Citizens of Mauritius are cleaning up a major oil spill themselves
Mauritius' clear waters are currently muddied by oil (bg62/Pixabay/)When a huge freighter aground on the coast of Mauritius cracked open last Thursday, August 6, David Sauvage took immediate action. He called up his friends and team members from Rezistans ek Alternativ, a local group of environmental and political activists, and got to work. The born and bred Mauritian, who is a software engineer by day, knew that they could not wait for a government-run clean up. After all, the Japanese carrier ship MV Wakashio had been stuck sitting on their reefs since July 25. Sauvage and his team worked through Thursday night, using plastic bottles, sugarcane leaves, and recycled construction materials to construct DIY oil booms, floating barriers that can help collect and contain spilt fuel. They deployed their homemade booms on Friday morning, and put out an open call to the community to join them in their efforts. “Very quickly we...