14:24.61S 026:00.81W Sail Africa's Blue Thumbs Program
Irene IV - World Adventure
Louis Goor
Fri 3 Feb 2023 19:04
Written by Praise Bonga Baras
Last year we had a lot of issues with our ocean around Durban, South Africa.
Mainly it was pollution. After the heavy rains we had in the middle of the
year, a lot of litter was discharged into the ocean. Some litter got into
the rainwater drainage system in the streets, flowing all the way into the
ocean. Some was even blocking the drainage in such a way that we even had
sewage flowing into the ocean.
Most of the litter was plastic. We all know that plastic is not good for the
environment, that includes all creatures on land and in the ocean, including
human beings themselves. Funny enough, but sadly, human beings are the
reason why so much plastic is all over the place. It can be different
reasons, though not even one reason can justify why we should have so much
plastic polluting our beautiful environment and destroying our
nature.
The Blue Thumbs Program came into existence and thought about all the
circumstances that result from this pollution. Such as, a small boat under
motor sailing in the channel with plastic tangled in its propellor, while
there is a big ship coming into the channel. As an instructor I can imagine
what would come out of that situation with 5 or 6 students onboard. Or a
dinghy sailor capsized trying to right his/her boat with a big plastic
floating towards his/her face and suffocating him/her. Or a fisherman
catching an unhealthy fish that had been eating or got tangled in plastic.
The amount of sickness that would come out of eating that fish. Most
fishermen make a living selling the fish, who would buy such a fish? The
unnatural flowers /water lilies floating in the sea, some cannot be seen.
The cleanliness of our ocean and beaches attracts more tourists into our
area, boosting the economy and the way of life in the area. Is that going to
happen with our polluted ocean? Especially because the world is at this
stage.
The Blue Thumbs program then decided to start small with a big aim of
growing bigger and bigger, making a huge important impact to such a critical
situation the world is facing, knowing that everything on land ends up in
the ocean, let alone that the ocean can clean itself. So, the best place for
us to start is the edges of the land and sea. Where all the pollution from
the land is about to get into the sea and all the pollution from the sea
gets to be thrown back to the land by the big sea's sweeping waves.
Doing harbour and beach clean ups every now and then. Each time they do a
clean up they will also try and recruit more participants for the next clean
up, doubling the amount of garbage collected. Inviting guest speakers from
the city and municipality for motivation and to promote the clean ups.
Sharing more knowledge and ideas on how to go about it. Invite all the
nation's favourite people, artists, actors, footballers, celebrities,
schools, universities, etc. as part of including them and to catch more
attention of the whole nation, so that they can involve themselves in such
activities and also entertain the participants with live music and other
activities. I myself have been involved in cleanups with local soccer stars,
maritime students, and university students as part of the Sail Africa
Program.
As the program continues the aim is to have a plastics/garbage collection
competition. Sailors will collect all the trash that is floating in the sea
while racing on a regatta and any other time they are sailing in order to
try and make a difference. And there will always be a prize for sailors who
have collected the most.
It is a good habit for everyone all over the world to "Not Pollute" the
environment by using the designated dustbins around them. If there is no bin
around, keep it in a bag until you get to a proper place to discharge it
right away, recycling all material that can be recycled, reusing materials
that can be reused. If you have time, just 2 minutes of your time, picking
up plastic wherever you are will make a huge difference in the long run.
There is whole lot we can do to reduce this pollution that is slowly
destroying our beloved nature.
It all counts and it begins with you.