If you drive over dry river beds there, you'll often see that the river bed is full of plastic waste. That plastic waste degrades in sunlight and eventually ends up in the soil and the sea. It should be forbidden imho. If the Netherlands can use glass for all there greenhouses then so can other countries. It'll initially drive the price of food up a little, but that's a cost we need to bare in order to stay healthy and free from plastics (especially BPAs) in our consumption.
It's a shame, we are supposed to have the seprona to punish and control these things. but of course I also understand that overcrowding brings this kind of thing. I hope that glass is studied, it seems to me a good alternative to plastic. The problem will be that if you keep increasing the cost of vegetables, in the end we end up buying them in another place with possibly worse conditions.
In British Columbia, Canada, we tend to have a lot of green houses as well but most I have driven past are all glass as they tend to last longer. Plastic is cheap but in the long run, wouldn't glass be cheaper and better for the environment? Deserts are basically glass just waiting to made.
@Mark The Dutch are the smartest of the class, we already know, since cucumbers and pigs grown and raised in Spain, they mysteriously turn out to be Dutch products. And thank goodness we slow down if not, this is still full of Dutch pig companies that only know how to dump purines and chemicals on the ground. Enjoy transgenic tomatoes with two tulips.
70% of the plastics in that region is RECYCLED as well he says. What you explain about the river is something punctual, punishable and the bodies that control these situations work so that no one can do what you indicate. There is a regulation in Spain and in Europe that does not allow these events to occur. The culprit is sought and penalized as is the case in every industrial sector. Possibly the car that you drive is not made with recycled plastics and that is in the hands of the consumer who is the one who decides.
Lots of comments about using glass in place of plastic. 2 points 1 people don't really understand how much area is involved it is just too big for glass. Every time we visit the area 4 of 5 times a year for 15 yrs the large expanses of plastic have to be sprayed with a white substance to slightly weaken the severity of the sun. If glass were used the produce would be destroyed by extreme heat. We have a holiday home in roquetas and absolutely love the area and the people who live there.
Hi Stu we were in Almería in November visiting friends who have made the move to Mojacar. We travelled through Cabo de Gata and stopped for a bite at San Jose. We then travelled from Almeria to Malaga and through El Mar de Plástico. It was quite a shock to see it and agree with your observations and comments all of which we also observed. I have to be honest I felt uncomfortable and wondered about living conditions for the migrant workers, the rubbish by the roadside and the lack of forests. It was a real eye opener. Thank you for the video.
If it's a shame. Unfortunately the situation of immigrants in Europe and in the rest of the regions of the world is not good. We can see them in all the cities asking and living badly while we look at them and do nothing.
Forests? what forests? Most part of Almeria is a desert and was always a desert. Immigrants have a salary minimum of 35 euros/hour. It means they have the same salary as the average of Spanish workers or more if they work extra hours(such as everybody else). They can make a good amount of money if work hard ( they do) They simply don't want to spend that money on housing and prefer to save it for whatever reason either to send some money to their family in African countries or for other reasons. Should the government give them some housing accommodation? Why? Are they better than the rest of the Spaniards?
When I first heard the TV show title ‘Mar de Plastico’ I assumed it was a metaphor or something to do with the environment and the amount of plastic in the sea. It’s just astonishing to see the real thing. Thank you for the video.
I am learning english language with your videos. I dont know why but I understand your accent better than others. I am from spanish. I live in Bilbao and I like listening a foreoing person speaking about the places of my country. It is very interesting for me. Thank you
Hi Stuart we own a property in Albondon in the Granada region, we can see the start of the greenhouses and often drive through Eljido. Not the best view but keeps people in a job. Really appreciate your videos.
it is all about people's mentality ... no matter the field. Plastic, recycling vegetables, racism, Spain, Northern Europe, Germany, plastic tents, garbage, garbage on the ground, locals, non locals etc
It is not and it never was. - Mass tourism opens for mass pollution of the kind that did not exist among the autochtonous inhabitants of a region. Normal settled life did not create rubbish. The food producers never pollute; they live and produce in the same place over generations; they give excess food to their animals and the remains go in to the compost.
In addition to the plastic waste we have to consider that the water for that industry is coming from the Tajo River via a canal, the famous or infamous transvase, which connects the Tajo to the Segura River. The problem is that the Tajo is drying up (article from the Guardian August 14, 2017) with the water being taken out but also due to global warming. The Guadiana is in even worse shape. Poor Portugal, whose major rivers all begin in Spain. The Miño, the Limia, the Tâmega, the Sabor, the Douro, the Tejo, and finally the Guadiana all start in Spain and flow into the Atlantic in Portugal. The Tejo is dammed no fewer than 51 times in Spain alone. And then there is the water being diverted to Almeria and Murcia. Portugal and Spain have an agreement that a certain volume of water must be let through from Spain to Portugal. During last summer that volume was cut drastically. Will there be water in the future?
Hay problemas por el reparto del agua dentro de España y tarde ou mais tarde ofenderemos os portugueses. Mal viento y poca agua. Not to name rivers from the US going to Mexico.
@@joseantoniodavila2752Desculpe escrever em português mas escrevo mais rápido que em castelhano.. O rio mais importante que entra em México é o Rio Colorado, que passa por San Luís Rio Colorado e desemboca no Golfo de California. Desemboca é um termo generoso porque quase não chega nada e o que chega está cheia de químicos. Os estados de Colorado e Utah estão passando por uma seca brava e o volume do rio está muito baixo. A grande represa de Lake Mead, onde fica o Hoover Dam, está quase seca.
I think you'll find that the vast majority of water used in Murcia and Almeria's Plastic Sea comes from desalination plants. So don't make up geographical impossible lies to suit your puritan northern European 'green' brainwashing.
I don't know what the difference will be in the future with today. Now there is water. It is not a problem and it is cheap. What can change in the future? More poblation? The price will rise as in all liberal systems, the less quantity the higher the price. Supply and demand until regulated. If the human being reaches that problem, he will have to choose between water or fruit XD Solve it or live on Mars as some gurus propose.
Liked the video Stewart, I just want to say that yes there are a lot of African people living and working in the area often seen travelling by bicycle to and from work. I have not had any negative experiences and I guess most of them have found a better life here. They all seem polite, friendly, non threatening, and a positive contribution to the local economy. Don’t understand Vox point of view at all.
Hey Stu, I know I could sound like a broken record, but, if you've got time, could you please make a video about the TABERNAS DESERT? It sits just behind Almeria. Thanks buddy, your videos are always very interesting
I have been to most of Andalusia, except Almeria. I am certain there might be something of interest there but it seems it's in the Deep South of Spain and I can now see why thousands of the rural poor in Andalucia moved to Madrid, Bilbao and Barcelona in the 50s. All my relatives complained about these arrivals from Castilla, Cantabria, Galicia and Andalucia, however I was sceptical to say the least. All I saw and heard whenever I visited was accounts of a humble people who emigrated, were hard working, and that some lived at the time in terrible conditions in Bilbao's now bulldozed and cleared chabolas (shanty towns) before moving to more purpose built housing. In any case, the very filthy rich of Bilbao got wealthier thanks to the expanded labour pool. On the plus side, it is modern agriculture. Perhaps with stringent regulations and better standards for workers and managers in the industry, exploitation can be removed from this end of the chain. Change comes, but it is almost glacially slow and without anyone noticing really.
I had a place about an hour from there a few years ago, and what I gleaned from locals, friends, T.V. etc. was. The poly-tunnels(as they were called) were staffed mostly by Africans, largely because they were cheap, and could tolerate the very high temperatures you get inside a greenhouse in that part of the world. They weren't paid very well, and gave a lot of their salary back to the companies that employed them to cover their accommodation(which were shanty-like as you described) but worst of all, they couldn't return home as it was too humiliating to admit failure to their fellow countrymen. El Ejido had social problems like most places, exacerbated by the relative poverty of the workers, and the new found riches of the owners, El Ejido has a large number of millionaires, for it's size, from it's plastic economy. As for water, a lot of the greenhouses use hydro-ponics(?) which minimises water use, this isn't to say there aren't environmental issues, I'm sure there are. As I say this was a while ago and things may have changed.
Using agriculture with plastics saves millions of tons of CO2 It is a much more efficient agriculture in terms of pollution. In terms of water consumption, it is 20 times more efficient than traditional agriculture. Almería is the driest region in Europe (there is the only desert in Europe), and with the use of extractive water methods the use of groundwater and, more recently, desalinated water, the high rate of sunny days and the absence of thermal winters make it one of the most efficient regions in Europe for food production. Some still point to "Las Vegas" in the USA, because they use a lot of water for their sources 😂 Las Vegas was also a desert a few decades ago. The regulations of in all senses that are used in Almería are those of Europe, and are some of the most restrictive and careful in the world. In fact 95% of plastics are recycled (Not 70% as Stuart says) There are dozens of articles on this subject that confirm the data. www.residuosprofesional.com/plasticos-invernaderos-solares-reciclaje/ "95% OF THE PLASTICS IN SOLAR GREENHOUSES ARE ALREADY RECYCLED" www.aenverde.es/el-95-de-los-plasticos-de-los-invernaderos-solares-se-reciclan/ "95% of plastics in solar greenhouses are recycled" sevilla.abc.es/agronoma/noticias/agricultura/reciclaje-sostenibilidad-invernaderos-almeria-granada/ "95% of the plastic from solar greenhouses in Almería and Granada is recycled"
@@pierrewave7235, well I am not. It’s just such a distant part of Spain where the trains don’t go. It’s just there on an existential point in time, where a smattering of tourism and a vast agricultural area has no relevance to the end result. The outcome is, does any want really want to go this long forgotten place? And if they do is the effort and money worth it? For the intrepid few , yes it is. To most, it’s not worth the hassle to visit Hollywood’s film location. It’s just there, far away from sight and mind. A bit like asking any Aussie, is it worth going to the Northern Queensland visiting some national park? Maybe it is and perhaps it’s not.
Hola Stuart muchas gracias por el vídeo when you fly into Almeria you can see how vast the plastic green houses are .all that veg and you rarely see them served up in restaurants
I think the environmental aspect isnt just or even mainly about plastic but the soil and water degradation and mostly water consumption, Mediterranean and overwhelming majority of Spain particularly is rather arid region and agriculture, specially at this scale and this intensive and export oriented, consumes a lot of it and it must be pumped out of underwater aquifers that cant replenish so quickly or/ and redirected from elsewhere. theres a lot of serious problems that are created and exacerbated by such practices and unlike CO2 or plastic pollution they will very directly effect ppls life in that region- like everyone theoretically knows plastic is killing the planet but not being allowed to shower or take a bath when one wants and sees thats when ppl get really uncomfortable and angry.
You're quite wrong. Most of the water comes from desalination plants that produce millions of liters of drinking water every day. There're 500 of these ones in Spain.
I think as long as most plastic is reused it isn't a huge "global" environmental problem. That's the key issue for me - how much is wasted and or used unnecessarily in the first place (a prime example is plastic grocery bags, where using reusable canvas (or other material) bags makes much more sense).
@@pedrofmc0000 desalinated water is generally more expensive and thanks to energy needed for desalination and the remaining waste its usage is also more ecologically damaging not less than surface water. so just for the upfront costs i dont think they use desalinated water, plastic sea doesnt look anything like Isreal with their careful water management. also usage of desalinated water doesnt mitigate the consequences of industrial scale irrigation and fertilisers usage on the soil. so even if its the case and theyre not using aquifers the import- oriented industrial agriculture at this scale is very ecologically damaging with enormous carbon and any other footprint and principally unsustainable- such arid region is just not suited for it and very invasive and intensive methods must be used to force it to feed rest of the continent.
@@blueodum the problem is most of plastic is just not recyclable, it can be reused few times till its too damaged or worn but thats it, only 2 types and kinds of plastic out of 7 or more are recyclable and even then its not the most eco- friendly process cos its rather complex and complicated and consumes lot of energy, chemicals etc. its well documented most of plastic by far that we separate into special containers while thinking were doing our part for saving our planet ends up in landfills and oceans( or is burned).
@@rehurekj Of course it's expensive. Even the normal water is expensive in those zones. The necessary energy to desalinate the water in much less than few years ago. According to data from the Ministry of Ecological Transition, we are talking about a price of 60 cents per cubic meter of desalinated water, almost 40 times less than at the beginning of the industry, a price that for farmers is subsidized to around 30 cents. And yes everything has a cost on environment. The option is not to drink water and not to grow vegetables. Desalination plants use electricity for its processes, the entire national industry is electrified and the challenge to lower this energy cost is in the incorporation of renewable energies to generate this electricity. Energy consumption is the highest cost involved in seawater desalination. It represents more than 50% -60% of the costs of water production. Currently 43% of electrical energy in Spain is produced by renewable energies and huge investments are currently being made to increase this percentage. Spain is a leading country in water desalination technology and engineering: of the 20 largest desalination companies in the world, eight are Spanish. It is currently the fourth country in terms of production capacity only behind Saudi Arabia, the United States and the United Arab Emirates. Around 5,000,000 m³ / day of desalinated water are produced for supply, irrigation and industrial use (data from 2019). Approximately 25% of the water needed in agriculture already comes from desalinated water. Also it's used for drinking water in many places in Spain. At present, a total of 765 desalination plants are installed in Spain with productions exceeding 100 m³ / day. Of these, 360 are seawater desalination plants and 405 are brackish water. That "sea of plastic" has under what you see hydroponic crops with drip irrigation using rock wool as a substrate and controlling all the parameters such as water consumption, its PH, EC (necessary fertilizer) etc. by means of computers and automatisms. So don't assume so much without knowing. Fertilizers with these rock wool crops have no direct impact on the soil. This "arid" region is as suitable and sustainable for crops as those in Israel since it has the same desert characteristics. What they are is much more sustainable than the Dutch who need high energy consumption for artificial lighting and heating not to mention the huge carbon footprint produced by the manufacture of glass for greenhouses.
Thanks for a very interesting video. I remember being shocked the first time I came to Almeria and saw the plastic sea. But it's the price you pay for cheap fruit and veg all the year round.
Stu very nice video,yes I have been there. But one area I found was so very interesting was the Olive grove,not quite so intence,more less large companies. More Rual.Cheers
Me too. Spain yields half of the world's olive oil and the province of Jaén does half of the Spanish one. That ocean of olive forests cannot be seen from space because melts with nature.
The big question is 'Where does the water come from'? That must be a cost, and if it isn't sustainable, something is going to give. We ain't gonna wanna eat cacti.
These businesses have been around for years. It's highly likely that the water challenge has been pretty much solved by now. No question the growing is managed with highly reduced water consumption.
Using agriculture with plastics saves millions of tons of CO2 It is a much more efficient agriculture in terms of pollution. In terms of water consumption, it is 20 times more efficient than traditional agriculture.
@@raul46170 Some do not even know what these greenhouses are like inside with their computer-controlled drip irrigation, sensors of humidity controls, PH of the water, fertilizers, substrates used (rock wool almost always) etc ... They only see the plastics and feel scared of thinking about the contamination of the plastic without realizing that this plastic lasts a long time and is only changed in case of a break. They aren't able to imagine the thousands of green hectares of terrain full of vegetables that feed us and contribute to the reduction of CO2. With these methods, the Netherlands has become the world's leading exporter of some vegetables but with artificial lighting and heating. In Spain, we have the advantage that the latter is unnecessary.
Getting water to keep this industry is not easy and simplistic solutions won't solve the problem. Rivers are being destroyed and polluted massively and the locals are not the only ones who are suffering. So is Portugal. Agreements with Spain will never work, they do as they please.
Another great video! If they did not use all this plastic, surely more environmental damage would occur due to fuel shipping food from the southern hemisphere this time of year? I have been to the sea west of here and could not help notice a lot green plants on the sea bed. You don't find them west of Motril, I think the fertiliser run off is maybe a factor in this!
stop and look at the employment conditions, the company housing. Dreadful conditions. Theroux did an in-depth documentary for tv. Not at all good. Very good that you mentioned the conditions many times I think. A very good video.
Program on BBC showed plastic metre thick in the sand by the beaches there ,the plastic was crumbling into the sea and impossible to get out of the sand with big excavators and affecting the marine life as they are eating it so going into the food chain ,keep up the good work also estimated 125 km ,used to to nerja for holidays a few yes ago hoping to come back next Yr
Super interesting! And amazing. This is why we have such nice produce in our Catalonian supermarkets. I wonder if you might know how long the plastic lasts before it needs to be recycled and replaced? That is a TON of plastic!
Good video, thanks. We spend time on the edge of the Murcian "plastic sea" near the Mar Menor (but just over the border in Alicante). So, water - in our area it comes from the river Segura via a canal and boreholes, which I understand are depleting aquifers. Then there's the question of run-off. Flooding in Los Alcazares and pollution of the Mar Menor are two problems. What about the transport pollution? We see lots of lorries in the UK from Murcian towns (although we saw last week that a freight train service is now operating from Alucante to London). Oh, and our local veg/fruit producer in Pilar de la Horadada was a good source of Tesco carrier bags..... Finally the question of migrant labour. Seems to be everywhere - eastern europeans in Lincolnshire, africans in Spain and "rich gap year european kids" in Southern Australia (the last was a quote a few years back from one of your pollies about melon picking and unemployed locals in Southern Australia). How about a video on Spanish bank charges for ex-pats? Hasta la proxima, D
IF Spain were serious about producing its own food, it would look into reforesting its southern part. Restoring water tables using plant and animal permaculture. I honestly could help them, if they actually wanted to seriously care about the environment. Allowing corporations like this to exist IS the responsibility of the government and the people who elected them. DO BETTER. Also, why don't the people protest the use of the plastics. Its gross. How long has this been going on? how many of the plastics here have ended up in the ocean and then pollutes the entire world?
Spain is the second country in Western Europe by area of forest mass with a total of 18 million hectares, only surpassed by Sweden. Despite the fact that our country is severely hit in the hot months by droughts and fires, in addition to deforestation, forests have grown by 30 percent in the last 30 years. It is a very positive piece of information. Among the reasons for this increase in green areas in the country is behind a not so positive data, the abandonment of fields and crops, a space that is now being occupied by forests. What is very difficult, if not impossible, is to reforest areas that have always been desert like the province of Almería or the desert of the Monegros of Aragon. There is also an area of immense plains in Castilla that for centuries were used to plant cereals but are now unproductive. These areas in summer seem deserted but the rest of the year they are green meadows. The owner of those glass houses *AREN'T!* corporations but private citizen most of them small and medium entrepreneurs.
@@pedrofmc0000 those desertified croplands which used to produce cereals can be used with permaculture and completely REVERSE the desertification. I reccommend looking into Granja Caimito on youtube. He is using some really great techniques with swales and rotational grazing
@@decolonizeyourlife141 The territories I sopke about are not desertified croplands, they've been always, at least during the last 2500 years, completely desertic and completely useless for agriculture or grazing. They never produced cereals. There are other areas of Spain where they are fighting against the desertification and with great success, by the way.
Lo mejor por un tiempo. Estoy de acuerdo por un comentario debajo sobre cultura como el punto de disputación. Pero otra preocupación siempre es dinero...
The glass IS NOT ECOLOGICALLY NEUTRAL! it also produces CO2 than plastic in its manufacturing and transportation process. Using agriculture with plastics saves millions of tons of CO2 It is a much more efficient agriculture in terms of pollution. In terms of water consumption, it is 20 times more efficient than traditional agriculture.
You mentioned produce from Morocco. In the UK we have tomatoes from UK, Spain and Morocco. The ones grown in the UK have more flavour but are a little more expensive. We only buy British grown toms now.
Nice Job on informing your readers and really the world Stu👌🏾👍🏾 about what is going here , as I am sharing this video to my People back in American. I been in Roquetas since 2003/4 and run a small Sports Performance Gym /Club here. But now trying to grow a squash that is in the zucchini (Patty Pan) family for selling to the UK. I like to point out how , yes there are many Africans Moroccan's, Ghana's, Senegalese , Nigerians and others . But there are also a lot of Romanians, A LOT. Also some Russian's working in these greenhouses too.. Please🙏🏾 keep up your good work Stu I really get a better out look of Spain when I hear you videos.. P.S they have about 30 miles of these Greenhouse.
5 mins in any direction from where you were filming and there are some of the most beautiful parts of Spain and its amazing natural landscape. The workers choose to live like that so they are able to send more of their wages back home to help their families, similar to the eastern europeans that used to live 8 to a caravan in the UK and pick veg before Brexit. Consumers want cheap fruit and veg, without the sea of plastic, they would have just have very expensive, seasonal only fruit and veg.
Great video Stu.... Just proves how governments let their own people down by giving jobs etc to outsiders from other countries and not looking after its own Spanish people with employment... Youth unemployment in Spain is 26%+.And the same is happening in the UK... And tomatoes are not cheap to buy in Spain by the way...cuenca
Horrible environmental damage. Limiting fresh food I buy in the winter and returning to tinned or frozen, because here in the UK its not so fresh anyone!
from the farthest view of some satellite, of the few things that are seen from afar from the intervention of human hands. There are also many people who do not know what a greenhouse is and think that it is plastic garbage. XD great video Stuart
Very interesting video you have today. Beautiful blue sky and nice roads in comparison to where I live. Enjoy watching your videos. Glad to see this place did not become a tourist mecca. Plastic production seems to be affordable and brings money to the Spain economy. You touched some problems Spain is battling, but are they specific to Spain only?
Where is the water! From what I understand, a number of businesses pay the government for a license to extract water from the aquifer beneath this area. For every law abiding producer, there are many more who drive there own boreholes and extract water without regulation. There is a huge problem with over extraction of water in this area, so much so that the ground water supply in this area may be depleted in the next ten years. A huge economic loss to the country and Europe. No doubt someone is getting rich for turning a blind eye to this!
Hi there about your video of today I can say that the reliable work force (en invernaderos ) are not Africans are Romanian majority as far I know and they are doing a great job despite of unfriendly conditions what you can find in this "sea of plastic " and yes sometimes their wages it's not so brilliant but better than nothing ! Andalusia has been very affected by the 2008 economic crisis ,now seems to be a bit better economic speaking after those years since 2008 .If you are still there let me give you some tips for interesting place to visit ! One is : Mini Hollywood, Tabernas near Almeria , Guadix is an interesting town for its flats digged in the rock ,you can drive from Almeria to Aguadulce on N340a for an unforgettable wiew ! Cheers and enjoy! I can't wait to spend some times on that part of the 🌞 world
I don't know what is the current situation as I said that region was strong negative affected by the 2008 economic crisis a lot of people lost their homes (flats ) last time when I have been there it was in 2011-2012.The agriculture sector is the most easy place where you can find a job without right of work in that country (maybe) without speaking local language , obviously isn't good payed and people which are doing the job ar struggling for a decent life but for some of them there is no other way and to be fair the land owners ar not a god hand too !
To call those tensions "racial tensions" is a misdirection (and is implicitly a smear too) because the tensions are fundamentally not based on race but on conflicting cultures. Race just happens to be the convenient token used to relatively accurately identify members of a conflicting culture. An outsider who doesn't understand that it's about culture but also recognizes race as the common identifier between conflicting groups will easily assume that it's about race. I'm pretty sure nobody gives a damn about the genetic makeup of members of the conflicting culture (islam in particular).
@Mark There's many people that visit and live in Spain with different cultures. Are they treated with racial tension or discrimination? No, they are white or Latino. At least be honest.
@Mark I was really speaking to the OP who was denying racism. Sorry. And yes I do know it exists, I just don't believe in calling it 'conflicting cultures'.
Always enjoy the tour videos of Spain. Very interesting tour of the plastic sea. Considering what little that I know about the subject matter. I feel like it’s a necessary evil considering the desire for fresh fruits and vegetables. At least until the next generation dreams up of a more environmentally friendly and cost effective alternative.
Using agriculture with plastics saves millions of tons of CO2 It is a much more efficient agriculture in terms of pollution. In terms of water consumption, it is 20 times more efficient than traditional agriculture.
@sunny day It's not only your opinion... You know I am Portuguese because you are the same person as other fake profiles behind you, because if you didn't know I were Portuguese you wouldn't say that! Because of that you were blocked. Nice job!!!
Regards worker exploitation, don't worry about "different points of view" and read the evidence gathered by the International Labour Organisation showing extreme worker abuse, including wage supplementation with prostitution.
As someone who has a degree in the field of animal science, which is an agriculture science, I have a piece to say as I know this from the inside. These migrant workers are indeed being exploited, like every migrant worker population in western countries, they ARE exploited. And in a way that is inhumane often. Some situations they hold passports of their workers hostage and make them live in deplorable conditions. I am also very familiar with the migrant population in Spain. I know too many of them, personally. I will say, Spain treats its migrants like second class citizens. They often are also expressing racism to them. DO BETTER.
Talking about a country when you refer to racism is the stupidest thing I've ever heard. In the Administration there are legal and non-legal. There is no more differentiation. In the administration of Spain, there is no file where it says what race you are to be able to access the services of the country, as it happens in your country. The Healthcare that you use is free and Universal (Nobody looks at your skin color when you go to a hospital) just like education, or the dozens of subsidies for aid for underprivileged people than are going to immigrants. You are the one who is discriminating against a group for the fact of belonging to that group. That's what racism is based on. Look to you
@@raul46170 literally, j know people who experience racism in Spain and I have been witness to it. What you are talking about is a tangent. Also, it's these COMPANIES which are the major problem. Them existing. Spain allowing them to exist. Gtfo with that gaslighting shit. Tbh, you being triggered by this comment just shows you ARE the RACIST which is the problem. Nice calling yourself out there.
@sunny day do you know why people are migrating to Spain from Africa???? I can tell you: 1. Climate change 2. Imperialism by western countries to these countries for resource extraction which destabilizes regions and destroys the local environment. Spain is one of these countries which is and has been imperial in Africa. In fact they still hold several territories that aren't a part of their main body which ARE colonial states. I KNOW cus I've actually been to one ✋ 3. Inhumane laws. Until you can address number 2 then stfu
An economic dilemma that has many aspects, but asked to consider the alternative for the retail public I believe they prefer cheaper food and fresh products
Yes I have been thought these "white cites " and it was amazing as I did not know they even existed ,so you can imagine my surprise of the size ,it's like a 8th wonder of the world
It’s a vicious and disturbing circle. A supply and demand question in a not sustainable industry. I’m one of those hypocrites as well, worried about climate but love my diverse diet too🙁
The video was excellent,Stuart. Your observations on the way agriculture is done in Murcia and its reliance on African workers was thought-provoking. However, we e cannot help but wonder where little Mia is. Are you able to bring her with you when you travel or must you leave her behind? If so, is she being taken care of by neighbors?
Hi Stuart Very informative video very interesting and great viewing, I think most of us pick up fruit and veg in the supermarkets, with no thought of how or where it comes from, or the conditions in which it has been grown, i think a lot of immigrants work in these places as they get a better living, and conditions that they would in there own countries, i still believe money comes first overall before the environment, Brian La Marina Alicante.
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Thanks Stuart - have just signed up and thanks for today's video - we hope to be in Almeria by 20th December woo hooo :)
Good to see you out and about Stuart enjoying your freedom. Hope you are having a lovely time. Don't take it for granted though! (-_-)
If you drive over dry river beds there, you'll often see that the river bed is full of plastic waste. That plastic waste degrades in sunlight and eventually ends up in the soil and the sea. It should be forbidden imho. If the Netherlands can use glass for all there greenhouses then so can other countries. It'll initially drive the price of food up a little, but that's a cost we need to bare in order to stay healthy and free from plastics (especially BPAs) in our consumption.
It's a shame, we are supposed to have the seprona to punish and control these things. but of course I also understand that overcrowding brings this kind of thing. I hope that glass is studied, it seems to me a good alternative to plastic. The problem will be that if you keep increasing the cost of vegetables, in the end we end up buying them in another place with possibly worse conditions.
In British Columbia, Canada, we tend to have a lot of green houses as well but most I have driven past are all glass as they tend to last longer. Plastic is cheap but in the long run, wouldn't glass be cheaper and better for the environment? Deserts are basically glass just waiting to made.
"....but that's a cost we need to bare" speak for yourself.
@Mark The Dutch are the smartest of the class, we already know, since cucumbers and pigs grown and raised in Spain, they mysteriously turn out to be Dutch products. And thank goodness we slow down if not, this is still full of Dutch pig companies that only know how to dump purines and chemicals on the ground. Enjoy transgenic tomatoes with two tulips.
70% of the plastics in that region is RECYCLED as well he says.
What you explain about the river is something punctual, punishable and the bodies that control these situations work so that no one can do what you indicate. There is a regulation in Spain and in Europe that does not allow these events to occur. The culprit is sought and penalized as is the case in every industrial sector.
Possibly the car that you drive is not made with recycled plastics and that is in the hands of the consumer who is the one who decides.
It's good for foreigners to see the other sides of Spain. You can't always wear your rose-colored glasses.
These sea of plastic feeds Europe.
If you drive on through, the plastic sea, it eventually gives way to orange and olive plantations. It was a relief to see the change in scenery.
If you think what there is inside you'd feel much better.
@@pedrofmc0000 I know what's inside and how important it is but it's still ugly.
Lots of comments about using glass in place of plastic. 2 points 1 people don't really understand how much area is involved it is just too big for glass. Every time we visit the area 4 of 5 times a year for 15 yrs the large expanses of plastic have to be sprayed with a white substance to slightly weaken the severity of the sun. If glass were used the produce would be destroyed by extreme heat. We have a holiday home in roquetas and absolutely love the area and the people who live there.
Hi Stu we were in Almería in November visiting friends who have made the move to Mojacar. We travelled through Cabo de Gata and stopped for a bite at San Jose. We then travelled from Almeria to Malaga and through El Mar de Plástico. It was quite a shock to see it and agree with your observations and comments all of which we also observed. I have to be honest I felt uncomfortable and wondered about living conditions for the migrant workers, the rubbish by the roadside and the lack of forests. It was a real eye opener. Thank you for the video.
If it's a shame. Unfortunately the situation of immigrants in Europe and in the rest of the regions of the world is not good.
We can see them in all the cities asking and living badly while we look at them and do nothing.
Forests? what forests? Most part of Almeria is a desert and was always a desert. Immigrants have a salary minimum of 35 euros/hour. It means they have the same salary as the average of Spanish workers or more if they work extra hours(such as everybody else). They can make a good amount of money if work hard ( they do)
They simply don't want to spend that money on housing and prefer to save it for whatever reason either to send some money to their family in African countries or for other reasons. Should the government give them some housing accommodation? Why? Are they better than the rest of the Spaniards?
Man... Their own countries government have a reasonabilty to do what you are suggesting..
Plastic fields for styrofoam tomatoes. Now it is chicory season, not lettuce. Vegetables of the season are cheaper and better. Buy local also.
When I first heard the TV show title ‘Mar de Plastico’ I assumed it was a metaphor or something to do with the environment and the amount of plastic in the sea. It’s just astonishing to see the real thing. Thank you for the video.
To be clear, the TV show is a typical crime drama that involves various groups of people in and around this area.
I am learning english language with your videos. I dont know why but I understand your accent better than others. I am from spanish. I live in Bilbao and I like listening a foreoing person speaking about the places of my country. It is very interesting for me. Thank you
Informative as ever, great vid Stuart
Hi Stuart we own a property in Albondon in the Granada region, we can see the start of the greenhouses and often drive through Eljido. Not the best view but keeps people in a job. Really appreciate your videos.
sound like mild sommer day - over in north its -10 and snow on the ground
What a huge enterprise. Love your videos Stuart. Am from Canada and I live Spain. Your videos help me to appreciate Spain, such as it is, even more.
it is all about people's mentality ... no matter the field. Plastic, recycling vegetables, racism, Spain, Northern Europe, Germany, plastic tents, garbage, garbage on the ground, locals, non locals etc
It is not and it never was. - Mass tourism opens for mass pollution of the kind that did not exist among the autochtonous inhabitants of a region. Normal settled life did not create rubbish. The food producers never pollute; they live and produce in the same place over generations; they give excess food to their animals and the remains go in to the compost.
In addition to the plastic waste we have to consider that the water for that industry is coming from the Tajo River via a canal, the famous or infamous transvase, which connects the Tajo to the Segura River. The problem is that the Tajo is drying up (article from the Guardian August 14, 2017) with the water being taken out but also due to global warming. The Guadiana is in even worse shape. Poor Portugal, whose major rivers all begin in Spain. The Miño, the Limia, the Tâmega, the Sabor, the Douro, the Tejo, and finally the Guadiana all start in Spain and flow into the Atlantic in Portugal. The Tejo is dammed no fewer than 51 times in Spain alone. And then there is the water being diverted to Almeria and Murcia. Portugal and Spain have an agreement that a certain volume of water must be let through from Spain to Portugal. During last summer that volume was cut drastically. Will there be water in the future?
Hay problemas por el reparto del agua dentro de España y tarde ou mais tarde ofenderemos os portugueses. Mal viento y poca agua. Not to name rivers from the US going to Mexico.
@@joseantoniodavila2752Desculpe escrever em português mas escrevo mais rápido que em castelhano.. O rio mais importante que entra em México é o Rio Colorado, que passa por San Luís Rio Colorado e desemboca no Golfo de California. Desemboca é um termo generoso porque quase não chega nada e o que chega está cheia de químicos. Os estados de Colorado e Utah estão passando por uma seca brava e o volume do rio está muito baixo. A grande represa de Lake Mead, onde fica o Hoover Dam, está quase seca.
@@rayvogensen2983 I'm not bad at portuñol. I thought of the Rio Colorado.
I think you'll find that the vast majority of water used in Murcia and Almeria's Plastic Sea comes from desalination plants.
So don't make up geographical impossible lies to suit your puritan northern European 'green' brainwashing.
I don't know what the difference will be in the future with today. Now there is water. It is not a problem and it is cheap.
What can change in the future? More poblation? The price will rise as in all liberal systems, the less quantity the higher the price. Supply and demand until regulated.
If the human being reaches that problem, he will have to choose between water or fruit XD
Solve it or live on Mars as some gurus propose.
Liked the video Stewart, I just want to say that yes there are a lot of African people living and working in the area often seen travelling by bicycle to and from work. I have not had any negative experiences and I guess most of them have found a better life here. They all seem polite, friendly, non threatening, and a positive contribution to the local economy. Don’t understand Vox point of view at all.
Very informative. Muchas gracias
Where do they get the Water for this Agriculture ?
As mentioned above, there are several desalination plants in the locality. I don't believe that these are environmentally friendly though.
Hey Stu, I know I could sound like a broken record, but, if you've got time, could you please make a video about the TABERNAS DESERT? It sits just behind Almeria. Thanks buddy, your videos are always very interesting
Hi, did get there. Will do so on next trip.
@@spainspeaks Muchas gracias Stu!
We have been to costa Almeria a good few years ago lovely 😊🤗
Interesting video, drove through there a few weeks ago on my way from La Azohía to Almunecar, I was stunned at the amount of plastic
Nice roads. Paved and great lines
I stay in EJIDO Almerimar one of the best places to visit and stay
I have been to most of Andalusia, except Almeria. I am certain there might be something of interest there but it seems it's in the Deep South of Spain and I can now see why thousands of the rural poor in Andalucia moved to Madrid, Bilbao and Barcelona in the 50s. All my relatives complained about these arrivals from Castilla, Cantabria, Galicia and Andalucia, however I was sceptical to say the least. All I saw and heard whenever I visited was accounts of a humble people who emigrated, were hard working, and that some lived at the time in terrible conditions in Bilbao's now bulldozed and cleared chabolas (shanty towns) before moving to more purpose built housing. In any case, the very filthy rich of Bilbao got wealthier thanks to the expanded labour pool.
On the plus side, it is modern agriculture. Perhaps with stringent regulations and better standards for workers and managers in the industry, exploitation can be removed from this end of the chain. Change comes, but it is almost glacially slow and without anyone noticing really.
I had a place about an hour from there a few years ago, and what I gleaned from locals, friends, T.V. etc. was. The poly-tunnels(as they were called) were staffed mostly by Africans, largely because they were cheap, and could tolerate the very high temperatures you get inside a greenhouse in that part of the world. They weren't paid very well, and gave a lot of their salary back to the companies that employed them to cover their accommodation(which were shanty-like as you described) but worst of all, they couldn't return home as it was too humiliating to admit failure to their fellow countrymen. El Ejido had social problems like most places, exacerbated by the relative poverty of the workers, and the new found riches of the owners, El Ejido has a large number of millionaires, for it's size, from it's plastic economy. As for water, a lot of the greenhouses use hydro-ponics(?) which minimises water use, this isn't to say there aren't environmental issues, I'm sure there are. As I say this was a while ago and things may have changed.
Using agriculture with plastics saves millions of tons of CO2
It is a much more efficient agriculture in terms of pollution.
In terms of water consumption, it is 20 times more efficient than traditional agriculture.
Almería is the driest region in Europe (there is the only desert in Europe), and with the use of extractive water methods
the use of groundwater and, more recently, desalinated water, the high rate of sunny days and the absence of thermal winters make it one of the most efficient regions in Europe for food production.
Some still point to "Las Vegas" in the USA, because they use a lot of water for their sources 😂 Las Vegas was also a desert a few decades ago.
The regulations of in all senses that are used in Almería are those of Europe, and are some of the most restrictive and careful in the world. In fact 95% of plastics are recycled (Not 70% as Stuart says) There are dozens of articles on this subject that confirm the data.
www.residuosprofesional.com/plasticos-invernaderos-solares-reciclaje/
"95% OF THE PLASTICS IN SOLAR GREENHOUSES ARE ALREADY RECYCLED"
www.aenverde.es/el-95-de-los-plasticos-de-los-invernaderos-solares-se-reciclan/
"95% of plastics in solar greenhouses are recycled"
sevilla.abc.es/agronoma/noticias/agricultura/reciclaje-sostenibilidad-invernaderos-almeria-granada/
"95% of the plastic from solar greenhouses in Almería and Granada is recycled"
unlike you, I am not that optimistic.
@@worstchoresmadesimple6259 Who said I was optimistic, I'm just relating what I discovered, other people may have a different angle.
@@pierrewave7235, well I am not. It’s just such a distant part of Spain where the trains don’t go. It’s just there on an existential point in time, where a smattering of tourism and a vast agricultural area has no relevance to the end result. The outcome is, does any want really want to go this long forgotten place? And if they do is the effort and money worth it? For the intrepid few , yes it is. To most, it’s not worth the hassle to visit Hollywood’s film location. It’s just there, far away from sight and mind. A bit like asking any Aussie, is it worth going to the Northern Queensland visiting some national park? Maybe it is and perhaps it’s not.
Hola Stuart muchas gracias por el vídeo when you fly into Almeria you can see how vast the plastic green houses are .all that veg and you rarely see them served up in restaurants
Same in Gran Canaria when you fly into the airport there.
I think the environmental aspect isnt just or even mainly about plastic but the soil and water degradation and mostly water consumption, Mediterranean and overwhelming majority of Spain particularly is rather arid region and agriculture, specially at this scale and this intensive and export oriented, consumes a lot of it and it must be pumped out of underwater aquifers that cant replenish so quickly or/ and redirected from elsewhere.
theres a lot of serious problems that are created and exacerbated by such practices and unlike CO2 or plastic pollution they will very directly effect ppls life in that region- like everyone theoretically knows plastic is killing the planet but not being allowed to shower or take a bath when one wants and sees thats when ppl get really uncomfortable and angry.
You're quite wrong. Most of the water comes from desalination plants that produce millions of liters of drinking water every day. There're 500 of these ones in Spain.
I think as long as most plastic is reused it isn't a huge "global" environmental problem. That's the key issue for me - how much is wasted and or used unnecessarily in the first place (a prime example is plastic grocery bags, where using reusable canvas (or other material) bags makes much more sense).
@@pedrofmc0000 desalinated water is generally more expensive and thanks to energy needed for desalination and the remaining waste its usage is also more ecologically damaging not less than surface water.
so just for the upfront costs i dont think they use desalinated water, plastic sea doesnt look anything like Isreal with their careful water management.
also usage of desalinated water doesnt mitigate the consequences of industrial scale irrigation and fertilisers usage on the soil.
so even if its the case and theyre not using aquifers the import- oriented industrial agriculture at this scale is very ecologically damaging with enormous carbon and any other footprint and principally unsustainable- such arid region is just not suited for it and very invasive and intensive methods must be used to force it to feed rest of the continent.
@@blueodum the problem is most of plastic is just not recyclable, it can be reused few times till its too damaged or worn but thats it, only 2 types and kinds of plastic out of 7 or more are recyclable and even then its not the most eco- friendly process cos its rather complex and complicated and consumes lot of energy, chemicals etc.
its well documented most of plastic by far that we separate into special containers while thinking were doing our part for saving our planet ends up in landfills and oceans( or is burned).
@@rehurekj Of course it's expensive. Even the normal water is expensive in those zones. The necessary energy to desalinate the water in much less than few years ago. According to data from the Ministry of Ecological Transition, we are talking about a price of 60 cents per cubic meter of desalinated water, almost 40 times less than at the beginning of the industry, a price that for farmers is subsidized to around 30 cents. And yes everything has a cost on environment. The option is not to drink water and not to grow vegetables.
Desalination plants use electricity for its processes, the entire national industry is electrified and the challenge to lower this energy cost is in the incorporation of renewable energies to generate this electricity. Energy consumption is the highest cost involved in seawater desalination. It represents more than 50% -60% of the costs of water production. Currently 43% of electrical energy in Spain is produced by renewable energies and huge investments are currently being made to increase this percentage.
Spain is a leading country in water desalination technology and engineering: of the 20 largest desalination companies in the world, eight are Spanish. It is currently the fourth country in terms of production capacity only behind Saudi Arabia, the United States and the United Arab Emirates. Around 5,000,000 m³ / day of desalinated water are produced for supply, irrigation and industrial use (data from 2019). Approximately 25% of the water needed in agriculture already comes from desalinated water. Also it's used for drinking water in many places in Spain.
At present, a total of 765 desalination plants are installed in Spain with productions exceeding 100 m³ / day. Of these, 360 are seawater desalination plants and 405 are brackish water.
That "sea of plastic" has under what you see hydroponic crops with drip irrigation using rock wool as a substrate and controlling all the parameters such as water consumption, its PH, EC (necessary fertilizer) etc. by means of computers and automatisms. So don't assume so much without knowing. Fertilizers with these rock wool crops have no direct impact on the soil. This "arid" region is as suitable and sustainable for crops as those in Israel since it has the same desert characteristics. What they are is much more sustainable than the Dutch who need high energy consumption for artificial lighting and heating not to mention the huge carbon footprint produced by the manufacture of glass for greenhouses.
Thanks for a very interesting video. I remember being shocked the first time I came to Almeria and saw the plastic sea. But it's the price you pay for cheap fruit and veg all the year round.
Stu very nice video,yes I have been there.
But one area I found was so very interesting was the Olive grove,not quite so intence,more less large companies.
More Rual.Cheers
Me too. Spain yields half of the world's olive oil and the province of Jaén does half of the Spanish one. That ocean of olive forests cannot be seen from space because melts with nature.
where do they get the water from? i think it is causing huge problems of silting up the aquifiers with salt it will not be sustainable in the long run
The big question is 'Where does the water come from'? That must be a cost, and if it isn't sustainable, something is going to give. We ain't gonna wanna eat cacti.
These businesses have been around for years. It's highly likely that the water challenge has been pretty much solved by now. No question the growing is managed with highly reduced water consumption.
Desalination plants that produce millions of liters of drinking water every day.
Using agriculture with plastics saves millions of tons of CO2
It is a much more efficient agriculture in terms of pollution.
In terms of water consumption, it is 20 times more efficient than traditional agriculture.
@@raul46170 Some do not even know what these greenhouses are like inside with their computer-controlled drip irrigation, sensors of humidity controls, PH of the water, fertilizers, substrates used (rock wool almost always) etc ... They only see the plastics and feel scared of thinking about the contamination of the plastic without realizing that this plastic lasts a long time and is only changed in case of a break. They aren't able to imagine the thousands of green hectares of terrain full of vegetables that feed us and contribute to the reduction of CO2. With these methods, the Netherlands has become the world's leading exporter of some vegetables but with artificial lighting and heating. In Spain, we have the advantage that the latter is unnecessary.
Getting water to keep this industry is not easy and simplistic solutions won't solve the problem. Rivers are being destroyed and polluted massively and the locals are not the only ones who are suffering. So is Portugal. Agreements with Spain will never work, they do as they please.
Better going to visit the much prettier TABERNAS DESERT next time!
Yes , I went to tabernas to look at a house , a bit bleak and dry .
@@davidwarnes5158 the point is, I LOVE DESERTS
@@ilBUZZo I can see that
He seems not interested at all to show something nice from Spain, that is the general tone of his channel, you didn't notice?
Another great video! If they did not use all this plastic, surely more environmental damage would occur due to fuel shipping food from the southern hemisphere this time of year? I have been to the sea west of here and could not help notice a lot green plants on the sea bed. You don't find them west of Motril, I think the fertiliser run off is maybe a factor in this!
Mar de Plastico is on Netflix. It's a murder mystery series. I enjoyed it but needed subtitles!
Very interesting blog today Stu! Love how you’re mixing it up.
Excellent Stu....
Hi Stuart, Could you please tell us about your travel camera type and setup you use as it seems really stable over the bumps. Thanks
stop and look at the employment conditions, the company housing. Dreadful conditions. Theroux did an in-depth documentary for tv. Not at all good. Very good that you mentioned the conditions many times I think. A very good video.
+1 for San José. Great place to go diving, but the water's a bit cold now.
Program on BBC showed plastic metre thick in the sand by the beaches there ,the plastic was crumbling into the sea and impossible to get out of the sand with big excavators and affecting the marine life as they are eating it so going into the food chain ,keep up the good work also estimated 125 km ,used to to nerja for holidays a few yes ago hoping to come back next Yr
Great video... thanks!
Super interesting! And amazing. This is why we have such nice produce in our Catalonian supermarkets. I wonder if you might know how long the plastic lasts before it needs to be recycled and replaced? That is a TON of plastic!
3 or 4 years
Good video, thanks. We spend time on the edge of the Murcian "plastic sea" near the Mar Menor (but just over the border in Alicante). So, water - in our area it comes from the river Segura via a canal and boreholes, which I understand are depleting aquifers. Then there's the question of run-off. Flooding in Los Alcazares and pollution of the Mar Menor are two problems. What about the transport pollution? We see lots of lorries in the UK from Murcian towns (although we saw last week that a freight train service is now operating from Alucante to London). Oh, and our local veg/fruit producer in Pilar de la Horadada was a good source of Tesco carrier bags..... Finally the question of migrant labour. Seems to be everywhere - eastern europeans in Lincolnshire, africans in Spain and "rich gap year european kids" in Southern Australia (the last was a quote a few years back from one of your pollies about melon picking and unemployed locals in Southern Australia). How about a video on Spanish bank charges for ex-pats? Hasta la proxima, D
Pollution in transportation is called Globalization and it is a global problem.
IF Spain were serious about producing its own food, it would look into reforesting its southern part. Restoring water tables using plant and animal permaculture. I honestly could help them, if they actually wanted to seriously care about the environment.
Allowing corporations like this to exist IS the responsibility of the government and the people who elected them.
DO BETTER.
Also, why don't the people protest the use of the plastics. Its gross. How long has this been going on? how many of the plastics here have ended up in the ocean and then pollutes the entire world?
@Mark they have plenty of other building materials though. There is plenty of earth. Why are so many afraid of going back to earthen homes????
Spain is the second country in Western Europe by area of forest mass with a total of 18 million hectares, only surpassed by Sweden.
Despite the fact that our country is severely hit in the hot months by droughts and fires, in addition to deforestation, forests have grown by 30 percent in the last 30 years. It is a very positive piece of information. Among the reasons for this increase in green areas in the country is behind a not so positive data, the abandonment of fields and crops, a space that is now being occupied by forests.
What is very difficult, if not impossible, is to reforest areas that have always been desert like the province of Almería or the desert of the Monegros of Aragon. There is also an area of immense plains in Castilla that for centuries were used to plant cereals but are now unproductive. These areas in summer seem deserted but the rest of the year they are green meadows.
The owner of those glass houses *AREN'T!* corporations but private citizen most of them small and medium entrepreneurs.
@@pedrofmc0000 those desertified croplands which used to produce cereals can be used with permaculture and completely REVERSE the desertification. I reccommend looking into Granja Caimito on youtube. He is using some really great techniques with swales and rotational grazing
@@decolonizeyourlife141 The territories I sopke about are not desertified croplands, they've been always, at least during the last 2500 years, completely desertic and completely useless for agriculture or grazing. They never produced cereals. There are other areas of Spain where they are fighting against the desertification and with great success, by the way.
They grow lots of veg but I don't buy any of it
Very interesting video .Thanks for posting.
There could be hidden some weedhouses to :)
Lo mejor por un tiempo. Estoy de acuerdo por un comentario debajo sobre cultura como el punto de disputación. Pero otra preocupación siempre es dinero...
Cabo de Gata is just beautiful but the plastic sea is depressing
Plastics...Plastics...Plastics...EVERYWHERE...What could go wronggg???...EVERYTHING!!! Folks, glass is environmentally much better...🌻
The glass IS NOT ECOLOGICALLY NEUTRAL!
it also produces CO2 than plastic in its manufacturing and transportation process.
Using agriculture with plastics saves millions of tons of CO2
It is a much more efficient agriculture in terms of pollution.
In terms of water consumption, it is 20 times more efficient than traditional agriculture.
Muy interesante!
It's surprising that locals don't want to work in the plastic, esp as unemployment is so high? Maybe that suggests conditions are poor?
What's impressive about it?
You mentioned produce from Morocco. In the UK we have tomatoes from UK, Spain and Morocco. The ones grown in the UK have more flavour but are a little more expensive. We only buy British grown toms now.
The UK working class also wants to eat flavored fruit at a good price.
@@raul46170 And?
Great exposé, Stuart. I had no idea about the sea of plastic. Seems like an environmental and cultural disaster just waiting to happen.
Nice Job on informing your readers and really the world Stu👌🏾👍🏾 about what is going here , as I am sharing this video to my People back in American. I been in Roquetas since 2003/4 and run a small Sports Performance Gym /Club here. But now trying to grow a squash that is in the zucchini (Patty Pan) family for selling to the UK. I like to point out how , yes there are many Africans Moroccan's, Ghana's, Senegalese , Nigerians and others . But there are also a lot of Romanians, A LOT. Also some Russian's working in these greenhouses too.. Please🙏🏾 keep up your good work Stu I really get a better out look of Spain when I hear you videos.. P.S they have about 30 miles of these Greenhouse.
5 mins in any direction from where you were filming and there are some of the most beautiful parts of Spain and its amazing natural landscape.
The workers choose to live like that so they are able to send more of their wages back home to help their families, similar to the eastern europeans that used to live 8 to a caravan in the UK and pick veg before Brexit.
Consumers want cheap fruit and veg, without the sea of plastic, they would have just have very expensive, seasonal only fruit and veg.
Conway.. You mean massive profits for the companies thats what is happening...
Always enjoy your outdoor videos! Thanks!
Great video Stu.... Just proves how governments let their own people down by giving jobs etc to outsiders from other countries and not looking after its own Spanish people with employment... Youth unemployment in Spain is 26%+.And the same is happening in the UK... And tomatoes are not cheap to buy in Spain by the way...cuenca
Great share, Thank you Stuart.
Plastic sea - unfortunately not a destination I will be visiting.🙈
It is not a tourist place, it is a field of agriculture so that you can indulge in eating tasty fruits all year round.
good one Stu, it's so nice to see some of rural Spain and learn more about the greenhouses. I wanna be there on my bike like those cyclists.
Horrible environmental damage. Limiting fresh food I buy in the winter and returning to tinned or frozen, because here in the UK its not so fresh anyone!
Did you go to campohermoso its like a different country.
Cant be very beneficial for wildlife huh?
from the farthest view of some satellite, of the few things that are seen from afar from the intervention of human hands. There are also many people who do not know what a greenhouse is and think that it is plastic garbage. XD great video Stuart
The comments: people eating every day complaining about producing food. It's like breathing and saying you don't want the air.
We need to eat, this may become to fruition in other parts of the world. Don't see anything wrong with this other than and eye-sore.
Expediente Royuela, is horrible, more than 30.000 documents.
Very interesting video you have today. Beautiful blue sky and nice roads in comparison to where I live. Enjoy watching your videos. Glad to see this place did not become a tourist mecca. Plastic production seems to be affordable and brings money to the Spain economy. You touched some problems Spain is battling, but are they specific to Spain only?
Where is the water! From what I understand, a number of businesses pay the government for a license to extract water from the aquifer beneath this area. For every law abiding producer, there are many more who drive there own boreholes and extract water without regulation. There is a huge problem with over extraction of water in this area, so much so that the ground water supply in this area may be depleted in the next ten years. A huge economic loss to the country and Europe. No doubt someone is getting rich for turning a blind eye to this!
Hi there about your video of today I can say that the reliable work force (en invernaderos ) are not Africans are Romanian majority as far I know and they are doing a great job despite of unfriendly conditions what you can find in this "sea of plastic " and yes sometimes their wages it's not so brilliant but better than nothing ! Andalusia has been very affected by the 2008 economic crisis ,now seems to be a bit better economic speaking after those years since 2008 .If you are still there let me give you some tips for interesting place to visit ! One is : Mini Hollywood, Tabernas near Almeria , Guadix is an interesting town for its flats digged in the rock ,you can drive from Almeria to Aguadulce on N340a for an unforgettable wiew ! Cheers and enjoy! I can't wait to spend some times on that part of the 🌞 world
We drove through there and the people living there were definitely as described by Stuart.
I don't know what is the current situation as I said that region was strong negative affected by the 2008 economic crisis a lot of people lost their homes (flats ) last time when I have been there it was in 2011-2012.The agriculture sector is the most easy place where you can find a job without right of work in that country (maybe) without speaking local language , obviously isn't good payed and people which are doing the job ar struggling for a decent life but for some of them there is no other way and to be fair the land owners ar not a god hand too !
To call those tensions "racial tensions" is a misdirection (and is implicitly a smear too) because the tensions are fundamentally not based on race but on conflicting cultures. Race just happens to be the convenient token used to relatively accurately identify members of a conflicting culture. An outsider who doesn't understand that it's about culture but also recognizes race as the common identifier between conflicting groups will easily assume that it's about race. I'm pretty sure nobody gives a damn about the genetic makeup of members of the conflicting culture (islam in particular).
Is that what you tell yourself and each other?
@Mark There's many people that visit and live in Spain with different cultures. Are they treated with racial tension or discrimination? No, they are white or Latino. At least be honest.
@Mark I was really speaking to the OP who was denying racism. Sorry. And yes I do know it exists, I just don't believe in calling it 'conflicting cultures'.
Always enjoy the tour videos of Spain. Very interesting tour of the plastic sea. Considering what little that I know about the subject matter. I feel like it’s a necessary evil considering the desire for fresh fruits and vegetables. At least until the next generation dreams up of a more environmentally friendly and cost effective alternative.
Using agriculture with plastics saves millions of tons of CO2
It is a much more efficient agriculture in terms of pollution.
In terms of water consumption, it is 20 times more efficient than traditional agriculture.
@@raul46170 thank you for the explanation!
Oh it's cold at 18 degrees C I wish it was that temperature here 3 degrees and wind chill making it feel like minus 3
Yeah, the plastic sea visible from Spain and a great stronghole for extreme-right in Spain!
@sunny day Another troll... LOL
Have I talked about Portugal?!
@sunny day It's not only your opinion... You know I am Portuguese because you are the same person as other fake profiles behind you, because if you didn't know I were Portuguese you wouldn't say that!
Because of that you were blocked. Nice job!!!
Regards worker exploitation, don't worry about "different points of view" and read the evidence gathered by the International Labour Organisation showing extreme worker abuse, including wage supplementation with prostitution.
As someone who has a degree in the field of animal science, which is an agriculture science, I have a piece to say as I know this from the inside.
These migrant workers are indeed being exploited, like every migrant worker population in western countries, they ARE exploited. And in a way that is inhumane often.
Some situations they hold passports of their workers hostage and make them live in deplorable conditions.
I am also very familiar with the migrant population in Spain. I know too many of them, personally. I will say, Spain treats its migrants like second class citizens. They often are also expressing racism to them. DO BETTER.
Talking about a country when you refer to racism is the stupidest thing I've ever heard.
In the Administration there are legal and non-legal. There is no more differentiation. In the administration of Spain, there is no file where it says what race you are to be able to access the services of the country, as it happens in your country. The Healthcare that you use is free and Universal (Nobody looks at your skin color when you go to a hospital) just like education, or the dozens of subsidies for aid for underprivileged people than are going to immigrants.
You are the one who is discriminating against a group for the fact of belonging to that group. That's what racism is based on.
Look to you
@@raul46170 literally, j know people who experience racism in Spain and I have been witness to it. What you are talking about is a tangent. Also, it's these COMPANIES which are the major problem. Them existing. Spain allowing them to exist. Gtfo with that gaslighting shit. Tbh, you being triggered by this comment just shows you ARE the RACIST which is the problem. Nice calling yourself out there.
@sunny day do you know why people are migrating to Spain from Africa???? I can tell you:
1. Climate change
2. Imperialism by western countries to these countries for resource extraction which destabilizes regions and destroys the local environment. Spain is one of these countries which is and has been imperial in Africa. In fact they still hold several territories that aren't a part of their main body which ARE colonial states. I KNOW cus I've actually been to one ✋
3. Inhumane laws.
Until you can address number 2 then stfu
An economic dilemma that has many aspects, but asked to consider the alternative for the retail public I believe they prefer cheaper food and fresh products
Yes I have been thought these "white cites " and it was amazing as I did not know they even existed ,so you can imagine my surprise of the size ,it's like a 8th wonder of the world
🇪🇦❌🇪🇦
But ... where's Nick?
It’s a vicious and disturbing circle. A supply and demand question in a not sustainable industry. I’m one of those hypocrites as well, worried about climate but love my diverse diet too🙁
The video was excellent,Stuart. Your observations on the way agriculture is done in Murcia and its reliance on African workers was thought-provoking. However, we e cannot help but wonder where little Mia is. Are you able to bring her with you when you travel or must you leave her behind? If so, is she being taken care of by neighbors?
Hi, she went to the beach while I recorded the video.
Good doggie-daddy!
Hi Stuart
Very informative video very interesting and great viewing,
I think most of us pick up fruit and veg in the supermarkets, with no thought of how or where it comes from, or the conditions in which it has been grown, i think a lot of immigrants work in these places as they get a better living, and conditions that they would in there own countries, i still believe money comes first overall before the environment,
Brian La Marina Alicante.