Land of Garbage

Yesterday I waded into the knee-deep waters rushing through the city streets of Hue. I was awaiting the arrival of my bus to Hoi An and marveling at the river that formed on the city streets because of the night’s rain. And as I sat there gawking at the torrent, I became a bit depressed. The capacity of the Vietnamese to destroy their own environment is limitless. Frankly, it’s not just them. The whole region is guilty.

I first noticed how bad the trash-lined streets of Saigon were when the sun came up on my first day of this trip. Shop keepers throw their trash into the streets to dispose of wrappers, plastic bags, cigarette boxes, and food remnants. Empty lots–which are few and far between in the big cities–serve as local dumps and contain heaps of garbage like uncovered landfills in the states. Dogs, cows, goats and vermin pick through these areas and the trash covers the sidewalks and spills into the streets. This scene is repeated in every town and city in the countries I’ve visited. And even the sparsely populated countryside is infected with the waste of civilization.

I thought I had been inured to this shock by the time I got to Hue. But as I stood in that raging street river, I watched shop keepers come out and up-end their trash cans in the street. With the river running so fast, their trash was instantly removed from their door step. Out of sight, out of mind, right? Not so much.

The streets are running to the rivers, of course. And the rivers are running out to sea. So, where is all that trash going? Our bus stopped at a small village between Hue and Hoi An that sat on a harbor. I took the short walk to look at the water and was horrified at what I saw. The beach was made of trash. Let me be clear here: I don’t mean that there was trash on the beach. I meant that the waves lapped up on nothing but trash. For as far as I could see to my left and right there wasn’t a single visible spot of land being touched by water. And as far into the water as I could see where trash bags, tires, old appliances and motors, paint cans and bottles, and all the detritus of the town.

But that harbor was particularly infected for being protected from the strength of the natural tides. On the other side of the city, where the green waters of the Tonkin Gulf crash to land, trash covers the sand like spots on a cheetah. It’s not entirely a beach of trash, but its not water anyone would want to get in our lie near. It’s on the beaches of south east Asia and the floating trash island twice the side of Texas that the planet is suffering from everyone’s carelessness and the specific recklessness of this region.

But what would they do with the trash if they didn’t throw it to sea? They’d burn it. On city corners and in outside of towns in the countryside there are massive trash piles smoldering as fresh garbage is thrown on top. In Asia its either the sea of the air. Pick one.

Why are we westerners even bothering to recycle? What good can a few hundred million Americans do when billions and billions and Asians from India to China are destroying the planet? I do believe that its on the beaches of Vietnam that I’ve come to realize how much trouble we’re in.