Throughout the past three weeks, I've done many activities such as surfing, snorkeling, participating in a traditional Portuguese dance class, and even cooking with the local grannies in Portugal! In the end, if I had to choose, my favorite activity would be the beach clean-up we did during the second week. The beach clean-up wasn't only fun, but it was very eye-opening about the trash left on the beaches.
For the beach clean up, we were on a beach, Cova do Vapor. The beach was previously really popular since it's across from the Lisbon city center and was very accessible since there was a ferry that brought them over. Over time, the beach became less popular, but the amount of trash that remained on the beach was still consistently growing. When we arrived at the beach, we thought the beach was relatively clean, but that all changed when we started the clean up. There was a surprising amount of litter in the sand and even some coming into from the ocean (they were hard to see, but still present). For around an hour and a half, we walked around trying to pick up as much trash as possible. We found many plastic cups, tiles (which we initially thought were rocks), straws, plastic wrapping, and even a jacket! In the end, my group and I were able to pick up a bag and a half in large trash bags. We also recorded a great deal of styrofoam and lollipop sticks. After the beach clean up, the program leaders and directors hosted an art contest to see which group couldn't With the choices we were given (from the trash we found) and the amount of time we were given, my group and I were able to make a turtle out of some rope, bottle caps, a lid(?), plastic cups, and a deflated beach ball we found. It was pretty amazing to see what the other groups came up and, even, at what they used (someone had a part of a surfboard). At the end of the day, we pulled through and won the art contest!
I found this one of the best activities that I've done during my three weeks in Portugal since it was satisfying to give help out the environment. It was also an extremely eye opening activity because looking at the beach, you wont really notice anything big, but once you start looking, you start picking up pieces one right after another and it's endless! There were also TONS of micro-plastics (plastic that's less than 5 mm long) which really shows what happens to the plastic that's thrown in the water. Many sources say it'll take hundreds of years for plastic to decompose, but what they really mean is for when it will become a micro-plastic since it just degrades over time. I was extremely grateful to be able to participate in this and I couldn't wait to what was to come afterwards!
--
Veronica Wu
Commentaires