Please invest in Our Daily Planet today, by making a one time or monthly contribution.
We do not charge our readers a subscription fee for our content. We want to continue to grow our readership, particularly among millennials and public servants. Voluntary contributions from readers will help us employ interns and freelance journalists, expand our content, and reach a larger audience.
If you make a contribution of $150 or more, you will become an official “Friend of the Planet” and receive a Friend of the Planet T-shirt or water bottle.
Our Daily Planet is a daily morning email (M-F) to keep you informed of the stories shaping our environment. If these issues matter to you, we’d like to be the best ten minutes of your morning.
Last month, a Japanese-owned ship ran aground off the coast of Mauritius, causing over 1,000 tons of oil to leak into the sea. Last week, Mauritius residents “stuffed fabric sacks with sugar cane leaves” in order to create “makeshift oil spill barriers,” as CBS News reported earlier this week, and even cutting off their hair to soak up oil. Now, the Prime Minister of Mauritius Pravind Jugnauth is predicting the worst. According to Al Jazeera, the Prime Minister said, “The cracks have grown. The situation is even worse. The risk of the boat breaking in half still exists.”
Why was the vessel so close to Mauritius to begin with? As Julian Lee and Adeola Eribake reported for Bloomberg, geography is part of the answer. They write, “Mauritius and the nearby island of Reunion lie on the shortest straight-line route between the Strait of Malacca, which links the ports of Asia to the Indian Ocean, and the southern tip of Africa.” This means that it is a very desirable route servicing manufacturing centers, research-rich regions, and markets. As such, global shipping lanes, particularly through Mauritius, have become increasingly crowded and putting coastal communities increasingly at risk for spills.
Many, as Forbes reported, are asking follow-up questions about how the spill occurred, whether or not it could be prevented, and what should be done now. According to Nishan Degnarain in Forbes, the satellite data “raises questions about why the vessel’s GPS tracking did not indicate it was heading towards an impact with land, or why local authorities did not intervene with sufficient warning, given the clear trajectory with the island.”
In response to this slow response, and despite the government ordering people to stay away from the spill, local volunteers started making makeshift barriers and cleaning up the beaches. As environmental activist Ashok Subron told AFP news agency, “People have realised that they need to take things into their hands. We are here to protect our fauna and flora.” And sadly, Vassen Kauppaymuthoo, an oceanographer and environmental engineer, told AFP news agency, “I think it’s already too late.”
The Global Response
Already, other countries are working to help Mauritius contain the spill. France, according to the BBC, dispatched a military aircraft, as well as a naval vessel and technical advisors, to contribute to the containment efforts. Japan, from whose country the ship originated, shared that it would send a team to help as well.
The shipping operating company said on Sunday that it would “make all-out efforts to resolve the case.” And yet, as Al Jazeera reported, “some fear the damage is already done.” As environmental activists noted to the newspaper, “Thick muck has coated mangrove forests and unspoiled inlets up and down the coastline, exacting irreparable harm and undoing years of painstaking conservation work.”
By Natasha Lasky, ODP Staff Writer Cities across the US are transitioning their buildings to clean energy, which would mean banning natural gas in new construction and promoting electric appliances. But the question remains whether or not infrastructure — foundational and historic — is ready to handle such a demand for electricity. Why this […]
As more people around the nation are taking to the roads and skies for their vaccinated vacations, one car rental company is making it easier for folks to not only travel in style, but travel green. Hertz has announced that it will be purchasing 100,000 Tesla electric vehicles by the end of 2022 alongside an […]
By Ashira Morris, ODP Staff Writer Last year, the average American household experienced eight hours without power, as storms hammered electrical systems built with less erratic climate conditions in mind. That average outage time is double what it was five years ago. But only looking at the average obscures the experience of people who lived […]
Subscribe to the email that top lawmakers, renowned scientists, and thousands of concerned citizens turn to each morning for the latest environmental news and analysis.
Want the lastest climate news summarized for you each morning?
Our Daily Planet is your daily dose of the stories shaping our world and the ways that you can take action. From the climate crisis to the protection of biodiversity, if these issues matter to you then please subscribe & stay informed!
Your privacy is Important! We promise never to use your email address to send you spam or advertisements.