Message in a bottle

We spent two weeks on the Mayan Riviera recently, enjoying the sand and the sea. It was warm, sunny and very relaxing, but also very troubling.

The water and the sky are beautiful shades of azure, but the sand is littered with all kinds of garbage. More than anything else, there were plastic water bottles everywhere.

Both my hubby and I are certified divers and we were thrilled with the diversity of the sea life. Thankfully, the coral reef off the coast of Cozumel is a protected underwater reserve, named for Jacques Cousteau, who first documented the waters in the 1950s.

The dive team who took us out in Playa del Carmen were almost all young French men and women, disciples of Monsieur Cousteau in their passion for underwater conservation and respect for sea life. The mainland with its bigger communities has a bit more infrastructure and maintains a degree of cleanliness (e.g. there are garbage cans in busy areas). 

On the island of Cozumel, it’s much more rural, though. Roadsides are decorated with litter, and any beach away from a resort is awash with debris. We saw plastic water bottles, beer and pop cans, plastic containers and bags, toothbrushes, flip flops … layers of stuff that had washed up from the ocean over time. 

I don’t know how much time it had taken for all those bits to drift onto shore. The island is in the path of many cruise ships (6-8 ships per day stop in Cozumel from November through May).

Many people say some of the garbage comes from the cruise ships. Some may be dropped at the beach. The extra 10,000 people or more who add to the island’s population do add pressure to the environment. There are not lots of garbage cans around, and even if there were I’m not sure there would be manpower to empty them often enough. 

What I do know is that in about 500 metres of beach we picked up more than half a green garbage bag of debris, and that was only what we could easily grab on a windy day with no tools. 

In the midst of our efforts cleaning up, it occurred to me that this effort was just a drop in the bucket – was it really going to make a difference?

Then, I realized that was exactly the point; every little drop in the bucket does make a difference.

Where we sit in the First World, away from a world with dirty beaches, there are few reminders of the damage done. But we are all on the same planet. The First World should be setting a good example. Just recycling is not enough any more; reducing is the name of the game now.

Instead of just putting a plastic water bottle in a blue bin we can use our own bottles — over and over again. Instead of buying individually packaged items, we can put portions in reusable containers. We don’t need to use so many straws.

I saw a video this week made by an artist who wanted to juxtapose the gravity of the situation with the beauty of his art. The sheer volume of plastic bottles he used is mind-boggling. How can we not see the message in the piles of bottles?

I can’t pull at your heart strings by including a picture of a turtle I saw with a beer can tie around his neck. What struck me after seeing those littered beaches was that I shouldn’t have to do that.

I can say that having looked in a turtle’s eyes, I just want to do everything possible to make sure I can see another turtle the next time I go under the waves. 

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.