Joy drowned in the stinking filth generated by the city day after day.
It happened in the city of Thiruvananthapuram, capital
of Kerala, two days back. Joy, a young sanitation worker, dared to plunge into
the Amayizhanchan canal - a 5.40 km-long canal originating in the heart of the
city and ending at Akkulam Lake – in order to clean it. The filthy water gained
a current due to the heavy rain and dragged him along into a tunnel where he died.
His dead body was recovered after two days of frantic search by a group of scuba
divers and a six-member Navy team.
Joy is just one of the many, many victims created by
the waste we throw around. The Amayizhanchan canal had become nothing more than
a revolting drain just like many other canals and rivers in the country.
Clogged with plastic and other waste materials people dump senselessly.
I remember the great deluge of 2018 in Kerala. The
river that runs through my village was inundated. The water level rose
intimidatingly moment by moment. It entered people’s houses. It drowned large
swathes of land and even a stretch of the highway that passes through the
village. There was water wherever you looked. Riled water, reddish and ominous.
Then, after a couple of days, the water began to
recede. Quickly too. The rains had stopped. The land that came back after the
drowning now had plastic everywhere. Polythene carry-bags, thousands of them in
all colours possible under the sun, lay everywhere. On the ground and the
branches of trees. In the creeks of the rocks on the sandbars of the river.
Wherever you looked, multicoloured plastic blots stared back. The entire
spectacle was like the landscape of a horror movie.
We have dumped plastic all over. Deadly stuff.
There’s plastic everywhere in our life. Even our milk
comes in plastic. From medicines to alcohol, food items to stationery,
everything comes in plastic. It is not only carry-bags, but also most things we
use today are made of plastic: water bottles, pens, food containers, ketchup
packs, even big things like chairs and tables! All that plastic seems to end up
in our ocean beds having undergone some minor transmutations.
An estimated 50 trillion to 75 trillion pieces of
microplastics are in the ocean today. We are killing our oceans. We are killing
our planet. We are killing ourselves.
Plastic waste is affecting the entire life on the planet.
The ecosystem, the biodiversity, the natural resources, and even human health –
everything is being affected by it one way or another.
We stand in need of a paradigm shift. We need to
replace plastic with better alternatives. If we can send a Sunita Williams to
the outer space, we can definitely create an alternative to plastic. If sanitation
worker Joy cannot go to the outer space, he needn’t at least be drowned in the
filth we dump into our water bodies.
PS. This post is a part
of ‘Sense and Sustainability Blog Hop’ hosted by Manali Desai and Sukaina Majeed.
So true. We have done wonders (maybe more to show our strength to the world) but we Indians still go under 'third world country' line for immigration. Perhaps it is the population. And perhaps not everyone takes cleanliness seriously. It's sad. Hope many realise this sooner!
ReplyDeleteLook at our public places and contrast them with their counterparts in the West. We have no civic sense, let alone cleanliness sense.
DeleteSadly true!
DeleteHari Om
ReplyDeleteSad to say, even in the west, plastic is an expanding problem... though admittedly, India is brazen about this wastage. It is lamentable how dependent we have become upon what was considered a revolutionary material... YAM xx
Plastic requires wise handling. My neighborhood grocer insists on giving certain things in polythene bags even when i have a cloth bag with me. For the safety of certain items. I tell him to pack such items in newspaper pieces.
DeleteWe have a dedicated team working to collect plastic and ewaste every alternate Saturday in our apartment complex. This is due to a concerted effort by residents to separate dry and wet waste. The plastic waste is then handed over to agencies for recycling into benches and tables and chairs. I sincerely pray that the others around us are inspired by this and start saving our planet from being put in a plastic bag!
ReplyDeleteHats off to you, dear Deepak. This is a tremendous effort you're making along with your associates. I wish it all success and I do hope others around start emulating your example.
DeleteAll that isn't so convenient now, is it? The whole purpose was to make our lives easier with easy packaging and such, but what to do with it after... I hope it's a solvable problem. It should be. Alas, those who create the plastic don't want to figure out how to fix it.
ReplyDeleteConvenience overrode everything else including the planet's very survival.
DeleteThis is colossal and very very scary
ReplyDeleteYes, colossal and scary, you said it.
DeleteSome states here got rid of plastic bags. A step in right direction.
ReplyDeleteUndoubtedly. My state also banned certain types but as usual nobody obeyed.
DeleteBetter alternatives are the only solution to replace plastic usage and save our planet. Numerous Joys can't be left to drown in plastic led drains.
ReplyDeleteVery aptly said. Knowing how harmful plastic is wonder why no good alternatives have replaced it so far. Better sooner than later!
ReplyDeleteYour post is so relevant in today's times. Joy's death has come as a wake up call to all of us. It takes a joint effort to be able to take a step forward. I agree with your point about how well maintained cities abroad are. Maybe it is a lack of pride in our mentality that allows us to ignore vital issues like garbage disposal and the ban of plastics.
ReplyDeleteWe have housekeeping guys who collected plastic on particular days. Then it goes for recycling. But frankly speaking it is a public who make it worse. Neither they reducing usage of plastic not handles the plastic garbage. Just throwing here and there. Our government should have strict action for this.
ReplyDeleteWe desperately need to segregate waste at source and first minimise and gradually stop the use of plastics. Like you've mentioned in your post--plastics are everywhere. How did we end us like this? Unless each of us makes a conscious effort to do our bit for the planet, our future looks grim.
ReplyDeleteI can imagine how frightful and sickening the sight of that huge plastic dump must have been once the flood waters receded. I live not far from a landfill or dumping yard and I have seen the horrors of plastic waste and chemical waste quite closely. We need to really shake ourselves and the system.
ReplyDeleteIts scary that we are losing human lives to plastic, Fishes, birds, animals I have heard of but this is the worst. Plastic is a real killer.The manufacturing has t be banned. Why cant we use coconut, bamboo, banana as alternatives.
ReplyDeleteWe've progressed so much and it really is baffling that we still haven't found a solution to our wastage problems. Hope like Joy can be saved if that happens at the earliest
ReplyDeleteA life lost because of the waste that's been collecting over the years. How many sewer cleaners have lost their lives because of not having proper equipment to clean them. Really angers me personally.
ReplyDeleteJoy and no other person deserves such a death... it's deeply saddening and disturbing😞.
ReplyDeleteI always wonder why governments have ambitions like making Mars liveable and many like that and they carry out extensive and expensive studies and experiments when the basic things on earth are not taken care of? Why doesn't anyone come up with a solution for water crisis or handling plastic and other waste? I am sure science has advanced to that level.
Everyone has a selfish motive and they operate with that in mind. It's only people like us who actually care. No one below us and no one above does.
Joy's tragic death underscores the urgent need for change. If we can innovate for space, we must also innovate to save our planet. Let’s rethink our plastic use and advocate for cleaner, safer environments.
ReplyDeleteJoy’s story is a stark reminder of the human cost of environmental neglect, and it vividly illustrates how our waste management practices can have dire effects on individuals and ecosystems alike. The comparison to the horror movie landscape of plastic strewn everywhere drives home the gravity of the issue. Your call for a paradigm shift in how we handle plastic is both timely and essential. We need to prioritize sustainable alternatives and take responsibility for the waste we generate to prevent further tragedies and protect our planet.
ReplyDeleteNo one deserves to die like that. I remember watching a documentary where the sanitation worker requested people to stop throwing plastics into drains or flushing it down toilets. Plastic is a killer in a lot of ways.
ReplyDeleteJoy's death is heartbreaking but a sad reality. We still haven't figured out a way to tackle waste. The mountains of rubbish and the landfills that dot NCR borders are an environmental hazard. Banning plastics has no impact because no one follows it.
ReplyDeleteYes! The intent to clean and make alternatives is severely lacking around the world. Especially those who sit in decision making positions. RIP to Joy, nobody deserves this. We don't deserve this.
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ReplyDelete