Donate NowDay 34, July 22, 2007
I was down at one of the beaches north of Dakar today. Wow what a
site. Fishing boats, all brightly colored, pulled up on the shore
with literally thousands of people on a Sunday lining the beach as it
stretched curving into the distance. It was like the area one would
imagine, that I always imagined where the Sahara Desert meets the
sea. Lots of square, middle-eastern type houses in sand with mosques
rising up with their graceful minarets towering the afternoon sun.
Amazingly prosaic, and very inviting, except for the tons and tons of
rubbish and raw sewage floating around the bathers, lining the sandy
shore, and sprinkling the landscape with little fluttering bits of
plastic garbage. What a mess. Yuck. My first feeling was, don't
these people care about their place? I mean, clearly they like to
swim in the sea and enjoy the area on a Sunday afternoon, much like
anywhere else, so why leave it looking and smelling like shit? Why
not put the rubbish where it goes? I was so shocked that I became
angry and self-righteous. Then I tried to push that, to become more
thoughtful. Although European beaches are cleaner, some aren't (like
the south of France in some areas). Or the mouth of the Colorado
River on the Mexican-US border. Pollution is everywhere and its
caused by us all. Just because the price of someone's food or fuel
in Europe doesn't come with a litter-tag, and the packaging doesn't
end up on the seashore or the street does not mean that that food or
product didn't cause pollution. What I saw today was a brutal
reminder of what happens when we humans don't take care of our
planet. The mouth of the Colorado River is one of the
most polluted waterways in the whole world. Here it is just plastic,
garbage, things that can be picked up or cleaned up in the space of a
few months with the right community participation. The Colorado
River mouth is another story altogether. It's a sordid tale of
extremely serious and pervasive industrial, domestic and commercial
pollution spanning two countries and 6 US states. The river doesn't
even make it to the sea very often anymore. Very little is being
done about it. Every time a US household uses Tide laundry
detergent, or plastic bottles of virtually any sort, they are
supporting factories that left the US, set up again with lax
environmental regulations and cheap labor over the border, and
started pumping pollutants into John Wesley Powell's "river that will
make the west green". So our beaches in LA may be cleaner than
Dakar, but we are not blameless in any way. Just because few people
get to see the sorry, sad and stinky state of the Colorado River
mouth does not make it fine to keep polluting it. By the same token,
the people of Senegal could use some assistance in getting
communities awareness raised about local pollution, and picking up
after themselves. When everyone feels like they are part of the
problem, and ways are put in place to get things cleaned up so they
can feel like part of the solution too, everyone might feel less
inclined to dump their rubbish everywhere. There are water bottles
here that have just come out with the slogan, "The Ocean is not a
trash bin". That's to be applauded, but drinking water once from a
plastic bottle is not a good thing to do. Polyethylene, PCBs,
petroleum, these things are used or created when making plastics. It
would be far better to have a clean and safe drinking water supply
that can be trusted. In the western world we would do well to
remember that we do have clean and safe water, and not drinking
bottled water would go a long way to reducing PCBs and mercury levels
in the ocean (currently so high that pregnant women are warned off
eating too much pelagic fish like Tuna).
Day 35, July 23, 2007
It was a long day today. I looked and looked and looked and waited
here and there and everywhere for news of a boat going to Cap Verde,
the islands I am heading for. After three hours of waiting for an
appointment at the port authority office, I had to leave there for
another meeting with some of the people from Wetlands International.
It was fascinating chatting with them about some of the endemic bird
life of Senegal and lots of other things. Its time for bed now, but
hopefully I will be working with them in the next few days and
finding out more about their projects. Had a few tough moments
today, in the heat and the waiting, but I have often found that when
things get tough, its often just before they get really great. So I
am holding out for the silver lining and getting some sleep.
Day 36, 24 July, 2007
Had a good day, exploring Madeleine Island, off the coast of Dakar,
on a boat, with a snorkel and hiking around. Now sitting in a
gorgeous room with nice breezes off the ocean, in my buddy Finbarr's
place here in Dakar. The island was gorgeous, all columnar basalt
columns twisted and turned. Its also called Snake Island, and I am
not sure if that's because of snakes there or because the columns
resemble piled up serpents. I saw a lot of birds, but couldn't find
the Tropicbird that the island is famous for. The fish and the sea
life there are also incredible, and I cruised up next to a huge
puffer fish and Finbarr, who is a photojournalist with Reuters news
agency, snapped a quick pic of me there with that fat fish. It was
great to get out in nature again, and tomorrow I am headed down to
the Gambian border with Wetlands International to visit an area where
the Manatee lives, and loads of nesting Royal and Caspian Terns.
Looking forward to that.