1926
2006
The promotional site for photography heavy book Fragile Earth has an impressive before and after slideshow of several bodies of water around the world. The two shots above are from the Ursala Glacier in Argentina. Astounding. I really dug the following quote:
The magnitude of the changes depends on us.
Humans aren’t the first species to alter the planet… but we are the first species to be in a position to understand what we are doing.
- Elizabeth Kolbert
Relatedly: that quote basically sums up a reoccurring thought I’ve been having as I slip towards the inevitability of becoming a full vegetarian.
[via treehugger]
Fascinating and horrifying article on a continent-size toxic stew of plastic trash fouling swath of Pacific Ocean. Twice the size of Texas, too large to clean up without an international multibillion dollar effort. Bills to legislate plastic reduction in california, in direct response to this huge trash island, were defeated by plastics industry lobbyists. [via BB]
Yesterday was blog action day, and since my blog was down I didn’t really get a chance to post. I thought I’d quickly drop an image and note to say that every year with the summer rains Puerta Vallarta’s beaches are inundated with trash runoff from the past nine rain-less months. Trash is deposited on street surfaces and green areas, gathers for nine months and then with torrential rains, is washed into the ocean. The trash ends up on the beaches, as does all of the dead sea-life that comes into contact with the trash including fish, eels and giant sea turtles. The turtles are the most worrisome as they are endangered. Its absolutely heartbreaking to come across a dead or dying sea turtle, some as large as three feet across. Although the mexican government swears up and down it is trying to implement programs to save the turtles, I have yet to see any attempts, beyond an occasional sign at the beach, to educate people about proper disposal of trash.
Mexico is in serious need of trash and recycling programs as well as national level long-running public service announcements. TV, radio, you name it.
In these pictures, you’ll notice the trash swirling in the water and at the shoreline. This is the Pitillal river, in “Fluvial” Vallarta. This picture was taken the day after a large rain storm. I could visibly see trash floating down the river in large swaths, exiting and pooling in the rivermouth and along the shore. There was a particularly large swell that day and surfers where surfing the large waves (as they break off of sandbars created by silt deposited at the rivermouth). Surfing directly through large piles of trash and brown silted runoff water.
