English Corner  Capt. Lawrence.  Today: Volunteers without frontiers

Escolta-ho mentre navegues

 Unused shopping carts? Throw em in. Car tires, why not? Plastic bags? Ditch em. Bottles, cans, motorbikes, toys. Everything and anything one could push into the water seems to end up there. A lady in my local convenience store summed up this ignorant view nicely: “The sea makes a hole and covers it up”. Personally I don´t get it. By it I mean the mentality behind throwing trash anywhere but in a bin.I remember an incident in Goa I`ll never forget. I was cruising through on my rather cool Enfield motorbike and there she was, this young girl in the middle of a luscious jungle village unwrapping an ice cream. Without hiding her intentions she dropped the silvery wrapper and kept on walking. What!? Filled with self riotous rage I  slammed on the brakes, spun the bike around and went back. “Go pick  that up!” She looked at me incredulously and then at her friend. I was having none of it: “Yes, YOU! The paper you just dropped, go get  it”. An elderly women had come out to see what all the fuss was  about. The young girl, seeing that I was quite serious, went back and with an uncomfortable laugh picked up the wrapper, stuffing it in her pocket. What was I doing? Why bother? It´s futile. Littering in some places is practically second nature.Fortunately not everybody shares this defeatist attitude. Believe it or not, there are those out there willing to pick up behind others for fun. Take the fantastic Mallorquin volunteer based organisation Voluntarios Sin Fronteras. This ever increasing group of diving aficionados have banded together with a mission, To rid the seabed of all it´s rubbish one beach at a time. The idea is beautifully simple, Dive, pick up trash, dispose of it correctly and…..wait for it, have a great time. This week I met the group in Manacor. Jordi, a founding member along with thirty five or so divers had planed the cleaning of Porto Cristo beach. In my eyes what makes these gatherings so special is the community spirit they engender. Divers apart, their entourage of women and children, grandmas, and onlookers, quickly turn the event into a fiesta. Folks, that’s were the magic happens. It dosn´t take a genius to realise one is twice as likely to pass on the message of social and ecological responsibility by coating it in fun. You should have seen the screaming children splashing and chasing the divers  into the water. They had a blast, all the while absorbing and witnessing their role models caring for our planet. Compare this dynamic kinetic learning experience to that of a stale classroom and no wonder why kids litter.

Today´s event was extra special due to the presence of none other than the Australian ambassador to Spain, Mrs. McCarthy. May I say what a pleasure is was to make her acquaintance. Australia is a major player in the fight against pollution. Their international Clean up the world campaign has had monumental success. Now in its 19th year, Clean Up the World, held in conjunction with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), mobilizes an estimated 35 million volunteers from 130 countries annually, making it one of the largest community-based environmental campaigns in the world.The campaign brings together businesses, community groups, schools, governments and individuals in a range of activities and programs that positively improve local environments.

In 1989 a solo-yachtsman and builder had a simple idea to make a difference in his own backyard – Sydney Harbor. In 1987, Ian Kiernan AO* competed in the BOC Challenge solo yacht race and as he sailed around-the-world, was shocked by the pollution he continually encountered. Having waited years to see the Sargasso’s legendary long golden weeds, Ian’s anticipation turned to anger and disappointment when he found them polluted and tangled with rubbish. “I can’t overstate the disappointment I felt when I found this sea of magic and myth littered with rubbish from discarded flip flops, plastic buckets and disposable nappies to toothpaste tubes and plastic bags” recalled Ian.

Once back in Sydney, Ian enlisted the help of friends and held Clean Up Sydney Harbour Day (1989) which motivated 40,000 volunteers to remove rusted car bodies, plastics of all kinds, glass bottles and cigarette butts from the harbour. Ian and his committee believed that if a city could be mobilise to take action, then so could the whole nation. Almost 300,000 volunteers turned out on the first Clean Up Australia Day in 1990. The next step was to take the concept of Clean Up Australia Day to the rest of the world. After gaining the support of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Clean Up the World was launched in 1993. http://voluntariossinfronteras.blogspot.com is proud to be a part of  the Clean up the world movement in Spain. If diving is something you do or have wanted to try, go for it. They are always welcoming new volunteers. The only prerequisite is having a diving license which one can get with very little fuss by taking a coarse at www.scubamallorca.com.I must mention that all this was made possible not only by the participation of wonderful volunteers but by the generosity of collaborators and sponsors.