Editorial, Geoscience Education Email: [email protected] Once again the team of Geoscience Education (GE), coordinated by Dr. Subhronil Mondal, Ishita Das and M.Sc. first year students of the Department of Geology, University of Calcutta has taken the lead to clean another famous beach of Orissa – Chandipur as their continuous effort to make our beaches clean as it used to be. The Chandipur beach is a very hot destination for tourists from all over India. Every year this beach conducts the famous Chandipur Beach Festival for three days. More than one lakh people visit this beach during the festival time. Moreover, this beach also hosts many endangered species including the red crab (Ocypode spp.), horseshoe crabs, and sea turtles, along with hundreds of exotic marine organisms. Unfortunately, for the last few decades, the beach has become a nightmare for nature lovers, and the organisms, as the beach has become a heap of enormous garbage. This time the GE team of more than 30 members visited the place and cleaned a portion of the beach just before the beach festival. This initiative also documented the nature of pollutants/waste which were scattered along the beach. It also enabled the team to understand which factors/sources are the main culprits behind the nasty nature of beach pollution (Figure-1). GE team observed that the beach was infested with non-degradable items like plastics of various formats such as packets of various sizes, bottles, cups and glasses, and ice-cream cups, among many other degradable wastes, like casks of coconut, burnt wood, etc. A quantification of an area of about 500 square meters reveals the following data (Figure 1, 2): The results suggest that the waste concentration is quite high in the beach, which can also be seen from the figures. The GE team is planning to use this database to document the source of these waste producers, so that the actual culprits can be identified, educated, and trained. More works need to be conducted to better train local people and continue this awareness initiative.
Let’s make our beaches clean like it used to be and enjoy the beauty of nature. Let’s work together and make a team. If you think you can help us with your ideas and views please write us at [email protected]
4 Comments
Megha Battoo
2/9/2017 09:24:39 pm
This is really a serious issue and we need to pay attention to this. Keeping our environment clean should be our prior responsibility, as soon or later its going to affect us and other living organisms in a bad way if proper measurements are not taken.
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2/9/2017 10:25:03 pm
Please spread the awareness and try to contribute in this agenda.
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Sandip Choudhuri
2/13/2017 11:10:21 pm
"Cleanliness is next to godliness"...Our effort to keep clean our surroundings will reamin active always.
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rameshwar roy
9/7/2020 04:35:46 pm
we all should practise it regularly like daily habit which you have done and showed
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