Depending on what you choose to see - whether you look at things close up or from a distance - one can tell & show two very different stories. The island of Amorgos, once an extraordinary beautiful place with wonderful waters now suffers not only from the vast amount of waste polluted mediterranean washing up, & washing past, horrible amounts of rubbish - but it is not helping it self , & is guilty of littering its own environment, as if littering itself was part of its natural existence. Plastic is everywhere, on the beaches, along the roadsides and in the fields. I wish recent articles in news papers & magazines such as Financial Times, Daily Telegraph & Conde Naste Traveller would at least mention environmental challenges that such an island faces. You can't help but not see it - if you have your eyes open. In addition the island is extremely busy in July & August, busier than ever. It suffers from extreme drought & extreme loss of habitat. I wish the island would set a better example with its waste management; it is embarassing & sets an appauling example to the young of the island whose future environment is being irreparably damaged both on the land & in the sea. Build a new rubbish centre, relocate it to a place where there can be no leakage; modernise; have a plan & overhaul, change the present waste collection & disposal system completely. Prioritise this over new carparks, new roads. Prioritise it - it is second only in importance to water. I write this in memory of a turtle we saw this summer slowly suffocating, tied up in plastic. We have an article written for environmental documentation, should you want to read more on this issue.
‘We can’t even slow down the destruction's acceleration’ Jenson,D.
This rubbish centre is an embarrasment - I see an island dying of thirst, loosing its habitat & increasingly throttling the land and sea with its unmanaged rubbish disposal.
All the above is going into here. The real pictures are those above.
Easy to deceive & use the below picture for the brochure.
The landscape is increasing littered with plastic; when you start picking it up & actually open your eyes you realise it is such a huge problem.
Paradise beach
All these are taken at 3 different north western beaches; including 'paradise' beach litered with syringes. Dangerous to swim in, a friend of mine wouldn't let her child swim for fear of swollowing something or getting
entangled in rubbish in the water, or cutting ones feet on the beach.
Carried off this beach on a daily basis.
Around this site, there is industrial rubbish rolling into the sea.
Bins need a comlete re thinking/ rather just replacing them with the same. The whole management of rubbish needs to be re drawn. Anyway
These wheely bins are for a house! They just get blown over and open; its a nonsense. Looks so silly having that sign there - I mean who is going to go naked and lie down next to those syringes and millions of small plastics colouring the sand. Also, I don't know it is a co-incidence, but I went yesterday to inspect the plastic in the water (which is so awful it is unbelievable) & that bin is not on the beach and there is a blue bin identical in the water 50 metres on shore on the sea bed. It is just appauling.
This sign really! With the rubbish at its feet and in the water should perhaps read something else?
It is dangerous to swim in the north facing areas. I have swam several kilometres from entry points - and the amount plastic is so awful. I would not swim without a snorkle, because you consume micro plastics and small bits potentially. As you swim under water - there millions of small visible floating particles of plastic that you can touch. This is worrying from a marine life perspective & general devastating impact on the marine environment. More visible also are the build ups of surface plastics coating the water surface in areas where it collects - absolutely disgusting. There are big items as well - it is an awful & worrying experience, and the fact that nothing is being done about it is shameful.
Paradise beach it is called; it is closer to hell than paradise.
Further south
Tipping, above the most marketed beach on the Island.
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