A river of Garbage that flows to the Sea - dial up warning

[Ichingcarpenter]

Notice the plastic bags and plastic garbage?

This was taken in Indonesia

[malaise]

1. I wonder how much of this is tsunami debris

Damn!

[Ichingcarpenter]

4. None of it

It is the Citarum river, West Java

More than 500 factories, many of them producing textiles which require chemical treatment, line the banks of the 200-mile river, the largest waterway in West Java, spewing waste into the water.

On top of the chemicals go all the other kinds of human detritus from the factories and the people who work there.

There is no such luxury as a rubbish collection service here. Nor are there any modern toilet facilities. Everything goes into the river.

The filthy water is sucked into the rice paddies, while families risk their health by collecting it for drinking, cooking and washing.

Twenty years ago, this was a place of beauty, and the river still served its people well.

As one local man, Arifin, recalled: "Our wives did their washing there and our children swam."

Its demise began with rapid industrialisation during the late 1980s. The mighty Citarum soon became a garbage bin for the factories.

And the doomsday effect will spread. It is one of two major rivers that feed Lake Saguling, where the French have built the largest power generator in West Java.

Experts predict that as the river chokes, its volume will decrease and the generator will not function properly.

The area will be plunged into darkness.

But at least the factories will be stilled and their waste will stop flowing.

And perhaps the river will begin to breathe again.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/wor...

[malaise]

6. Wow

That is disgusting

[jus_the_facts]

2. Swath of Pacific Ocean twice size of Texas full of floating plastic garbage

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

An area of the Pacific ocean collects water borne garbage because of the low wind and circular currents. This growing garbage sea is now twice the size of Texas according to some estimates. The debris ranges in size from giant nets to tiny pieces of plastic. In fact, in this area, the tiny pieces of plastic are so prevalant that it is estimated that there is six times as much of these miniscule pieces of plastic as there is plankton. Small fish are eating the plastic instead of plankton.

Larger pieces kill birds that try to eat it, or wrap around mamals, fish and sea turtles, like this plastic band disfiguring a sea turtle:

[dysfunctional press]

15. omg...that picture really shook me up.

we are an abominable species.

[salvorhardin]

3. This is the Citarum River near Jakarta

The waste is mostly from the hundreds of factories along the Citarum and the 5,000,000 people who live and work in the Citarum river basin. Here's a Daily Mail story from June 2007 that features these photos: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/wor...

[The Stranger]

5. I read another poster encouraging the Earth to shake off the parasites.

If only she could.

[tekisui]

7. She can, and she is.

Billions will die as Climate change effects our food supply, coastal regions and wars for resources.

[alterfurz]

12. "The earth has a skin and that skin has diseases...

...one of those diseases is man." -- Nietzsche

[The Stranger]

14. Thanks for that.

Here is another (from memory): "When one tangles with monsters, one must take care lest he become a monster. And when you look long into the abyss, the abyss also looks long into you."

[ORDagnabbit]

8. way too many damn humans on the planet. n/t

[Greyskye]

9. OMG

[sandnsea]

10. Do you have China pictures?

Of the computer parts that clog up what used to be rivers? This just makes me sick and we don't pay near enough attention to it. It's another reason I oppose Clinton. I know we've got no chance to correct this stuff with her in office.

[eppur_se_muova]

11. Perhaps part of the cause lies here ...

Commentary: A world away, litter lessons still hit home

By Bill Bollom

The scene above is in Indonesia. My son was vacationing there at Christmas with his family, planning to snorkel. But that was not possible with all the plastic bags drifting on coral reefs.

Twenty-five years ago, our family visited that same beach at Christmas. Bali was much less populated then. The beach was beautiful – there were German and French girls who felt comfortable sun bathing in the buff. It's hard to even picture that now. But I'm not surprised by the change.

Fourteen years ago, my bride and I visited Sumatra, the highly-populated Western-most island of Indonesia. Our guide told us with great pride there were no anti-litter laws in his country as he threw his soda can and candy bar wrapper on the ground. The streets looked like the beach above. It was hog heaven for pigs.

Indonesia is a good example of "Litter begets litter," people choosing to litter because of the presence of other litter.

http://www.thenorthwestern.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AI...

[Ichingcarpenter]

13. Industrialization and Global outsourcing without Environmental

Safeguards for the workers or the environment for the all mighty dollar.
The factories are international companies along the river.

[lpbk2713]

16. And that is just the refuse that floats.

Soon they will be able to go from one river bank to the other just walking on the trash.

Sad commentary on our disregard for our planet. The factory owners don't worry about it.

They live somewhere else. Out of sight, out of mind.