{"id":36983,"date":"2020-11-14T08:00:51","date_gmt":"2020-11-14T07:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ecobnb.com\/blog\/?p=36983"},"modified":"2020-11-10T16:42:19","modified_gmt":"2020-11-10T15:42:19","slug":"environmental-disaster-mauritius-lesson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ecobnb.com\/blog\/2020\/11\/environmental-disaster-mauritius-lesson\/","title":{"rendered":"A Lesson from the Environmental Disaster of Mauritius"},"content":{"rendered":"

Environmental disasters<\/strong> linked to man are becoming more and more frequent. What happened last July 25 in the Indian Ocean<\/strong>, southeast of the tropical island of Mauritius<\/strong>, invites us to reflect and draw important conclusions. Man is the main cause of the deterioration of our ecosystem. We ourselves are endangering the survival of the world in which we live, without realizing that we are reaching a point of no return. A point that should be frightening but that, instead, seems to be ignored by most people. It is therefore useless to complain and stand by and watch, when the only right thing to do would be taking the reins of the situation.<\/p>\n

The Mauritius disaster<\/h2>\n

Let\u2019s take the example of the Mauritius<\/strong> where the\u00a0merchant ship Wakashio<\/strong>, after having run aground and\u00a0broken in two, has lost more than 1000 tonnes of fuel into\u00a0the sea.\u00a0The fuel quickly leaked into the turquoise waters of the lagoon, and two weeks later the local government declared a health emergency<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

This accident demonstrates once again how man is not\u00a0only unable to take responsibility for his actions, but also\u00a0how he cannot learn from his mistakes. Similar events\u00a0have already occurred in the past, such as the collision of\u00a0the tanker Exxon Valdez with a barrier in Alaska, which in\u00a01989 caused the spillage of 11 million gallons of oil into\u00a0the sea.\u00a0According to a recent study by the National Oceanic and Atmosferic Administration<\/a>, some 98,000 liters of oil<\/strong> still contaminate the area’s coasts and the local population still shows signs of hydrocarbon poisoning<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

What makes us angrier, however, is to know that most of the times these are accidents that could\u00a0have been avoided or restrained thanks to more immediate interventions, such as the one of\u00a0Wakashio. As testified by some sources, it seems that on board the ship there were celebrations,\u00a0and that the approach to the coast was put in place to achieve a better telephone coverage. This\u00a0information would lead anyone to point the finger at the commander but, as it is well known, the\u00a0fault is never attributable to a single party.<\/p>\n

In Mauritius also the authorities of the island have taken a false\u00a0step. The first rescue operations started in fact almost a week after the stranding of the ship, thus\u00a0making vain the race against the time of citizens who made themselves available, even with\u00a0rudimentary tools such as tissues, sugarcane leaves and plastic bottles, to try to reduce the damage.\u00a0The authorities are therefore on trial, accused of having been delayed in the rescue, and of having\u00a0declared the emergency almost two weeks after the accident<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"Mauritius
Photo by imo.un, via wikipedia<\/div><\/div>\n

The consequences<\/h2>\n

The effects of these events are devastating, and they affect our ecosystem irreversibly.\u00a0The fuel poured into the sea by the ship Wakashio has caused great damage to the marine flora and\u00a0fauna, changing their conditions of growth forever.\u00a0Unfortunately, it is not only the fuel in the sea that worries, in fact\u00a0there are many other toxic substances that every day man spills into\u00a0the environment.<\/p>\n

First of all, we find plastic<\/strong>: an increasingly widespread material, and\u00a0for which an effective method of disposal has not been discovered\u00a0yet. According to some sources, today in the oceans there are more<\/strong><\/a>
\nthan 150 tons of plastic<\/strong>, intended to increase if production does not\u00a0stop. What we are provided with is a really worrying data, if you\u00a0consider that a small container of this material takes between 100 and\u00a01000 years to be disposed of.<\/p>\n

Plastic is the main enemy of marine fauna<\/strong>, and thisis why many species\u00a0are becoming extinct, and some are in serious danger. Sources say that high percentages of plastic\u00a0were found inside the bowels of many seabirds, and many died, such as sea turtles<\/strong><\/a>, mistaking it for\u00a0jellyfish and swallowing it. However, man is not immune and also our health is affected by all this.<\/p>\n

\"plastic
Plastic in the sea: fish caught in a plastic bag. Photo by Naja Bertolt Jensen on Unsplash<\/div><\/div>\n

The percentage of plastic we ingest is every year higher<\/strong><\/a>: today it is more or less the size of a credit\u00a0card per week<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

This is the most evident effect of pollution, but in the process of evaluating the damage we must\u00a0not forget the economy<\/strong>, especially as regards the tourism\u00a0sector<\/strong>. Let\u2019s return to the example of the disaster that\u00a0occurred last July on the islands of the Indian Ocean: the\u00a0fuel in the sea also had negative consequences for\u00a0tourism, which is already in crisis because of the\u00a0pandemic that is affecting the whole world right now.<\/p>\n

Infact, many have given up spending their holidays in what\u00a0it is considered as one of the most heavenly places on\u00a0earth, compromising local businesses which only live\u00a0thanks to the presence of tourists.<\/p>\n

In conclusion<\/strong>, we can sadly say that man is slowly contributing to its extinction; an event that is now\u00a0destined to come, but that we could slow down thanks to a strong awareness-raising activity. One\u00a0does not expect a sudden change but many small gestures<\/strong><\/a> that, in the long run, could lead to a small\u00a0improvement. If we all try, we may be able to ease the burden of our mistakes on future\u00a0generations<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Cover image: Photo by imo.un, via wikipedia<\/em><\/p>\n

\"FrancescaAuthor: Francesca Dugo<\/strong>.\u00a0I\u2019m Francesca, I\u2019m 21 years old and I was born and raised in Trento. I\u2019m currently studying modern languages at university, and my biggest dream is to be able to visit every corner of the world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Environmental disasters linked to man are becoming more and more frequent. What happened last July 25 in the Indian Ocean, southeast of the tropical island of Mauritius, invites us to reflect and draw important conclusions. Man is the main cause of the deterioration of our ecosystem. We ourselves are endangering the survival of the world […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":36986,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[214],"tags":[1687,2756,52],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nA Lesson from the Environmental Disaster of Mauritius - Ecobnb<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Environmental disasters attributable to man are increasingly frequent. 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