The holy cow & the polythene bag! Photo

Photographer’s Note

I could not fathom the issue of abandoned polythene bags which were strewn all over the floor, to be eaten by our indespensible holy cows...

ATTACK OF THE POLYTHENE BAG!
Every year, around 500 billion plastic bags are used worldwide. So many that over one million bags are being used every minute and they're damaging our environment. India's plastics consumption is one of the highest in the world. Yet, precious little has been done to recycle, re-use and dispose of plastic waste. Plastic bags are difficult and costly to recycle and most end up on landfill sites where they take around 300 years to photo degrade. They break down into tiny toxic particles that contaminate the soil and waterways and enter the food chain when animals accidentally ingest them. But the problems surrounding waste plastic bags starts long before they photo degrade. Our planet is becoming increasingly contaminated by our unnecessary use of plastic carry bags. Big black bin liners, plastic carrier bags carrying advertising logos, clear sandwich bags, vegetable bags and a variety of other forms used to carry our daily food items and other items are all polluting our environment. Just take a look around you. Plastic bags can be seen hanging from the branches of trees, flying in the air on windy days, settled amongst bushes and floating on rivers. They clog up gutters and drains causing water and sewage to overflow and become the breeding grounds of germs and bacteria that cause diseases.

Animals and sea creatures are hurt and killed every day by discarded plastic bags - a dead turtle with a plastic bag hanging from its mouth isn't a pleasant sight but mistaking plastic bags for food is commonplace amongst marine animals. Plastic clogs their intestines and leads to slow starvation. Others become entangled in plastic bags and drown. Because plastic bags take hundreds of years to break down, every year our seas become 'home' to more and more bags that find their way there through our sewers and waterways. Given India's poor garbage collection facilities, tons of plastic bags litter the roads, preventing rainwater from seeping into the ground. Hundreds of cows die in New Delhi alone every year when they choke on plastic bags while trying to eat vegetable waste stuffed in the garbage.

Every bag that's washed down a drain during rainfall ends up in the sea every bag that's flushed down a toilet, ends up in the sea - every bag that’s blown into a river will most likely end up in the sea. Besides choking drains, plastics are highly toxic. When burned they release cancer-causing gases.

Polythene bags find their way in gut of cattle, asphyxiating the animals. The cheap bags contain chemicals such as cadmium- or lead-based chemicals that are harmful to health. They leach into vegetables, meat and food.

...please see the rest of the text here.

postvikram, cobraphil8, shiva_sg, RADEEH, scotthosner, Aazragi, vts_ch, MissTrish, mugush, KevRyan, ramesh_lalwani, nethrafotos, Luan, bnallama, axiotea, yanseiler, drewkaya has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

cobraphil8 (11652) 2006-03-08 5:11

Very good note on the dangers caused by the proliferation of all these
plastic bags. Highly that those are prohibited and initially optimized
(weights compared to their uses, and materials used).

And then the photograph is rather usual of an Indian street as one can
think it.

Good work
--------------------
Très bonne note sur les dangers causés par la prolifération de tous ces sacs plastiques.
Vivement que ceux-ci soient interdits et dans un premier temps optimisés (poids par rapport à leurs utilisations, et matériaux utilisés).

Et puis la photo est assez habituelle d'une rue indienne comme on peut se l'imaginer.

Bon travail

philippe

[2]

shiva_sg (600) 2006-03-08 5:27

Hi Kajal,

The composition of the picture is nice and the sharpness is good. More than your picture, I am interested in your fantastic note.

It is really a pity state here in India. The west has introduced the plastic culture in India and we are still carrying on it, while the west has stopped them. As you said India is one of the largest consumers of plastic. Widespread awareness has to be created to get rid of this. Though there is some awareness among urban people, these plastics are finding its way towards the rural India.

Traditionally grocery shops and other shops were using paper bags or paper cones for packing. But because of the ease of use they are using polythene bags. They are not bothered about the danger it poses to the society.

Not only polythene bags, plastic is dumped in India through various modes, including cheap plastic toys. These low grade plastic toys are hazardous to health. Though the government has banned plastics by principle, it has not been enforced.

I strictly make is a practice to take my own paper/jute/cloth bags while going out for shopping.

Thanks for the note..!!

Siva

[2] +

marietom (32076) 2006-03-08 11:29

inattendu... et génial, du coup !
Marie

postvikram (1199) 2006-03-08 15:34

Kajal,

Great Note.Poor souls.. we have been coexisting with Plastic.Hope it ends soon. In india many hill stations have banned he use of Plastic bags.Bigger cities are yet to bring a law like that.Hope they do very soon. The earth is warming up. And the weather all over had a change this year.

Regards
Vikram

RADEEH (2772) 2006-03-08 20:24

I dont have words to praise your eye.
A very common view in Indian roads, but the way you have composed is fantastic.
The old bajaj scooter symbol of indian roads , bamboo broom, wooden foldable doors,posters of some holy men,and the back side of two holy cows. I can read your mind when you were shooting this view.

And about the concern in the note, things are changing , in many parts of the country plastics are banned.

Congratulations. Great work .

scotthosner (63) 2006-03-09 0:57

Nice juxtaposition. Great notes. My sentiments exactly. I thought about doing a performance art piece about plastic bags, at an actual grocery store checkout line. Maybe I will someday hehe.

Aazragi (1916) 2006-03-09 2:08

Hi Kajal
Nice sharp shot, well composed and great use of light. And the greatest one is you note. Well done and keep it up.

With all my Best wishes 4 You.
Latif.

vts_ch (2624) 2006-03-09 16:09

I mean what you are doing here is just great, trying to make people change, by explaining the reality. You are the best and I thank you for what you are involved in. I am part of active Greenpeace team, trying to make a better world, also part of an ecological political party in my town. I know how hard it is to make people mind change, fighting days after days. But I feel the change comming (at least in my country), and I believe some major changes will occur within 10 years, and it is a real good thing. Please Kaj, keep on doing what you are doing, learning from others is much stronger than learning from ourselfs. Selfishness (sorry for the spelling) is the cancer of this worls, IT HAS TO CHANGE.
Bravo.

[2] +

MissTrish (213) 2006-03-10 7:04

Hi
I have enjoyed how your photographs are progressing and I'm really impressed with your notes as they add alot of value. I agree with radeeh as the composition is excellent and thankyou for bringing the environmental issue to my attention as its easy to forget how dangerous plastic bags can be.
Keep up the good work
Trish

mugush (2088) 2006-03-10 17:36

Wow Kajal.I observed kai you are good at daily life's picture, fantastic. and your note is awsome...5 thumbs up for this effort..
thanks for sharing
Love
mugush
PS: now you are my fav.artist.

KevRyan (22418) 2006-03-10 19:58

A nice urban capture Kajal and a very appropriate note - beautiful tone and colour to your image - fantastic shot of everyday life on the streets of Surat - last time i was there a man died and rolled onto the road in front of me - so it's kind of memorable!

We are near TE neighbours - I live in Loughborough - I was at Gateway College just this morning giving a talk about photography and showing Claude Renault's photographs from India and some of my own studio work. If any time in the future you want to get together photographically just let me know - quite a few of us here are meeting now - Richard Gatward on here lives in Thurmaston - he's quite active too. Do you know other photographers here from Leicester?

best wishes Kev

bishansamaddar (862) 2006-03-10 22:56

well, i was attracted to this photo for it's spic-and-span composition, and the beauty of the light that renders the colours so naturally warm, but then when i read the note, i realized that there's so much more to it. this is a very different, and commendable, approach ot photography, where you integrate your aesthetics with your ideology.
great work. congrats :)

ramesh_lalwani (3209) 2006-03-11 11:13

Hi Kajal
I am impressed by very detailed note.Issue is of concern to all muncipalties particularly for ill fed stray cattle.About photo you have captured the cows and wall nicely.
Ramesh

nethrafotos (376) 2006-03-11 23:06

Great note on the plastic bags, congratulations.
Microwaving food in plastic containers should be avoided as the plasticizers leach out and are a major cause for concern- as they cause cancers. Plasticizers are major environmental estrogens called as 'xenostrogens'.

Imam

Luan (15935) 2006-03-12 15:46

Hello Kajal,
funny scene, these cows eat everything, I like them, so peacefull. It is the fisrt time I see such a scooter in India.
Well done and excellent note about the pollution, a real problem in India
Luan

Shakespear (636) 2006-03-17 0:41

A complete pic. Very well seen and captured.

-Devjit-

touristdidi (8561) 2006-03-20 10:54 [Comment]

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ngythanh (8496) 2006-04-06 6:13

I admire your capture, and learn a lot from your note. Both of them make my day.

Thank you,

Thanh

sq10095 (107) 2006-04-10 1:07

hi, very interresing look on this pic of the old vespa and cows. nice color and great shadow effect. nice job A+A+A+

martin

partha (13667) 2006-04-24 5:00

beautiful composition. Nice colourtone.
very good work.
Partha

drewkaya (86) 2006-05-06 14:21

Great shot. Fantastic note. Thanks for taking the time to provide that info here. When I visited Morocco about 10 years ago, of course they had plastic bags. But the majority of the bags were smallish black ones. They were very light and would blow everywhere. They would get stuck up in trees. In the country where the landscape is more stark it would stand out. My friends (who were Moroccan) called them Moroccan flowers. While funny, its sad. This of course is not only a problem in Morocco... just my little story.
Just bought a nice hemp shopping bag last week after the old one died. So easy to keep it in the backpack.. and saves tons of bags. If only more people would take that super simple step!