Texel and its BEAUTY!

Texel and its BEAUTY!

My name is Carmen van der Werff, and I am 25 years old. Since November 2018, I have been back on Texel and working (again) at Texelvakanties. Here, I am responsible for marketing and sales, but on busy turnover days, I also join the inspection team. When I was 1.5 years old, my parents moved to Texel. So, unfortunately, I am not an official Texel native, but it feels like home to me. I studied in Eindhoven for four years and worked there for two years. Before starting my student life, I already knew I would return to Texel; I just didn't know when. Every time I boarded the TESO ferry, it felt like coming home and brought a smile to my face.

My great passion is sports, especially football and diving. I'd like to share my concerns about plastic pollution, which I became aware of through diving. Diving, like Texel, gives me peace and space. I started diving in Mexico in 2012, and since 2015 I have been a Divemaster. I have dived in some of the most amazing places, such as the magical Cenotes of Mexico, the Great Blue Hole filled with reef sharks in Belize, the colorful Red Sea of Egypt, the icy but incredibly clear Silfra fissure in Iceland, and even the Eastern Scheldt in Zeeland has its own beautiful charm. At the top of my list now are the Wadden Sea and the North Sea. I am not an experienced drift diver, but diving on historical wrecks and treasures from the VOC era seems like an incredible experience to me.

Unfortunately, the underwater world is not always fantastic; you see enormous amounts of plastic pollution. I've seen dolphins in the Azores swimming with plastic around their fins, and no one wants that, right? I also see pollution daily on Texel. There's nothing like a walk on the beach for me, preferably in the evening at sunset. However, I never take this walk without a trash bag. When the sun sets, I have a fresh nose, a clear head, and a bag full of balloon strings, plastic bottle caps, lollipop sticks, straws, and fishing net strings. The MSC container disaster caused so much damage. Texel was spared, but the thought of more than 300 containers sinking to the bottom is horrifying. The involvement on the other Wadden Islands was unprecedented. When I read news about a washed-up sperm whale full of plastic or see dead seabirds on the beach with open bellies full of microplastics, it breaks my heart. It may not be the cause of death, but it shouldn't be in the water and certainly not in the stomachs of these beautiful sea creatures and birds. Can't we really stop this?

Yes, we can. Thankfully, there are many wonderful initiatives at global, European, national, and local levels. I jumped for joy last week when I heard that Europe is really going to tackle litter. The ban on single-use plastics has been given the green light. This means that in two years, single-use plastic items will be banned in the EU! Here on Texel, there are MyBeach zones, and we have the annual Boskalis Beach Clean-up tour. Recently, an Action Group Texel Plastic has also been established. They provide information to residents, tourists, and businesses. Texel also has silent cleanup heroes like Svet Hristova, who collects litter and shares the results on her Instagram account @Texel.Zero.Waste, often tagging producers in her posts like Coca Cola after the beaches were littered with cola wrappers. On April 21, there will be another big Beach Clean-up Day at pole 19 from 10:00 to 12:00. I hope she inspires many others to become silent cleaners too. Unfortunately, the municipality is too complacent about this and should take much more initiative and emphasize that the beauty of Texel is also a high priority and of great importance to them. When I see a pile of litter halfway down a beach exit, I am more than happy to report it to the municipality and always plead for more trash bins on the beaches of Texel. This would make it easier for both Texel residents and tourists to clean up litter. We must do this together because we are not there yet on Texel!

We can clean up as much as we want, and we should continue to do so, but the source must also be addressed. I also acknowledge my own shortcomings; I know the shame of flying, I drive a car, and sometimes I shower for more than two minutes. But I am consciously trying to make small changes. Texelse Kost is a sustainable food cooperative ensuring that high-quality Texel products stay on the island without intermediaries, contributing to the environment. This is on a small scale, but we can ensure that more beautiful products are grown and sold here as Texel residents and tourists. I would like to change my consumption habits, like the young hero Tesse (10 years old), who is a "plastictarian" and inspires me. I advocate for packaging-free or plastic-free supermarkets, but unfortunately, I don't always have the opportunity to go to the market, and shopping without plastic in the well-known supermarkets here on Texel is impossible.

I would like to ask everyone who visits our beautiful island to combine their beach walk with cleaning up or even measuring plastic pollution. Those small efforts really do help! Will you help us clean up? Or would you even like to contribute to science? Check out Waddenplastic and help map out the number of plastic pellets in the tidal marks of the Wadden Sea.

Next time, I would love to tell you more about my passion for sports. Texel is truly a sports island for both residents and tourists. We have beautiful sporting events every year and, of course, our Olympic pride, Dorian van Rijsselberghe, as well as Paralympic cyclist Larissa Klaassen and successful cyclo-cross rider Denise Betsema.

Together, we keep Texel clean. See you soon!
Carmen van der Werff

P.S. Follow me and my life on Texel via @carmen__isla.bella