Cyclone Tauktae created havoc in Maharashtra and then Gujarat and even made its effects felt in North India. The cyclone delivered the message that climate change activists have been sending out for ages now: that extreme weather events are and will keep increasing because we aren't doing all that we could to improve the situation. And now, it has sent out yet another message: in the form of garbage that has washed up on the shores after the cyclone.
We have seen how large dead creatures such as whales, sharks and turtles are often washed ashore by the sea. More often than not, humans will also be deposited back to shore by the waves. This is because the sea rejects what doesn’t belong to it. It is the same for all the garbage humans dump into the sea – after the churning of the ocean during the cyclone, literally tonnes of garbage washed back up on the so-called beaches of Mumbai.
Climate change activists try various methods to get governments and organisations to take notice of the very real dangers of climate change; urging them to make emission cuts and other changes. Nature has a more direct form of communication it would seem.
Plastic and all other manner of garbage finds its way into the sea. Not only does the sea not want it, but this is also actually very dangerous for marine animals. They choke on it, drown because of it and are poisoned from the toxic garbage. Plastic is found in numerous dead marine animals; indicating how there is a direct negative impact of irresponsible and thoughtless human activity on the environment. The cyclone, in a sense, did us a favour for ejecting at least some of what didn’t belong in the sea.
Mumbai beaches such as Girgaum Chowpatty, Juhu, Gateway of India and other locations saw scenes like this. Tonnes of garbage, largely in the form of plastic refuse was found washed up. At the best of times, Mumbai’s beaches are in bad shape. Following Tauktae, we realised just how bad things can get.
Garbage trucks and earth moving machinery were deployed to remove the garbage that was washed up on the shores.
It isn't just that rubbish was washed up on Mumbai's beaches. The unmanageable waste management issue, particularly plastic waste, is endemic. It clogs up drains and causes waterlogging each year, causing damage and losses to businesses as well as a loss of lives.
Tauktae expelling garbage and depositing it along the Indian coast indicates that something needs to be done and done quickly. But is anyone listening? And if people are listening are they doing anything. Even those that are trying to do something – is it too little, too late?
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