Let’s move beyond sadness over whale’s death

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Let’s move beyond sadness over whale’s death

By The Nation

 

 

The time for action on plastic pollution arrived long ago, and yet so little has been done

 

A pilot whale was found struggling last week on the coast of Songkhla, trying hard to stay alive because it could barely breathe, much less swim. Rescuers using life buoys to keep it afloat as physicians tended to it failed to save the animal. 

 

The whale was spotted on May 28 in the Na Thap Canal in Songkhla’s Chana district, unable to swim. Umbrellas were erected to protect its skin from the burning sun. The animal struggled for five days, vomiting five plastic bags. Last Friday, this pitiful soul could no longer hang on and died. A necropsy was performed and eight kilograms of shopping bags and other plastic debris were found clogging the whale’s stomach. In short, the whale died because it was impossible for it to ingest food.

 

With all that plastic in its stomach obstructing its breathing and food intake, the animal’s death was not a surprise. Imagine spending five whole days strangling, holding one’s breath, fighting to stay alive.

 

Concerns over plastic polluting our oceans and our cities have been raised countless times in the past, but no one seems to want to do anything about the problem. Such problems might be offset if we were less careless with our trash. It was our own carelessness that caused this beautiful animal to die.

 

But for too many of us, being asked to manage our trash better is just too much. It’s too much work, it seems. Who’s going to notice if we toss aside a bag or a straw? The ocean is vast – what’s one tiny plastic bag? Unfortunately, this is an attitude shared by millions, and all of our discards do collectively create a massive problem. Judging from the amount of waste that is raked from the seas, this appears to be the attitude of enough people to put the animals and our whole world at risk.

 

There is no way of knowing how many animals in the seas are going through the same suffering as that pilot whale. 

Thailand has a plastic crisis and much of it has to do with our lifestyle. We use plastic and don’t think about the consequences or the impact it will have on the environment and, in cases like this, animals in the sea.

 

According to one estimate, more than eight billion kilograms of plastic are permitted to wash into the seas on an annual basis. We turn a blind eye to it, thinking it will soon be out of sight and life carries on. It doesn’t cross our minds that the plastic flows into the ocean, where animals mistake it for food. How many more whales have to die before our society, our government, take action?

 

We can start with ourselves. Individually, we can help bring down that number by foregoing plastic bags and bottles. We can avoid items packaged in plastic. Recycling, as opposed to littering, is one way to reduce plastic waste. Stores and supermarket could encourage customers to bring their own bags or charge extra for the use of plastic bags. Many of us tend to take things for granted because they’re free.

 

At the policy level, the government needs to speed up discussion about taxing plastic shopping bags. It’s claimed to be government strategy to cut down on plastic consumption and pollution. It’s good the government is aware of the problem, but this should have been discussed decades ago.

 

The death of the pilot whale should force us to take a good look at ourselves and at our behaviour on this planet we share. Not enough people realise that whales play an integral role in the ecosystem of the ocean. By killing the whales, we end up killing ourselves along the way. And when we pollute the oceans, we pollute the fish we eat. 

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/opinion/30347078

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-06-06

[Samui Bodoh]

While this problem will not be solved overnight, there are steps that CAN be taken overnight. 

 

If shops, all shops (yes, that means you 7-11), start charging for a bag, then I suspect that the use of plastic bags would drop 90% immediately. Second, begin a campaign to re-use plastic bags; when I go to the market, I have a few plastic bags in my pocket (they weigh nothing) and the market ladies now extend an arm for my plastic bag without even thinking about it. Honestly, now it is at the point where they castigate me on the rare occasions that I forget to bring them! Third, a massive campaign to encourage people to have their own small container for take-away food, or failing that, charge people for that little Styrofoam food container that people use all the time.

 

These three steps can literally be done overnight and make a significant dent in the problem. A full solution will take longer, but shouldn't Thais begin the process?

 

What is lacking is the will to act.

 

Hey Prayut! Why not use Article 44 for something useful rather than for your own benefit? Enact a law based on the three points above and see immediate benefits. It is a win, win, win move.

 

[canuckamuck]

Teaching people not to litter is not difficult. Most western nations have manged it and citizens are generally self policing over it. I don't see much effort to educate.  

[Denim]

16 minutes ago, canuckamuck said:

Teaching people not to litter is not difficult. Most western nations have manged it and citizens are generally self policing over it. I don't see much effortP to educate.  

Teaching the locals not to throw away litter ?

 

Good luck with that.

 

Hmm.......maybe a deterrent is needed. If they would print something like this on the bag :

 

' Throwing me carelessly away will put a hex on you and send your soul to Buddhist hell '

 

might give the literate ones pause for thought.

Edited June 5, 2018 by Denim

[poanoi]

2 minutes ago, Denim said:

Teaching the locals not to throw away litter ?

 

Good luck with that.

i think it can be done surprisingly easy IF

1] there is litter cans all over the place,

2] ashtrays all over the place,

3] garbage trucks pick up the trash before it flows over

 

its not going to take long before cleanliness becomes norm

and people will turn head and point on any offender,

once cleanliness becomes norm that is

[canuckamuck]

It would not be difficult to attach a notion of patriotism to not littering. I can thing of some very obvious campaigns that would have Thais becoming very zealous over littering.

[Anak Nakal]

If whale die, people follow.

Learn!

[canopy]

2 hours ago, canuckamuck said:

Most western nations have manged it and citizens are generally self policing over it. I don't see much effort to educate.  

 

Even in Canada education isn't effective. Lake Ontaria has billions of plastic micro beads in it. Laws have to be made and enforced for all types of plastics all over the world. Self policing and education doesn't work.

 

Edited June 6, 2018 by canopy

[DrTuner]

I doubt the average Thai gives a toss about marine life when throwing the 7-11 plastic trash in the klong. Only thing they understand is $, so start taxing plastics heavily.

[canuckamuck]

5 hours ago, canopy said:

 

Even in Canada education isn't effective. Lake Ontaria has billions of plastic micro beads in it. Laws have to be made and enforced for all types of plastics all over the world. Self policing and education doesn't work.

 

You don't think there's a difference i the littering habits of Thais and Canadians?

Imagine what Lake Ontario would look like if was in Thailand

[Kieran00001]

34 minutes ago, canuckamuck said:

You don't think there's a difference i the littering habits of Thais and Canadians?

Imagine what Lake Ontario would look like if was in Thailand

 

It doesn't matter what it looks like, it is full of plastic pollution that is so small you can't see it, did you think all that mattered was the view?

[DM07]

It is not only the massive use of plastic- bags...it is the stupid use of plastic- bags, that infuriates me!

Not only do you get a plastic bag for every purchase you make...you get 2, 3 or 4 bags with a purchase.

One bag for the food (mostly tightly wrapped in plastic), another one for toothpast and shampoo (aroma- sealed in plastic), the next for dishwashing- liquid and toilet cleaner (safely stored inside plastic bottles)....and so on and so forth!

By now, I react very annoyed with the Tops Daily- cashiers, in the shop I frequent...well...daily..., when they start splitting up my stuff into 3 or 4 separate bags, not one of them even remotely full!

I know...you should not show that you are upset in Thailand...I don't give a #$@% anymore!

If you are honestly giving me a plastic bag for an icecream- sandwich, you have the intelligence of an amoeba and I don't care for your idiot feelings!

 

Get this: one time I bought 2 cans of beer, a can of coke and a bottle of mouth- wash!

I got handed 4 straws with that!

 

You get 4 #$@%^&* plastic- spoons with every 4 -pack of yoghurt (tightly wrapped in plastic) and one with every yoghurt you buy in a shop!

This country is not able to think!

AT ALL

 

...end of rant...

Edited June 6, 2018 by DM07