The Salt Lake is So Beautiful, But Now We Don't Deserve It!

Warning: some graphic photos are shared in this article and may cause feelings of discomfort.

Since news of the garbage rampage in Tibet began to spread all over the internet, more tragic photos of beautiful and natural environments buried under trash have been shared on social media, such as some articles we shared last week:

One of China’s latest victims was the Chaka Salt Lake in Qinghai Province, known as one of the nation’s “mirrors of the sky” due to its high concentrations of salt and other minerals which give the water sky-like colors. Sadly, tourist seasons continue to pile more trash onto these sites.

Photo credit：www.albatrossthefilm.com

According to statistics, 12 tons of garbage is cleared from the Chaka Salt Lake site every day, most of which are plastic shoes that had been worn and thrown away by daily visitors.  The bighorns placed on the edge of the salt lake repeated broadcasting "Do not get on the lake, please put garbage in the garbage bins". It seems no one listened… or cared.

The rubbish problem is brought up almost every month. There’s no shortage of breaking news to remind people to protect our environment by disposing of their junk in the appropriate garbage and recycling bins, so why is this particular instance of junk found by the Chaka Salt Lake trending so much online this time around?

On this desert island located 2,000 kilometers away from the land, Chris Jordan picked up a pair of scissors to carefully cut the belly of a bird he had found already lying dead, feathers swaying slightly with the sea breeze.

Chris wanted to understand what had caused this bird to fall to its death, and sadly this case was not the only one. Tens of thousands of albatrosses and their babies are found dead.

One, two, three, four… He carefully counted the plastic products as he pulled each of them out from the belly of the bird, and slowly displayed the plastic parts around the bird.

It’s tragically not uncommon for sea animals and albatrosses to swallow plastic objects that they find in the ocean and on nearby beaches. Unfortunately, none of these objects can be digested nor excreted which ultimately causes animals to feel dehydrated and hungry before chocking and suffering a painful death.

This time around, the beauty of the Chaka Salt Lake island was overthrown by thousands of dead birds which could have easily been avoided had the tourists who keep on visiting this natural site not been so ignorant and disposed of their own trash.

Photo credit：www.albatrossthefilm.com

The stomach of dead albatrosses is filled with a lot of plastic garbage - lighters, bottle caps, plastic sheets, toothbrushes... People must be familiar with these 2 photos - they were taken by Chris Jordan, the famous American environmental photographer.

Photo credit：www.albatrossthefilm.com

Born in an artistic family, Chris kicked off his career as a Law student and worked in a Law firm for more than a decade before resigning and becoming a full-time photographer.

But unlike other photographers, Chris doesn't take photos of beautiful scenery or portraits of people; he focuses solely on trash and uses the power of images to record the most realistic environmental pollution as a way to criticize the state of consumerism worldwide.

Photo credit：www.albatrossthefilm.com

He came to this inaccessible island in the Pacific Ocean thinking he was psychologically prepared. But from the moment he set foot on the island, he felt an immediate sense of shock that left him speechless.

Tens of thousands of albatrosses breed and live here. This white bird, which is up to 1.4 meter in length, looks very docile. They are dressed in gray-haired cubs and look very naive and lively.

As far as the eye can see, you may find it difficult to differentiate the birds from the trash that is lying around. But there is trash. Plenty of it. 

The farther Chris goes, the more sorrow he felt. Countless bodies of young birds were found dead. Some had already begun to decompose and allowed for a much clearer look at all the plastic waste that had been inside them.

Some are still in the process of dying, keeping their mouths open. They struggle to let a sound of distress out. The effort is more than they can handle.

How on earth has all this trash made its way to this island?

Photo credit：www.albatrossthefilm.com

Mothers fly out to the sea in search of food that they can bring back to feed their babies. Unfortunately, a lot of it ends up being a plastic waste as seen in the photo above.

The problem of marine debris is no longer just a “problem”. It’s an environmental catastrophe that keeps on escalating exponentially.

Last year, the British social media and entertainment platform LADbible launched a marine protection initiative in collaboration with the Plastic Ocean Foundation. Together, they reached out to the United Nations to build a garbage island within the designated Pacific garbage area (referring to a large area of trash near the junction of the Pacific Ocean and the Hawaiian coast that’s about the size of a French territory) as the 196th sovereign state in the world.

Not only did they attract hundreds of thousands of supporters online, but they also designed several symbols including national flags, passports, and stamps for this newly founded country. A place made up of trash is as big as a country, so absurd and true.

(The yellow part is the trash area.)

Build up a trash country. Photo credit: hococonnect

Photo credit: www.albatrossthefilm.com

Photos of such tragedies were shared on the Internet and quickly generated a lot of buzzes.

Some online users decided to stop using plastic products because of these photos, while others went further by joining the non-profit organization to contribute to their garbage disposal initiatives.

There are, of course, people who question whether the trash found inside some of those dead albatrosses was junk that had been thrown away by Chris.

He didn't make excuses, just uploaded a video to the web. In the video, he personally dissected the body of a young bird and took out a piece of plastic from its stomach.

In his TED talk, Chris said that these photos are not only a record of facts but also a mirror. This cruel mirror reflects how far human consumerism has gone and the collective negligence of people in the face of uncontrolled industrial growth.

https://v.qq.com/txp/iframe/player.html?vid=t0191jwrryo&width=500&height=375&auto=0

In the TED talk, Chris said that these photos are not only a record of facts but also a mirror. This cruel mirror reflects the human consumerism and the collective negligence of people in the face of uncontrolled industrial growth.

Photo credit: www.albatrossthefilm.com

Chris created a website where records of his and his team's adventures and spiritual journey across the Pacific Ocean can be found:  www.midwayjourney.com

He also hopes to have more photographers join their team.

In addition to shooting albatrosses, Chris has launched a photography series called “Running the Numbers” through which he uses the facts and figures of U.S. consumption as a starting point in the hope of disgusting you.

This is one of Japan's most famous paintings, the Kanagawa surf, yet it is not painted, but rather made up of 2.4 million pieces of plastic waste collected from the Pacific Ocean.

According to estimates, nearly 2.4 million pounds of plastic are thrown out into our beautiful oceans every hour.

Photo credit: http://i.mtime.com

This is an ocean that is filled with plastic bags. 60,000 plastic bags are used every 5 seconds in a country.

Photo credit: http://i.mtime.com

This is the famous painting from the painter Seurat named "Dawan Island Sunday afternoon”. It consists of 106,000 disposed of cans. In a country, the same number of cans is used every half hour.

Photo credit: http://i.mtime.com

A few days ago, photos that had been taken by an Indian photographer also caused quite a stir on the Internet.

In a sea of trash, the photographer used the concept of couples holding hands from the perspective of whoever is taking the photo to depict helplessness and terror rather than love.

Photo credit: www.ansll.com

This looks like a landfill site, right? Wrong… This photographed location used to be one of the most beautiful beaches in India - Juhu Beach. Now it’s filled with trash, next to which stands a residential area. What do you think?

Photo credit: www.ansll.com

Two years ago, local residents took it upon to clean their beach. Despite their best efforts, this is what the area looks like today. What do you think?

Photo credit: www.ansll.com

Photo credit: www.ansll.com

This environmental catastrophe has grown to proportions so ridiculous that waves are now continuously bringing new batches of trash onto this already-polluted beach. It’s become the definition of a junkyard.

This is clearly a worldwide problem.

Just last week, the "sky mirror" tea card Saline Lake, boarded the micro-blog hot search. Both sides of the narrow sightseeing walkway were covered with colorful plastic trash while beautifully-dressed tourists carrying umbrellas were walking around.

Last week, the Salt Lake saw 40,000 tourists visit its site every day which ultimately keeps street sweepers incredibly busy throughout their shift that spans from 7 AM to 8 PM.

The Salt Lake, once named by National Tourism Geographic magazine as one of the 55 places a person must visit before they die, has become a trash yard for tourists.

Countless people have dreamed of wearing a bright red skirt and seeing their reflection on the clear lake with blue sky and white clouds, which they can capture with their cameras and post on their WeChat Moments.

 Photo credit: www.albatrossthefilm.com

Now it seems that we can only take pictures with countless people and countless plastic shoes.

Photo credit: 东方IC

When the video was posted on the Internet, millions of netizens condemned the negligent actions of tourists: "The Salt Lake is so beautiful, but unfortunately, you do not deserve it."

The point I am trying to make is that as a human being, we do not match the beautiful scenery at all.

Photo credit: dlhjslywd.scguangbai.com

Tourists on their way to Tibet come across a yak looking for food in a pile of trash.

Garbage can be found amid the gorgeous snow scenery.

Photo credit: www.albatrossthefilm.com

Photo credit: www.albatrossthefilm.com

While many take it to the internet to complain about this disastrous situation, very few will actually bend down and pick up the trash they see. And that only adds to the existing environmental problems we face: sharing photos and talking about it is a good thing, but it won’t change anything unless we actually do something about it.

Put the trash back where it belongs. In a trash can.

Photo credit: www.albatrossthefilm.com

The climbing season around Mount Everest this year has seen an accumulation of up to tens of thousands of pounds of garbage.

Additionally, there are about 12 tons of excreta here. 70,000 to 100,000 climbers attempt to climb Mount Everest every year. 

Photo credit: www.albatrossthefilm.com

This rubbish and excreta can not only nourish this land but also pollutes the local environment and water sources. Ultimately this polluted water will be drunk by human beings.

5~7 pieces of granule were found inside this fish.

Volunteers near Mount Everest, Tibet, and the sea.

An architect from Colombia, Oscar Mendez Geradino, who used trash as bricks to build houses.

Narayana Peesapati from India invented an edible spoon.

More than 15 million people worldwide are rushed out of stock.

Photo credit: www.albatrossthefilm.com

A girl who has installed 4 years of garbage by using a bottle...

Do you think that these inventions are enough? Not at all!

Putting the hope of solving problems on an unsound system and a small number of actions, it is better to start with yourself.

Respect for the environment, respect the rules and respect yourself.

Don’t turn whatever we have left of beautiful, natural environments into junk that will ultimately cause nothing but death. Please look after our planet and its inhabitants, both humans, and animals.

Photo credit: www.albatrossthefilm.com

Source: Ins优选

Supervisor: Crystal Huang

Editor: SC

Co-Editor: Ed Bellin

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