Monday, April 09, 2018

Pollution

here, plastic and paper stuff are all over the place, even though we do now have bins to discard them properly, either they are too lazy to walk ten feet, or maybe it's because at night the dogs and cats get into them and scatter the contents.

One reason for flooding is that the plastic tends to end up in the sewers and clog them, and our irrigation canals need periodic cleaning to get rid of what is washed downstream.

Sigh.

This article notes most of the "plastic" pollution in the Pacific comes from Asia.


A recent report by the Chartered Institute of Waste Managers and the UK-based NGO WasteAid claims that mismanaged waste from developing countries accounts for up to 70% of ocean plastic by weight. Just five countries in East Asia are responsible for most of this. Meanwhile 38 out of 50 of the world's largest uncontrolled dump sites are in coastal areas and many of them spill waste directly into the sea. Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2018-04-plastic-crisisdivert-foreign-aid-dumpsites.html#jCp

This article notes that the Yangtse is also full of plastic.

and we have that too:



why so many plastic bags? Everything here is put into a plastic bag. I tried carrying a tote bag, but they still use a plastic bag, and seal it, mainly to show I didn't shoplift the item. Sigh.

Because water is not always trusted, a lot of people drink water from bottles. They get discarded. Replace with glass? Maybe, but glass too can get discarded, and is more dangerous to injure folks who tend to wear "flip flops" or cheap rubber sandals.

Drinks from street vendors are often in a platic bag with a straw, or else a plastic cup. I am not sure how to get around this.

Our house is down the street from both the Palenke and the town square which has the "night market" and street food vendors, where the young folk buy and eat food. Often they eat it on the way home and just drop the plastic, which ends up on the street.

However, it is a bit cleaner nowadays: The last mayor put in the bins, but the present mayor has hired more street cleaners.

and pollution is the reason cited by Duterte for closing Boracay, our famous beaches, which is now "on" again.

Guess Jordan will have to get married here instead.

I've been to Boracay, years ago and it wasn't that bad then. Then a typhoon "removed" a lot of the cheap beachfront stuff that made the place look cheap, but I guess the slum like shacks are back, and of course, the main problem is the garbage/trash discarded into the water by larger hotels etc. that are starting to float on to the beach, and slowly destroying the beauty of the place. 

Why don't they have laws about this? I don't know... more probably the laws are being ignored, since it's cheaper to pay off the inspectors with a gift, or just to pay the fine rather than to bundle up the garbage and throw it away properly.

Lots of people will be laid off and there is talk of compensating their lost wages.

(and this, of course, doesn't include the hookers of both sexes who are a reason the place is so popular).

So why such a drastic move? Because he can?

Snide remark: Wonder who Duterte is mad at there.


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