routine became - paddle out after tucking leash under body to avoid snagging garbage, jump like an electric charge was in the water a couple of times on the way out when hands brush on things underwater....get to the lineup and clear the area within arms reach all around so garbage isn't nestled right up against your body......my eyes are still burning from whatever was in the water yesterday.

I'm sorry you had to deal with this. Stories of polluted water make me very angry! I am an elementary teacher and we ask the kids every year to learn about the water cycle and teach the community about water pollution. It's amazing how many people throw cigarette butts, fast food boxes and plastic bags into the water we all enjoy.

If you have time to help, look into a local ocean protection group. I like the Surfrider Foundation http://www.surfrider.org/mission

[oldmansurfer]

Where I surf there is a river and when it rains a lot debris comes down but mostly sticks and logs and leaves. I am careful to scout the lineup for debris and look for areas where it is relatively clear. Usually there are areas that I can count on being clear due to waves and currents but I guess it depends on the timing of it all. The logs and stuff come down in large numbers because land owners are cutting down trees along the river for a better view and they generally just leave the stuff there I guess hoping the river will wash it away or not caring about it.
When I was a kid my friends and I would walk along the beach after a heavy rain and check out all the stuff that washes up on the beach (there was less in those days). We would get so excited when we found a branch or log that had been cut by a saw because it was rare. Now there are lots of smooth cuts on the branches and logs.

[Big H]

garbage in the water was intolerable after a while....the routine became - paddle out after tucking leash under body to avoid snagging garbage, jump like an electric charge was in the water a couple of times on the way out when hands brush on things underwater....get to the lineup and clear the area within arms reach all around so garbage isn't nestled right up against your body......my eyes are still burning from whatever was in the water yesterday.

I'm sorry you had to deal with this. Stories of polluted water make me very angry! I am an elementary teacher and we ask the kids every year to learn about the water cycle and teach the community about water pollution. It's amazing how many people throw cigarette butts, fast food boxes and plastic bags into the water we all enjoy.

If you have time to help, look into a local ocean protection group. I like the Surfrider Foundation http://www.surfrider.org/mission

Unfortunately that picture is not photo shopped....seen it before and in patches the other day it was thicker than the picture.....

Green Groups in the US are fantastic....I hope they keep making headway...pessimistically,.world polluters like China, India, Brazil, Indonesia where there are literally billions of people wipe out the headway the first world makes in green practices daily in filthy fell swoops.....unless there are some measures taken we will soon have an 8th continent....


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pac ... bage_patch

[BoMan]

pessimistically, world polluters like China, India, Brazil, Indonesia where there are literally billions of people wipe out the headway the first world makes in green practices daily in filthy fell swoops.....unless there are some measures taken we will soon have an 8th continent....

Sad and true.
Focusing on the billions of polluters is depressing, so I'll do what I can!

[Big H]

Pretty much all you can do.....the first world is at the vanguard for sure.....the example is set and alternative processes developed and perfected and must continue....eventually some of the practices will be adopted; for instance, an island that depends on oceanic based tourism such as Bali will dry up if the seas are consistently filthy....something WILL be done, and those new ideas are coming from groups like what you mentioned......maybe I can be a founding member; there are already beach cleanup projects, but the real underlying issue that needs to be addressed is who will pay for trash removal and processing....ATM civil programs that we take for granted in the US do not exist here. You pay someone, a private business, to come and take your garbage and who knows where it is taken, but some of it for sure is directly or indirectly dumped into the not so bottomless ocean.

[RinkyDink]

the first world is at the vanguard for sure.....the example is set and alternative processes developed and perfected and must continue....eventually some of the practices will be adopted.

If only that were true. The first world has been exporting its trash to other countries for decades. Where do you think all those used American car batteries go? Last I checked it was Taiwan. Where do you think plastic water bottles that hold tap water come from? American companies have moved all their manufacturing overseas in large part to get around environmental restrictions.

[jaffa1949]

The other issue is many third world countries do no have the resources or the governmental will to collect rubbish ( eg the non tourist areas of Bali) dry creek beds are the de facto rubbish dump, plastic is treated the way palm leaves used to be, throw it there it will rot, except it doesn't!

Dodgy factory waste disposal happens too, both as de facto factories for 1st world or for home grown products.

Balinese surfers are agitating for change as are surfers in many third world countries, governments and ordinary locals are not helping yet!

So my solution. Clean up at home and in travel, ditch the plastic water bottles by not buying them!
BTW, often a litre of bottled water costs more than a litre of soda pop.
In first world countries often it is just bottled municipal water ( Go figure) at home one bottle one tap you are rocking!
Inconceivable in some states of the USA it is illegal to collect rainwater from your roof! ( Go figure).
In some third world countries rain water has been cast as inferior to bottled water ( Go figure).

One little thing I do through Rotary International is help supply and install rainwater tanks with mossie filters and clean tap systems in third world countries.
Have a look at what you can do to solve these problems!

[Big H]

the first world is at the vanguard for sure.....the example is set and alternative processes developed and perfected and must continue....eventually some of the practices will be adopted.

If only that were true. The first world has been exporting its trash to other countries for decades. Where do you think all those used American car batteries go? Last I checked it was Taiwan. Where do you think plastic water bottles that hold tap water come from? American companies have moved all their manufacturing overseas in large part to get around environmental restrictions.

I'm not saying the first world is perfect, but the mere existence of conscious raising groups trying to effect change is more than the rampant violations that occur here, the home of multinational violations and exploitation.

Food for thought: I have seen in Jakarta a 12" pipe that extended from the adjoining office complex extending from the wall of the flood control canal located behind the complex spewing a jet of raw sewage.....I stood to see if it was a 30sec ejection or something else....10min later it was still coming out, a solid spray into the canal and smelled as much.....this particular canal was in a business district and there was an endless row of complexes all doing the same thing.....that is the level of consciousness here and like I said, groups here look to those leading the charge for inspiration because the road here to change is so so long.....

[RinkyDink]

Food for thought: I have seen in Jakarta a 12" pipe that extended from the adjoining office complex extending from the wall of the flood control canal located behind the complex spewing a jet of raw sewage.....I stood to see if it was a 30sec ejection or something else....10min later it was still coming out, a solid spray into the canal and smelled as much.....this particular canal was in a business district and there was an endless row of complexes all doing the same thing.....that is the level of consciousness here and like I said, groups here look to those leading the charge for inspiration because the road here to change is so so long.....

That's awful, but remember it's a drop in the bucket compared to the absolutely reckless 1st world Fukishimas, BP oil disasters, and everyday airline emissions that are wrecking the planet. My point is simply that when it comes to environmental collapse 1st, 2nd, and 3rd world countries are all equally responsible for getting us out of the mess we're in. Don't expect any leadership to come from 1st world countries either. Everybody is on their own on this one.

[Big H]

I really beg to differ; leadership is there in terms of organisations like greenpeace or the board riders group....NOTHING like that exists here and it is not only taken for granted that estuaries are polluted, people drive to them to dump whatever they have en masse......it isn't a rosy situation on any front, but at least in the west people feel guilty and understand pollution is bad; not the case here where rivers and oceans are seen as dumps by the general public....no PC attitudes here and it's at that grassroots level of consciousness raising that change will begin here. At present, being green is as about as accepted or understood as a vegetarian in the 50s....

[RinkyDink]

I really beg to differ; leadership is there in terms of organisations like greenpeace or the board riders group....NOTHING like that exists here and it is not only taken for granted that estuaries are polluted, people drive to them to dump whatever they have en masse......it isn't a rosy situation on any front, but at least in the west people feel guilty and understand pollution is bad; not the case here where rivers and oceans are seen as dumps by the general public....no PC attitudes here and it's at that grassroots level of consciousness raising that change will begin here. At present, being green is as about as accepted or understood as a vegetarian in the 50s....

I hear you. I don't consider environmental awareness PC. You either get it or you're living in ignorance. It has nothing to do with fashion or striking a pose even if conservatives try to reduce it to that. Anyway, we're both on the same side. Hopefully we'll see more people come around.