Poison gas ship’s chemical cargo to be dumped off the west coast.
Upon reading this article, I was reminded of a rather crude but highly apt Afrikaans adage – “It does not help to sh*t on your own front porch”. This is exactly what we are seeing with this reckless and lethal action, right on our oceanic doorstep.
I find it heart-breaking that in the year of Cop26 and the recent victory over Shell’s attempts to prospect for oil and gas, we, as tax paying citizens, are subjected to catastrophic environmental damage to our already fragile marine ecosystem. Just today it was reported in the international media that scientists have warned that we have passed safe limits of chemical pollution of our global ecosystems.
I quote from their study in the refereed scientific journal Environmental Science & Technology:
“We submit that the safe operating space of the planetary boundary of novel entities is exceeded since annual production and releases are increasing at a pace that outstrips the global capacity for assessment and monitoring. The novel entities boundary in the planetary boundaries framework refers to entities that are novel in a geological sense and that could have large-scale impacts that threaten the integrity of Earth system processes.”
– Environmental Science & Technology
Who gave permission to the ship to dump these lethal chemicals off our shores? Was there any hint of public participation in this process, since it is our constitutional right to live in a healthy environment.
I wish to urge all concerned citizens to vociferously oppose this reckless action. This is the time for us to come together and show the authorities concerned that we will simply not take this lying down. If we do not act soon, and together, the damage to our marine ecosystem will be catastrophic and permanent.
