.coral alliance.
Participated in a Port Dickson Beach Clean Up *a long time ago*, organized by the Coral Alliance degree people. Me, being the ever-supportive friend, dragged my lazy butt at the ungodly hour of 6am to get on the bus to PD.
Seriously.
It should be illegal for people to wake up before 8. or 9.
It would be a FEDERAL OFFENSE for people to wake up before the sun rises.
Ungodly.
Not natural.
Wrong.
Salah.
Anyway, the luck gods weren't with us this morning, or rather, they weren't with the Coral Kids, coz it started raining.
Thankfully enough, the rain stopped just as the beach clean up was scheduled to start.
After dutifully picking up various trash bags and plastic bottles of the dirty sands of PD, we all RAN back inside to the welcoming chilled atmosphere of AIR CONDITIONED rooms.
Environmental-activists, my backside la.
Damn fail.
Then came a horrifying speech by a lady representative from Malaysian Nature Society.
As I continued to listen to her speech, there was this growing feeling of dread and helplessness.
I know, a lot of people preach to "don't litter" and la di da.But this lady's presentation really opened eyes today, especially mine.
She brought to attention something called a "garbage patch".
Which is, essentially, what its name implies; a large mass of floating rubbish "twice the size of Texas, 3/4 of Malaysia" in the ocean.
And what floats on the surface, is only about 20% of what is actually there, coz the other 80% has already sunk.
So imagine what is down there.
What are the sea bass, tuna, sotongs, sharks, sea birds, turtles and other marine life having to live with?
Researchers found many dead sea birds like Albatross all over untouched beaches.
(where supposedly, no man have gone before)
So the beach ought to have pristine golden white sandy beachs, with glistening emerald blue oceans and teeming wildlife.
Instead, they find dead birds and plastic garbage.
When they open up these dead birds, they find that the poor birds had eaten plastic items such as lighters, bottle caps and such.
Normally, I do take these campaigns to heart, and try to do my part to save whatever part of the world I can.
But then Eiran and the other CoralKids took us up to the lighthouse in PD.
There, an awe-inspiring 870 feet above ocean, you can see blue-green-grey ocean as far as the eye can see (well, as far as the haze permits, which is another result of man's lovely contribution to Mother Earth)
Serene. Calming.
Thought-provoking.
Then came an overwhelming sense of protection.
Like, I want to grab people and say "HOI! Open your EYES! We're destroying our own world, and we're not doing anything about it!"
Sigh.
Thanks, Eiran, for the truly enlightening experience.I really believe that it's your heartfelt passion that made the difference in today's happenings.
Also, thanks Matt for inviting me along on the trip!
Unforgettable.
