La Guajira, Colombia: A place where the crystalline waters and the desert landscape are all filled with plastic. Here the indigenous culture is becoming threatened by tourism, and by the rapidly increasing lack of resources due to different causes. One of the most prominent ones is the coal mine there. This mine has been to blame for the ecological decay (deforestation, reduction of flora and fauna, reducing freshwater availability) in the area that it takes up. But other than this, there are several other problems that the inhabitants of La Guajira have to face such as the massive amount of plastic waste that never actually reaches its destination, and that currently is polluting the deserts and deteriorating oceanic and regional ecosystem biodiversity.    

One of the causes of this large scale plastic waste is tourism. Responsible tourism exists in many other places, yet many times the visitor to La Guajira does not know where his or her trash will end up going and throws it into a trash bin, that will later be taken to a non-sanitary landfill. Here, this plastic will eventually be blown by the wind, and become stuck in a tree branch, or land on the beach. It might get washed away by the water and possibly kill an aquatic animal. This chain will go on forever unless something is done to prevent it from happening over and over again.  

There have been many proposed solutions all over the world, such as completely abolishing plastic from our lives, educating the people so that plastic use would be reduced, and starting group efforts to pick up all of the trash that has already been made. All of these efforts have a problem. First of all, completely ridding our lives of plastic without a cheaper, available to all,  and ecological alternative would be nearly impossible since it is so embedded into our way of life. Second, educating the people will be worth nothing if some or many of them go out of the conference room to consume products that are packed in plastic. Many times, we refuse to change our ways, because they are part of our lives now in almost every single aspect. Finally, starting group efforts to clean and pick up the plastic will be of no use on its own either if plastic is made at the same rate that it is recollected. This is because all the plastic that gets picked up will become replaced by the waste that is made the next day, week, or month. Therefore, none of these strategies alone will be one hundred percent applicable to La Guajira, or any other place.  Yet, one of the ways most effective to deal with this problem is through economics.

Many times, people refuse to let go of their ways which harm the environment because of economic loss. If it was made expensive to buy products that are not reusable and recyclable, and products that replace plastic were made cheaper, we would see a growing demand for the latter. If this measure was taken in La Guajira, Colombia, then we would be able to see a decrease in plastic consumption and production replaced possibly by the use of biodegradable materials. The three previously presented strategies could then come into place, and be used so that this state of ecological sustainability is preserved. Alone, these three strategies would not create such a big impact. But, accompanied with economic appeal, La Guajira and many other places around the globe might go back to what they once were.