Trash on Piratininga Beach

Trash on Piratininga Beach, RJ, Brazil

I've been writing about how much trash is on the beaches here, so I thought I'd upload a photo - the one below allows you to zoom in and out. Take a look at how many small plastic particles there are. This is what birds and fish are eating. Actually, right after it took this photo I watched a seagull eat a small piece of plastic - it looked like it may have been part of some sort of plastic wrapping.

Plastic has no end. It always persists. It is just broken down into smaller components, even when it is microscopic it is still plastic. Plastic also leaches toxins out of the water like a sponge. And this is what fish eat, this is what birds eat, this is even what we eat. And did you know that there are vast areas of ocean where plastic particles far outnumber plankton particles. This is a huge problem.

Lixo Extraordinário: Waste Land Documentary

I have been noticing all of the trash in Rio. There is just so much trash on the beaches that it can't all possibly be cleaned up. I will surely be writing more about this topic on my blog at some point, but right now I want to give my attention to a film called Waste Land.

Unsurprisingly, all of the Cariocas (residents of Rio) I've talked to have no idea that the worlds largest garbage dump is just outside their marvelous city. While doing some research on this dumping site, called Jardim Gramacho, I came across this film. Check out the trailer below:

A Small Favela

A Small Favela

This is a photo of a very small favela (slum) in Itaipu. As Karine explained it, this is a "middle-class" favela - not the best and not the worst. You can see an area that has collapsed. That part is filled with debris and trash. Actually, right after I took this photo a woman came out onto her patio and threw a bag of trash into the pile below - totally natural for her. But then again where does all of our trash end up? In some huge pile somewhere, probably India, or maybe swirling around a gyre in some ocean garbage patch. Sad. But I'm sure I will get into that more later.