YeinJee's Asian Journal

Greenpeace activists used a giant blow-up toilet bowl model on August 1 to protest against the unloading of residual water into the sea and pollution of beaches at Los Muertos Beach in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

According to Greenpeace, recent studies from the National Water Commission reported that the municipality of Puerto Vallarta contaminates picturesque Banderas Bay with 49,248 cubic meters of wastewater every day. The waters of Los Muertos Beach have exceeded World Health Organization (WHO) standards by 16 times.

The words on the toilet bowl model reads… “Clean beaches now!”

Greenpeace’s secret weapon (Image courtesy of Greenpeace)

British explorer and environmentalist Lewis Gordon Pugh became the first person to undertake a long distance swim at the North Pole.

Lewis Gordon diving into the icy Arctic water (Image courtesy of Xinhuanet)

The 37-year-old British took 18 minutes and 50 seconds to complete a 1km swim in -1.8°C water on July 15, 2007. He undertook the swim to raise awareness about the effects of climate change on the Arctic.