ENVIRONMENTAL DESK

AN ENVIRONMENTAL campaigner says she was able to walk all the way from Acapulco to the Barrier Reef on a trail of human garbage.

Rita Murphy-Mendez, a Mexican born Irish activist, says the journey of about 13,000 kilometres, took the better part of two years and involved stops at Pacific islands and dead whales.

She says she carried a small knapsack and a fishing rod, although she is a vegetarian.

“I mostly survived on the scrapings of plastic food containers and bottles of mineral water. You cannot believe the amount of mineral water out there. If it all tipped into the ocean at once it would change the salt balance and shift currents.

“I actually put on weight. There was enough trash to make a shelter every night, and the occasional laptop and cellphone enabled me to post my trip online.

“I slept on at least fifty dead whales and freed thousands of dolphins and turtles from fish nets.

“I didn’t have to use my fishing rod very much and I always asked permission of the fish I caught to eat them. I am a great believer in consent.

“When I reached the Barrier Reef I stepped ashore on the backs of a hundred salt water crocodiles who kindly lined up for me.

“Apart from the weight gain, and a little dizziness after being at sea for so long, I feel fine. I would walk back but that would defeat the purpose of my trek. And I don’t want to encourage others. We need to clear the Pacific of all that garbage not turn it into a tourist trail.”