Sitting on my own at breakfast this morning
At one of the most fancy island beach resorts in the world, watching the light blues, purples, deep blues, even greens and reds of the ocean dotted with apparently harmless reef sharks and majestic sting rays;
where coral are being replanted in the hope of reviving not only the sea life but also in the hope of preventing entire islands from sinking.
Each guest at such a resort creates three and a half kilograms of trash.
Every single day.
A man made rubbish island is burning day and night.
At breakfast we all chatter and smile, eat Thai rambutan, Lebanese beans, and Mexican guacamole in plates and using cutlery that was shipped onto the island. Everything here is imported.
All of us eating, chattering very human, some in clothes you can only buy in the chicest air conditioned well designed shopping centres of Paris, Moscow, and Singapore, flashing perfect breasts, butts, and lips, nannies caring for their little ones day and night, others unperturbed by less fancy beach wear and their less than perfect bodies, at the core all human, laughing, feeding hungry kids, managing emotional ups and downs, building families, having the extraordinary opportunity to live this slice of perfection, all the while worried about the environment and what the situation will be for our children and theirs, well aware the part we play in it’s deterioration.
What a vantage point I have, to be able to experience the best and the worst of the world all in the most extraordinary, dreamy, movie-set like situation.
Natasha Devalia 