These past few days I had the opportunity of traveling to one of the most beautiful places in the world, El Nido. This is an originally secluded fishing town of the archipelagic province of Palawan in the Philippines. I will talk more about my travel experience on my next post due to the contrasting urgency this issue created for me.
What I am here to tell you about saddens me to the core, even though I should've known not to expect differently.
On day three of my stay at El Nido, I was walking along the shore as the morning sun was calling my name, nothing could've bothered me in that instant, the beach I thought was one of the cleanest I've been to, and this being rated one of the most beautiful places in the world I just wanted to see it all. To my surprise, the further I walked I started noticing trash on the sand, and I thought "Oh it's only a little so I will pick it up and take it with me." The more I walked the more the trash increased. I walked up to one of the guest houses and asked for a small bag to put the trash in, they hesitated and asked what I was doing; so after I told them they gladly handed me a small reusable bag and started cleaning their beach front. I kept on trying to get everything from the water and a lot of plastic bags and strings were so buried in the sand I couldn't get them. I ended up finding what looked like a rice sac half buried in the sand so I decided I would clear it up and use it to pick more trash. That one filled up quite fast and to be honest it was getting pretty heavy, so I turned back to my hostel and asked the staff for a big trash bag instead. Needless to say, I was exhausted before I could even be close to finishing cleaning the whole thing; I must have spent at least four hours cleaning. I did not regret for a second taking one morning of my trip to help clean up the beach I was staying at.
Is this our gift to the next generations?
The ocean is the biggest forest we have and it's dying, every single cell organism contributes to producing the oxygen that we need to survive. This post's not political, this post comes from the bottom of my heart as it breaks for all the life we're ending and endangering.
PALAWAN IS VOTED ONE OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL ISLANDS IN THE WHOLE WORLD AND THIS IS WHAT I FOUND
There were snorkeling gear packages, meters, and meters or plastic cords, relatively new chip packages, glass and plastic bottles, clothes, pill packaging and the list goes on.
Whether it's washed out or it's left by people, the trash is still there. As tourists we have a duty to respect the place we're visiting, that includes culture, environment, and the people. Do you realize how lucky you are to be traveling and seeing the world? Have a bit of appreciation for the opportunity and give back to the community as much as you can.
The actions of one person can influence others, never forget that what you do can have an impact on someone else's life without you even knowing. I hope this post inspires enough people to start a movement where travelers actually have a more environmentally friendly impact on the places they visit.
I'd like to hear from the people that also go on beach cleaning sprees wherever they go, this is something my grandparents taught my mother, and she's taught me. How about you?