Halloween cleanup for future generations
Posted 6 years ago
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| In Photo: Members of Dirty Hands Divers make their Halloween more significant by cleaning the water off Anilao in Batangas by collecting underwater trash |
Over 60 divers celebrated Halloween in a different manner. They had no candles nor flowers. They went underwater not to check on tombs.
Instead, they dove in Anilao in Mabini, Batangas, and collected trash in the deep in order to help clean and preserve it for future generations, and to raise awareness about the problem of plastics use, while they banded together.
Collecting about 274 pounds of mixed trash—such as discarded fish nets, PET bottles, grocery bags, cigarette butts and many others—the Halloween cleanup demonstrated how single-use plastics have been threatening the fragile oceans for decades now and is now a major global problem which needs to be addressed.
Single-use plastics, which are used by billions of people daily, is now the No. 1 source of pollution affecting the oceans. Conservation groups abroad have found marine life and sea birds with microplastics in their digestive systems during an autopsy on them. They said wildlife animals mistakenly consume plastics as food.
It is this reason the group Dirty Hands Divers was formed by concerned divers Warren Co, Jojo Gador, John Calbalde, Eugene Te and resort manager Janneth Cubabab. Their Halloween event not only gave reason for divers to be united but also gave the ocean a voice through the efforts of more than 60 volunteer divers.
Held during the weekend of October 26 and 27, the awareness effort was not only educational but also provided a platform where different diver groups were given the opportunity to work together not just by celebrating Halloween for fun but also for many dirty hands sweeping the ocean of debris and also collectively helping build several coral nests to help replenish the declining coral population.
The Dirty Hand Divers plans to do more underwater cleanup, believing that communication must be addressed on a sustained basis.
Those interested in joining the cause, can contact Jun V. Lao at 09159473888 or follow the Dirty Hands Divers page on Facebook for more information.
Source: businessmirror.com.ph
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