Some experiences are so moving that they cause life to divide into ‘before and after’ and leave a significant imprint on the memory, followed by a radical change. A couple of weeks ago, I took part in an international beach cleaning expedition on the island of Roatan, Honduras, and was shaken by the sight of piles of human waste, most of it made of plastic, which pollutes the picturesque landscape of the region and impairs the quality of life for the local residents. It mainly changed forever my idea of the phrase “Caribbean vacation”. Within the first two hours of collecting four enormous garbage bags, I realized that where I am – the war is lost in advance and in order to win, one expedition will not be sufficient here, but an immediate and wider emergency recruitment order is needed here.
See and disbelieve
32 Hours of flights and long hours of waiting at airports eventually ended up when we arrived into our small beach hotel called “fantasy” (and it certainly felt like that at that moment) on the island of Roatan, Honduras. Nevertheless, we woke up at 5:00 am on the next day, within 1.5 hours divided into groups, and boarded the local “taxi” boats. Slowly, in a surreal transition, we witnessed the incredible incompatibility between the appearance of the “front yard” and the “back yard” of the island, while the experience involves all the senses, up to a dreadful stench, which intensifies the sights. The coastline is “decorated” by millions of cosmetic packages, soft drink bottles, corks, straws, food bags and other plastic leftovers of all sizes and kinds. The sense of shame terrified and bothered me when I realized how much we were responsible for this nuisance. The place screams war! Getting out of the comfort zone and the overdue need for change are already binding. You are probably wondering; if a beach cleaning operation is in ?order – why not do it on the beaches of our country
?Why Honduras
It is no longer necessary to explain the power of social networks and their role in our life. The story of cleaning the beaches in Honduras also started that way. A video clip was posted on Facebook exactly one year ago by a marine blogger named Caroline Power; a video clip of the “back yard” of Honduras, a shocking sight of tones of plastic waste floating across thousands of miles of ocean and beaches that were once considered some of the world’s most beautiful touristic pearls and diving sites. The video clip is intense and shocking – it caused Daniel Birnbaum, Soda Stream CEO, to rise to the challenge and contact Caroline and the Honduran representation in Israel in order to launch the international beach cleaning operation called ‘fight plastic’. Approx. 150 Soda Steam employees from all over the world met in Honduras to clean up the beaches of the region (disclosure: I am a Soda Stream employee), at the exact place where Caroline Power shot her viral video clip a year earlier and have created a ‘booming voice’ that was sounded all over the world. Although Roatan is only one small island, it serves as an example of a major global acute problem that will certainly not be resolved in a 48 hours cleaning operation by 150 people. The solution is much simpler and easier than that and is available at your home right now.
From single to multi-use
The sights in reality are even more difficult and disturbing than Caroline’s video clip. The fact that every plastic product has an almost eternal life for 450 years until it fully disintegrates, completely undermines the foundation of the concept “disposable” and makes me realize that we are more disposable than any product made of plastic, the cup of cold water that I threw into the trash – will remain here long after I’m gone. The truth is that this conceptual error produces a misleading perception that gives us the feeling that the easy and disposable usage actually reflects the life span of the plastic. In fact, as soon as we throw the cup or fork into the trash, they indeed disappear from the eye and distant away from the heart, but this is exactly where the endless journey of the plastic in the world begins, .reaching the beaches, oceans and later also enters our food
Over 90% of the plastic pollution in the world is made of bottles, disposable dishes, straws and plastic bags. Our ability to influence and contribute to a clean environment is easy and possible starting tomorrow morning. The solutions are cheap and simple for implementation and maintain one simple principle – any transition from using disposable to multiple-use – will reduce the amounts of waste and will sanctify the green goal.
!Diet starts tomorrow
My detox story from disposable dishes was published in a post a few months ago, so I can testify from personal experience – it is possible. Not everyone gets to see live a large-scale pollution as in Roatan, Honduras, therefore I felt obliged to share and pass on the message. The massive usage of disposable plastic products of all kinds comes back to us with a boomerang effect, which is fast and worrisome. Only 20% of the plastic waste in the world is recycled and the majority is spilled into our environment, broken down into tiny micro-plastic pieces which enter the fish food, among others, and from there into the fish stew served on Friday night on our dinner plates – thus making plastic a significant part of the animals’ and our food chain. Would you sleep well at night knowing that your children are eating plastic for dinner? Just this week it was reported that micro-plastic pieces were found in human excrement, as well as in table salt, as evidence of plastic being a part of our daily food intake – so how do you like your fries…? It is hard to absorb and certainly difficult to digest. The fact that we do not see the pollution in our daily routine does not mean that it is not there. Already, we have the ability to contribute to changing the situation before we will drown in our own waste. For example, replace disposable dishes with dishes made of glass or clay (in addition, the food will taste better this way) and go shopping with a multi-use bag (a cool fashionable accessory!). Moreover, stop buying plastic bottles and start using multi-use bottles (Soda Stream products, for example), use paper straws (or do not use straws at all), and if you have already had to use plastic – make sure to recycle.
Order of the day
If we put aside the influence of the environment itself and the lack of morality in today’s wasteful and egoistic consumption, it is also important to consider our partners on this earth, the animals. Among the piles of waste that I have collected, I was exposed also to many dead animals who were victims of the plastic pollution. With a little thought and love, this could have been very different. The examples are endless and worrisome; a transparent plastic bag which suffocates the sea turtles who had mistaken it for a jellyfish, small and large straws enter the breathing organs of sea animals, a plastic six-pack packaging rapped around the body of a pregnant turtle who learned to leave with it as if it was a congenital malformation. In addition, abandoned and tangled fishing nets, which trap crabs and sea starts. In 2015, a giant whale was discovered after drifting to shore and did not survive despite attempts made to rescue him. The researchers who examined his body at the autopsy found plastic pots, spray cans, irrigation pipes, ropes and more than 15 kilograms of plastic (!!!) and determined that the cause of death was intestinal obstruction. The waste that we produce is closing in on us every day, even if it does not happen before of our eyes, and more and more bodies of animals are being washed ashore with their stomachs full of plastic. The required sustainability is our moral duty as human beings and the most sophisticated animal in nature, who is supposed to keep and protect the trees, oceans and other animals here who depend on us – “the responsible grownup”.
Please behave accordingly