A stunning photograph of a shot-eared owl stares at you from the Yamuna bank. Look closer and the background piled with plastic waste comes into view. This tweet by Goldy Rajiv Santhoji (@goldsant) with the hashtag #SayNo2Plastic is part of his initiative on World of Wilds (@WorldofWilds), a platform which he founded on Twitter in February this year year. He resurrected the #SayNo2Plastic campaign that he started sometime in October last year on Earth Day to highlight plastic pollution in the wild. Some of his earlier campaigns put the spotlight on disappearing habitats like #WoWWetlands and #WoWGrasslands.
The objective is to keep the conversation going on wildlife and treasure and conserve the beauty of flora and fauna,says Goldy. He is thankful to Vivek Menon and Rupa Gandhi of Wildlife Trust of India (@wti_org_india) for their support in the campaign which asked the twitterati to post photographs of nature and wildlife clicked in surroundings polluted with plastic waste with the hashtag #SayNo2Plastic. “We want to reach out to the younger generation and motivate them to save the environment. One of our followers Samarrth Khanna is a 19-year-old. He, along with his friends has created a natural habitat, a mini forest out of wasteland.”
Samarrth’s (@SamarrthK) photograph of the rare and elusive jungle cat can be seen feeding on trash and leftovers from a garbage dump next to a forest near Ranthambore National Park. “I also spotted the jungle babblers referred to as the seven sisters often seen in a group of five or seven. The babblers are curious, aggressive and talkative birds. I saw them foraging an empty chips packet. How do plastics end up in restricted forest zone?,” asks Samarrth who is an ecologist. “What we need is responsible handling of plastic wastes and care for Nature with a sense of belonging.”
Arun Kamath (@incognito) posts a Eurasian curlew foraging on plastic waste on the river bank and draws attention to the fact that “plastic is killing more than 1.1 million seabirds and animals every year.” His photograph of the Red headed ibis clicked at Yamuna base at Amirpur, Faridabad exposes the enormity of damage done by plastics. “It is disheartening...the kind of havoc we have wreaked on the environment,” says Arun who works with a logistics firm in Gurugram and is a hobbyist who goes bird watching over the weekends. “Most birding hotspots along the NCR have turned into an eye sore. Reduce, reuse, recyle and replace plastic with eco-friendly alternatives, is the way forward.”
Vivek Raghuvanshi (@vivekramkaran) captures a rarely seen bull frog swimming along with plastic bags and an Indian robin (male) perched amidst a growing mound of plastic cups. “It is alarming. The waste can choke birds and marine life.” Hemant Kirola (@kirola_hemant) talks of how birders spotted uncommon birds along Manjawli near Yamuna. “Lesser short-toed lark, Hume’s short-toed lark, common shelduck, and grey plover can be seen here. Now the habitat is ruined.”
- #InOurFilth instagram project curated by Cara Tejpal and Prachi Galange of Sanctuary Nature Foundation invited photographers from across India to submit images that showed the impact of garbage on the nation’s wild species. The images show wild animals in polluted surroundings. For example, a tiger cub at Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve picks up a plastic, gunny bag, a lion-tailed macaque in Valparai rips into a plastic packet filled with curry, a wild elephant at Siliguri scavenges for food at a garbage heap, and a checkered keelback catches a meal in a filthy water body in Dharwad, Karnataka. To know more, visit the instagram page @sanctuaryasia
Goldy points out that eight million tonnes of plastic waste escapes into the ocean from coastal nations with rivers playing the role of conveyor belts. “Annually, the amount of plastic choking the seas is equivalent to setting five garbage bags full of trash at every foot distance along the coastline around the world, according to National Geographic figures. When plastic flows down the river, it breaks into micro particles and makes its way to the food cycle.”
It was a visit to the Yamuna was as a wake-up call to speak up against plastic pollution, says Goldy. “The river is reduced to a drain. Birds like waders flock the river base to feed on crustaceans like crabs and lobsters and other small organisms that breed there. Birds are still coming, but for how long?”
