Welcome to paradise! Filthy Samui beach is a disgrace say angry residents

[Bill Miller]

I spent a lot of time beachcombing as a kid... shells, interesting bits of drift wood, polished sea glass, etc.
Never saw the disgusting heaps of trash we deal with today.
Plastic pakaging is the source of most of it. People were not tidier, but there were only half as many, and packaging was largely paper which does break down.
Don't know what you will do, kids. I get odd, and sometimes annoyed, looks when I present my canvas shopping bag. My request for no plastic carry bags in my grocery delivery has resulted in maybe 50% fewer... long way from the offered none.
I am only one apparently eccentric old guy, doing my poor sort of hippy best. Up to you as they say here.

Sent from my SM-J200GU using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[Thunder26]

Plastic is a huge problem. With time plastic breaks down into small particles that will be literally everywhere . Fish and other living things will be contaminated with microscopic particles of plastic. This is scary and it is unknown how is it going to affect humans that ingest contaminated food with plastic.

[55Jay]

On 5/12/2017 at 0:08 PM, impulse said:

20+ years ago when I lived in Southern California, I could open up the morning news and look at the bacteria count all up and down the coast and decide whether and where to go swimming.  

 

Is there any credible analog here in Thailand?

Still.  Big raw sewage spill in February.  The vid in link article isn't it, but it is interesting to see the Tijuana River Valley and the Imperial Beach zone from drone perspective.  

Quote

Drone video suggests a massive raw sewage spill continued from Mexico into San Diego County beaches after Feb. 23, the date that authorities said the spill ended.

  http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/opinion/the-conversation/sd-video-tijuana-mexico-sewage-spill-san-diego-california-20170306-htmlstory.html

 

 

[YetAnother]

we have a large man made lake in our province that is about 15 years old; it is so trashed that we stopped taking our visitor friends out there

[carmine]

On 5/12/2017 at 4:27 AM, steven100 said:

well clean it up instead of complaining ....  

 I think the suggestion is that a general policy of keeping the beaches clean would be more appropriate than relying on community minded residents to do it.  But thanks for the hugely helpful post!!

[evadgib]

On 5/13/2017 at 8:55 AM, Thunder26 said:

Plastic is a huge problem. With time plastic breaks down into small particles that will be literally everywhere . Fish and other living things will be contaminated with microscopic particles of plastic. This is scary and it is unknown how is it going to affect humans that ingest contaminated food with plastic.

Phat (computer repairer, Maenam) had an interesting programme from Nat Geo playing when we popped in recently to buy a kids desktop for homework. My family were mesmerised to see how much junk had been injested by dead Scua, Albatross & an assortment of fish being autopsied on camera. The junk came from six SE Asian countries inc one beginning with T...

 

'Thousand words' an' all that...?

Edited May 14, 2017 by evadgib