Human Detritus

Following my last journal entry with a photographic exploration of some of the more obvious junk we throw into the worlds circulation system, I can't help but ask, "Are we like a disease?"

I constantly take photographs and use them in the art process, and in my art work, though I don't pretend to be a great photographer. These particular photographs may be interestingly composed with nice brown and gray tones and strong contrast because of an extremely bright sun blasting our beach in late spring. However, all the manmade objects in them, plastic and otherwise, were found within a few paces of one another on our south Florida stretch of sand, and all on the same day. The beach was covered with plastic items, old articles of clothing and fishing apparatus. It is hard to know where all the worn manmade junk came from because we know that what washes out is transported around the world and washes in somewhere else.

Never the less, some days when my partner and I walk on the beach we see people leave their trash behind as they gather their towels and chairs to go. Amazingly, the trashcan and recycling bin is on the path that leads through the coconut palms and off the beach. I’ve been known to walk to groups on the beach and pick up the scattered new trash around them while they watch, probably a futile act on my part. Interestingly, folks in Rehoboth Beach and in Lewes Delaware pick up after themselves more often than not. Why do these two sets of beach goers from different parts of the same country behave so differently? I know what the local response here in south Florida would be. "Oh, it’s those other people," and my reaction to that is a resounding NO! It is any/all types of people. And, we need a public campaign to get people to pick up after themselves. The book of Genesis says that we were given “dominion” over the earth, and with dominion comes responsibility.
Yes, God is in the details, and here in south Florida we need to stop passing blame, and be responsible.