Dirt and polution or fake news?

[CaribeDigital]

The monthly VOUGE has presented on its August cover the photo of polution in Samana, DR.
What do you guys think: are we living a poluted country? Does this picture show a reality of a beachgoers or it is a rare exception?

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[Andre14615]

I was online on Facebook reading people complaining about this but the truth hurts. Take a walk down the malecon in Santo Domingo and all you'll see is trash in what should be one of the prettiest places in the city.

Take a stroll through Naco and look at it empty lot and all you see is trash everywhere.

I hope these large publications continue to shame them until they change their ways

 

[El Rey de Mangu]

I was online on Facebook reading people complaining about this but the truth hurts. Take a walk down the malecon in Santo Domingo and all you'll see is trash in what should be one of the prettiest places in the city.

Take a stroll through Naco and look at it empty lot and all you see is trash everywhere.

I hope these large publications continue to shame them until they change their ways

Well Andre90210 you are correct sadly enough. My experience is that locals are inherent litterbugs. My first "cuñada" And I were in her car on the Cross Bronx years ago she rolled down the window and threw an empty liter bottle of coca cola out the window like it was second nature. I can't tell you how.many times I've see water bottles , 5 peso papita bags, mint wrappers go straight to the ground. Throwing trash out the window on the guagua Is also commonplace. Very sad

 

[Chirimoya]

It's a sad reality and the truth does hurt.

If a beach isn't cleaned regularly this is what it will look like, and litterers are only part of the problem. It's also true that some of the plastic is washed up by the tide and does not necessarily all come from the Dominican Republic itself. Other islands, the continental mainland, and shipping are also responsible for part of this waste.

The photographer makes it clear that she is highlighting a global problem, but I still see some Dominicans attributing it to a supposed smear campaign against the country. This is a kneejerk reaction, a reluctance to take responsibility for a problem that needs to be addressed urgently. Not just by cleaning beaches more regularly, but by reducing consumption of plastics and foam, doing more to educate the population and strictly penalising litterers once and for all.

You just have to see the trash along the roadsides and central reservation of the highway to and from Punta Cana airport, and the taxi and tourist transport rest stops. Tourists are repelled by this kind of thing and you hear those comments all the time.

My son said: As much as it bothers me to see a photo like this being published, it's worse that a photo like this can be taken. We have to look after our country and keep it clean if we want to live from tourism.

Also worth pointing out that the photographer also submitted some beautiful images of unspoiled scenery from the Dominican Republic.

 

[chico bill]

It is my number one complaint about the DR. People here would crap on their own floor if the toilet quits working.

Trash is everywhere - you seen it tossed from taxis and motos and micro buses. Groups go to the beach and leave piles of trash behind even though trash barrels are stationed nearby, on their way out. construction workers leave their Styrofoam containers and water bottles wherever they sit to eat.

Most Dominicans won't pay 500 pesos a month for trash service so they toss their household waste in the nearest vacant lot.
Too bad - think how nice the rivers might be and the rest of the natural beauty here if people learned to respect the environment.

I could walk around a few blocks here and fill 5 full size pickup trucks and still have trash left over.

Don't give cover by saying something so stupid like "Well it's their country, so quit being critical" because most of the rest of the civilized world has learned to respect the environment at least by not polluting with common trash.
Latin America is three or four decades behind

 

[Andre14615]

It's a sad reality and the truth does hurt.

If a beach isn't cleaned regularly this is what it will look like, and litterers are only part of the problem. It's also true that some of the plastic is washed up by the tide and does not necessarily all come from the Dominican Republic itself. Other islands, the continental mainland, and shipping are also responsible for part of this waste.

The photographer makes it clear that she is highlighting a global problem, but I still see some Dominicans attributing it to a supposed smear campaign against the country. This is a kneejerk reaction, a reluctance to take responsibility for a problem that needs to be addressed urgently. Not just by cleaning beaches more regularly, but by reducing consumption of plastics and foam, doing more to educate the population and strictly penalising litterers once and for all.

You just have to see the trash along the roadsides and central reservation of the highway to and from Punta Cana airport, and the taxi and tourist transport rest stops. Tourists are repelled by this kind of thing and you hear those comments all the time.

My son said: As much as it bothers me to see a photo like this being published, it's worse that a photo like this can be taken. We have to look after our country and keep it clean if we want to live from tourism.

Also worth pointing out that the photographer also submitted some beautiful images of unspoiled scenery from the Dominican Republic.

This is a great post but I still believe 85% of the problem is the Dominican mindset. I've literally seen them throw trash on the ground when a garbage can was nearby. And nobody cares but us gringos! I believe heavy fines are the answer.

 

[Andre14615]

It is my number one complaint about the DR.

Agreed! Its truly the thing that I hate the most. I often have to remind myself that I'm a person from Western NY and it isn't my fight as an illegal alien. But it takes everything in me not to say anything when I see it happen on a daily basis.

 

[El Rey de Mangu]

It is my number one complaint about the DR. People here would crap on their own floor if the toilet quits working.

Trash is everywhere - you seen it tossed from taxis and motos and micro buses. Groups go to the beach and leave piles of trash behind even though trash barrels are stationed nearby, on their way out. construction workers leave their Styrofoam containers and water bottles wherever they sit to eat.

Most Dominicans won't pay 500 pesos a month for trash service so they toss their household waste in the nearest vacant lot.
Too bad - think how nice the rivers might be and the rest of the natural beauty here if people learned to respect the environment.

I could walk around a few blocks here and fill 5 full size pickup trucks and still have trash left over.

Don't give cover by saying something so stupid like "Well it's their country, so quit being critical" because most of the rest of the civilized world has learned to respect the environment at least by not polluting with common trash.
Latin America is three or four decades behind

I was on a project in San Cristóbal a while back. My commute was Dominican Fiesta to SC on 6th Nov highway. We had to make a jug handle to get to the office on the jug handle was where all the morning commuters dumped their trash. So embarrassing and shameful

 

[bienamor]

yes they throw trash in the empty lots, out the windows of cars an buses. All the while washing the front steps and sidewalk in front of their house, even if they have to sweep the gutter down to the neighbors! And the inside of their houses a spic an span even if they have a dirt floor. If they have yard that will also be swept and clean. Makes you wonder sometimes what's going on in their minds

 

[El Rey de Mangu]

yes they throw trash in the empty lots, out the windows of cars an buses. All the while washing the front steps and sidewalk in front of their house, even if they have to sweep the gutter down to the neighbors! And the inside of their houses a spic an span even if they have a dirt floor. If they have yard that will also be swept and clean. Makes you wonder sometimes what's going on in their minds

Classic NIMBY

 

[El Rey de Mangu]

I'm going to go to my Father's day meal now with this thought to leave the group. No pic of a water bottle and a dried up coconut that silly Vogue published can compare to the gross negligence of pollution to Cabarete Bay. I was so looking forward to the beautiful waters of famous Cabarete lol. The smells, floating garbage just the topper. If you swim at all, you have swam out far enough like me to smell the raw sewerage. I had to vomit in my mouth a few times. Now, with Lifestyles timeshare vacation mafia, you can get all the pooling of the polluted waters in that stagnate end of the beach. Members earlier mentioned experience with the area to post. How bout them apples? Folks, don't let your kids swim at Cab beaches!

 

[CaribeDigital]

Solution...?
What do you guys think: authorise the police to cash up to 500 pesos multa for littering with, say, 40% going to the cop legally.

 

[bob saunders]

It is my number one complaint about the DR. People here would crap on their own floor if the toilet quits working.

Trash is everywhere - you seen it tossed from taxis and motos and micro buses. Groups go to the beach and leave piles of trash behind even though trash barrels are stationed nearby, on their way out. construction workers leave their Styrofoam containers and water bottles wherever they sit to eat.

Most Dominicans won't pay 500 pesos a month for trash service so they toss their household waste in the nearest vacant lot.
Too bad - think how nice the rivers might be and the rest of the natural beauty here if people learned to respect the environment.

I could walk around a few blocks here and fill 5 full size pickup trucks and still have trash left over.

Don't give cover by saying something so stupid like "Well it's their country, so quit being critical" because most of the rest of the civilized world has learned to respect the environment at least by not polluting with common trash.
Latin America is three or four decades behind

Nobody but businesses in Jarabacoa pay for garbage pickup and there are a number of drop off stations in every part of town where they pick up daily, and those places have barrels. People still throw their garbage everywhere. In the school years we will have four or five containers out and it will still take the cleaner half an hour to get all the stuff thrown on the ground. Depends on what teacher is out there with them. Several teachers make the children pick up their messes. I have caught some children throwing garbage over the wall into the neighbours or on to the street. I make them clean whatever garbage is out there, not just theirs. I think the fact that there are street cleaners actually contributes to the problem because people realize somebody else is going to clean it up.

 

[bob saunders]

yes they throw trash in the empty lots, out the windows of cars an buses. All the while washing the front steps and sidewalk in front of their house, even if they have to sweep the gutter down to the neighbors! And the inside of their houses a spic an span even if they have a dirt floor. If they have yard that will also be swept and clean. Makes you wonder sometimes what's going on in their minds

Described very accurately.

 

[NanSanPedro]

Solution...?
What do you guys think: authorise the police to cash up to 500 pesos multa for littering with, say, 40% going to the cop legally.

saturate the media with PSAs from Dominican celebrities advising that littering is ugly and unhealthy. Do it for a long time. Start shaming those that litter.

 

[Auryn]

I remember being on lunch supervision at a prestigious private school when I worked there. A group of Grade 10 kids that I taught always sat in the same spot. On one of my first days, one of them stood up and left a pile of food wrappers from his lunch. I went over and told him to pick it up and he looked at me and said “That’s the cleaners jobs”. Lol. He picked it up.
All of them were aware of the issue, but many didn’t have ideas for helping, or believed it should be the problem of “the help”. And with very, very few exceptions, the students there were fantastic kids.
This problem is not just created by the poor and uneducated.

 

[irishpaddy]

Well Andre90210 you are correct sadly enough. My experience is that locals are inherent litterbugs. My first "cuñada" And I were in her car on the Cross Bronx years ago she rolled down the window and threw an empty liter bottle of coca cola out the window like it was second nature. I can't tell you how.many times I've see water bottles , 5 peso papita bags, mint wrappers go straight to the ground. Throwing trash out the window on the guagua Is also commonplace. Very sad

what did you say to her when she threw the bottle out of the car ?

 

[El Rey de Mangu]

what did you say to her when she threw the bottle out of the car ?

So many moons ago but I think "don't you dare do that in my presence ever again you dirty ----"

 

[Cdn_Gringo]

All the posts say the same thing, yes the DR is a dirty country and littering occurs everywhere. The remote beaches that aren't maintained by a close by resort are usually a mess.

 

[Joseph NY2STI]

Solution...?
What do you guys think: authorise the police to cash up to 500 pesos multa for littering with, say, 40% going to the cop legally.

Fines can be effective at modifying behavior, but pesos can't pick up the garbage. Perhaps putting the offender on litter patrol for a day or two (or three) would work. Want to really drive home the point? Have the men do it in pink skirts.

I was in grade school when the first "earth day" happened. We were taught at a very early age that pollution is a problem and that littering is not only disgusting, but also a sin! Yes, catholic school, but it's true and it worked. To this day I'll put a tissue or candy wrapper in my pocket if there's no garbage pail around.