Daily 2017
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A crying shame
Komodo dragon in the high tide garbage, Komodo Island National Park, Indonesia (worst larger).
One of the most distressing things for me during my visit to Indonesia was the amazing amount of plastic garbage I could see floating in the ocean and washed up on the beaches (I have a PhD in oceanography). Our planet is awash in garbage with over 8 million tons of plastic waste finding its way into the ocean each year, resulting in huge floating islands of trash in both the north and south Pacific. One of these patches is larger than the size of Mexico. Much of the South Pacific garbage reaches the ocean from the rivers of Southeast Asia. Remote uninhabited Henderson Island, located in this South Pacific region, was recently crowned the most plastic-polluted island on Earth, as researchers were recently astounded discovered it is covered in over 38 million pieces of trash.
Keeping the Komodo Island National Park free from garbage is a daunting task, with more garbage being washed onshore from the ocean with each tide. The beaches of Bali were similarly awash in trash. The garbage is killing sea birds and fish at an alarming rate. At one point, our boat was dead in the water as we cleaned trash fishing ropes off the propeller. This Komodo dragon was moving off the beach through a ton of garbage and coral rubble. At this point I actually turned my attention from photographing the lizard to documenting the beach trash.
Komodo dragonbeach trashplastic garbageKomodo Island National ParktrashIndonesia
From Rinca and Komodo
Judith Sparhawk
on October 29, 2017I was really sad to hear how bad the ocean/shore is in Bali now. When I was there in about 1980, it wasn't such an obvious problem (at least I didn't observe anything - it seemed very clean.) We always think of pristine south sea islands--not so much, I guess. Thanks for making the point to us.
Rick Willis
on October 29, 2017I Agree...
Howard's Photography
on October 29, 2017Sure is sad about all the trash, nice catch of the dragon though!
Byron Fair Photography
on October 28, 2017Yes very sad with all the plastic. I work with the surfer and windsurfers here in Hawaii and we have beach clean-ups three to four times and year.
Lgood
on October 28, 2017That is just such a shame. I hate litter, and the amount seen here is just incredibly sad. Great shot of the dragon though.
sisterhoodofthetravelingbras
on October 28, 2017The amount of garbage humans generate is astounding. Sad to see the Komodo dragon having to crawl thru this mess. They are such interesting creatures.
God's Child
on October 28, 2017Your caption says it all!
10/28/2017
Gene Hyder
on October 28, 2017Nice shot.
arctangent
on October 28, 2017At first I laughed when I read the 'worst larger' line of your caption. Then I read on, and I wanted to cry. It's a problem for which it is difficult to hold the culprits accountable.
Bruno Suignard
on October 28, 2017beautiful capture!!