BUT THEN THEY SUDDENLY RETURNED!
I had hoped that my words here to the Steemit community had somehow made a difference to this situation, but alas no.
Sandstone mining goes on all the way up this river (which you can see on the right side of the above image, taken using my drone) and the shaping of the individual blocks which are cut away from the land is particularly loud.
Any pieces of sandstone which are too small to be cut to the required size are thrown into the river, over the years causing the water level to rise, covering the river bed with rock instead of sediment.
The ecological impact is unknown, but you can be sure there is an impact!
I flew my drone down there 5 days ago to have a closer look and it appeared as if they were setting up camp to start a new mine.
Upon seeing the drone they all ran off and hid in the jungle.
Perhaps they didn't like the thought of being photographed?
Or perhaps they thought it was a demon?
This video I shot five days ago from my home, so you get the idea of what we are dealing with here.
The next time they start cutting at that rock, I will fly my baby down there again and see what happens...
Perhaps it will buy us another five days of silence and make Bali as peaceful as it looks in this painting ;)
Blessings to you all and thank you for your positive thoughts surrounding this situation :)
This is a shot of Mt Agung, viewed from Bali's north coast, 2017
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wow @samstonehill this shows the advantage of technology and using it in a good way, upped. Thanks a lot for your work and more success to you.
good post
'wow, cool, agree, love it, awesome, funny, scary, welcome, interesting'.
Here are some more suggestions to pollute the posts you visit with your cheap spamming comments. Please stop that or soon someone might flag you. Give an original comment or stay away.
i don't think they will stop, unless some major event happen. either they are caught by the official, or they are lack of demand, which i think a bit hard to happen.
Thank you for sharing with us! I hope you enjoy the upvote!
Buddy, make sure to check out if what they do is legal and properly in books. If it is, continue the drone operation, even mount a little fire cracker delivery equipment on it. If it isn't, publish the footage where it counts, and report to authorities. I hate to see enviroment raped...
The portrait and the image has a pretty good similarity
Liked them both
It's so sad. The legally sanctioned activity is damaging enough, but then you've got to contend with all the illegal stuff too. :(
I saw the title and thought of this Mitchell and Webb video.
"She's gone sir, they've all gone. And we're back..."
I'm glad you got rid of those people. When I saw this post I thought, "Nice photos!" (I wasn't going to comment that, and then say 'follw me plz', I promise...) and then realised this post wasn't about mining for currency, but about people destroying the environment for financial gain. Enjoy your peace and quiet, for now anyway...
I live in Bali off and on and have seen those very miners in the river beds. Love the picture of Mount Agung :)
I don't think they will stop until the police come down and 'rescue' them.
It's nice to see that the poor locals have found a way to feed their families. So what if they're mining a little sandstone, certainly not nearly as environmentally damaging as drilling for oil and gas.
Thanks for this post, @samstonehill. Glad to find this issues posted on steemit. I have worked on anti-mining campaign with JATAM and WALHI. And found this facts are happening around Indonesia. Poor Bali, poor Indonesia. Our government system has not put serious attention and effort to save the natural resources of this beloved country, even after number of natural disaster happened.