Garbage Bag from the Sea

Nature's wrath

It was 2 years ago when the tendrils of the typhoon called "Egay" mightily churned the waters of Bagac Bay, giving our party of 12 a most unusual vacation by the dark sandy beaches of Morong, Bataan. Three-foot high waves crested and then rampaged hastily from several meters away onto the shore, where we still made the best of the situation, imagining it to be a "natural" wave pool. As the waters were pulled back into the sea, it also dragged with it some of the sand from the beach along Bagac Bay, making our feet sink a little deeper into the shore where we stood. As I said, it was a most unusual vacation, certainly a different way of experiencing Inang Dagat.

What made it even more unusual was the flotsam that the sea left on the shore: an assortment of oddities in all shades and hues and, most noticeably, do not belong in the sea. Garbage, in so many different forms, shapes, and sizes. Plastic straws, crushed plastic cups, plastic bags, plastic wrappers. Wrecked slippers. Bottles made of glass and plastic. Bottlecaps and plastic container covers. Tetra juice packs.

What's more distressing is this: have you noticed that whenever there's a storm at sea, garbage is always tossed out of the waters? It's another way by which nature cleans itself and tells us again that, "Hey, Humans, I'm not your garbage can!" The more that we don't listen, the worse that we make it for ourselves.

Bagac Bay on a normal sunny day.
Dazzling blue as it should always be.

I believe that each one of us is born with the "Earth's steward" gene. It should kick in instinctively but, most people choose to ignore it and do instead what seems to be less inconvenient, which is to take as much as we want (not need, those are two very different things) and dispose anytime, anywhere we desire. Some of us just can't be bothered to go the extra mile of actually doing what's right and what's better, which is to be responsible. And that is just unfortunate because that means we forget that we are simply visitors on this planet. Earth was created specifically to be host and a source of delight to us, to Life, and we in turn were created to roam it and to enjoy its goodness. For what good is a planet full of creativity and beauty if not enjoyed by a species that is able to appreciate it? Yet, if the Earth could speak, she might actually be resentful of us.

That day, the Earth somehow spoke to us. Seeing all the garbage that came out of the sea, we couldn't help but pick them up and collect them somewhere on the shore far from the water's edge. As we were doing so, suddenly my husband picked up from the agitated waters something black and square...and folded. He unfolded it and realized it was an unused garbage bag. It came from the sea. That was a sign as clear as crystal, it was the Earth giving us a hand, knowing that we're on her side. We filled it up quickly in just 5 minutes -- yes, that's how much garbage was on the beach, and this was just on the area in front of the beach house we were staying in. It was almost filled to the brim when we picked up another unexpected flotsam from the sea: a backpack. That convinced us all the more that it was really Mother Earth tossing us some good vibes. After cleaning up as much as we could, the natural beauty of the beach became visible again. Underneath all that garbage were clam shells and pieces of coral half-buried in the fine dark sand.

But, alas, the sea wasn't done heaving out several decades' worth of garbage and there was just a handful of us trying to help her. We can't clean up everything. We ALL have to pitch in. Pitch in now and every day from hereon. Be responsible tourists every single day. Encourage others to do the same.

Related links:
Getting Plastic Bags Out of Our System
World's oceans in 'shocking' decline

posted from Bloggeroid