Jeremy Clarkson: 'People of China, pick your f***ing litter up'
Around 800 tonnes of plastic ends up in oceans every year
AN EXASPERATED Jeremy Clarkson has pleaded with tourists to pick up their rubbish after spending 30 minutes retrieving plastic waste from a beach while on holiday.
In a short video posted to his Twitter account during a break from work in Southeast Asia, TV presenter and Sunday Times columnist Clarkson singled out the Chinese as the worst offenders in that area.
Pointing to the amount of plastic rubbish collected in just half an hour, Clarkson, 58, said: “Look at it. And I’m sorry, but… Chinese, Chinese, Chinese, Chinese…
“People of China, pick your f***ing litter up.”
The message was retweeted by Abbie Eaton, a racing driver and the test driver for The Grand Tour, the Amazon Prime show that Clarkson presents with Richard Hammond and James May.
She said: “You heard the man. No excuse for littering.
“And if I see anyone throw shit out of their car, I’ll be throwing it back in at yo’ face.”
You heard the man. No excuse for littering.
And if I see anyone throw shit out of their car, I’ll be throwing it back in at yo’ face. https://t.co/QM8uzQd4nO
— Abbie Eaton (@AbbieEaton44) March 14, 2019
Clarkson, who filmed in China for the latest series of The Grand Tour, later added that he had witnessed Chinese tourists in Laos throwing plastic packaging into a river.
Last week, in Laos, I watched maybe 200 Chinese tourists throw all the plastic packaging from their picnic lunches in a river.
— Jeremy Clarkson (@JeremyClarkson) March 15, 2019
The crisis of plastic waste in oceans made global headlines after a segment in the Sir David Attenborough BBC documentary Blue Planet 2.
Sir David, now 92, pointed out that every year, around 800 tonnes of it ends up in oceans, which is harmful or even fatal to the health of wildlife including fish and birds.
The episode showed albatross parents unwittingly feeding their chicks plastic and mother dolphins potentially exposing their new-born calves to pollutants through their contaminated milk.
The footage shocked viewers in the UK and other countries, and Sir David continued to campaign against plastic pollution. He told the Media Planet website:
“Not everybody has had the chance, as I have, to visit these remote and astonishing places, and so I do think that our job as filmmakers is not only to inspire people with the wonders of the natural world, but also to help them understand the threats our planet is facing.”
Asked how serious the issue is, he said: “It could hardly be more serious.
“I suppose, for me, the thing that is so galling about plastic pollution in particular is that it is so utterly unnecessary. The plastic in our oceans ought never to have got there in the first place – much of it perhaps ought not to have even been manufactured at all. And yet it is there, in unbelievable quantities, causing untold harm to marine wildlife.
“And, of course, once it’s in the sea, it doesn’t really break down properly – it remains there for decades or even centuries. So unless we get to grips with this quickly, we will soon find our oceans completely dominated by plastic. It’s a prospect that hardly bears thinking about.”
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