Littering is one of the biggest issues on earth. It literally creates chaos and is considered a crime in many countries. In some, you can even get jail time if you are caught littering.
Littering is defined as making a place dirty or untidy with rubbish. Rubbish can be anything from waste material to litter.
No animal except humans can be blamed for littering. In fact, most of the earth’s problems can be blamed on humans.
Humans are lazy, too comfortable, and ignorant! Oh and I nearly forgot about carelessness! If we actually cared, we would have put in more effort towards cleaning, and we as an entirety would have tried to educate others and ourselves about the consequences of our actions.
One little paper or piece of plastic you throw out the window while driving can’t hurt anyone right?
What if everyone thought this way? If we add all the cigarette buds, straws, paper wrappers etc we will have mountains full of waste all around us. But it’s ok because there are people cleaning up after us! Right?
What a terrible thought. What if we just stop being so damn ignorant and start cleaning up after ourselves?
It is not as if we don’t know what to do, we just choose to ignore it.
REDUCE, REUSE, and RECYCLE!
Plastic alone kills thousands of ocean creatures on a daily basis, plastic kills soil and if we don’t have good soil anymore, we will not eat. We will not be able to plant vegetables and thus kill the natural eco-system of nature and we will all be in trouble.
All the rubbish we throw out our windows while driving don’t just disappear into the air, it has to go somewhere. Rain washes the litter into drain pipes and it affects our water systems.
People using river water to wash clothes or even as dumping sites causes a major effect and it becomes part of a vicious cycle. People go to the beach, and instead of just taking their rubbish with them after they enjoyed a wonderful day in the sun, they dig a hole and bury the rubbish.
Just because no one can see it, doesn’t mean it’s not there!
It is our duty to change our ways and to start cleaning up after ourselves. Instead of just throwing away, we need to find ways to reduce our waste products and to effectively do something about litter.
I’m sure most people are intelligent enough to educate one other person and to get them to take part in a massive community clean-up.
Personally, I have been part of a few clean-up actions and it is amazing to see in just a few streets inside a community/town how many bags of litter can be picked up.
If this could actually become a reality and you can arrange a weekly clean-up in your area, it would be amazing.
Every little bit helps, and in the end, if we all work together, we could actually make a BIG difference. Stop being ignorant, open your eyes and start looking around you. Start thinking about the consequences of your actions.
Teach your children from a very young age that littering is wrong. Teach them and show them videos of animals (freely available on YouTube) of animals dying because of people’s stupidity.
Perhaps the next generation will be more aware of their surroundings if we educate them correctly. This problem doesn’t come from the previous generation because they used paper bags, glass bottles, and paper straws.
We cannot blame anyone except ourselves for becoming so lazy and ignorant all at the same time.
Perhaps it is time to start rewarding the people for doing the right thing. We are money-driven, aren’t we?
Wouldn’t it be wonderful to get paid for doing the right thing? Wouldn’t it eradicate the number of unemployed people all over the world?
The wonderful thing is that you CAN actually get paid for recycling! You can get paid for recycling paper, plastic, and tins, but that actually means that you have to do something unfortunately and not just sit back and watch how this little plastic mountain of a problem goes away all on its own.
Start thinking and do something now before it is way too late to turn this around. People five generations from now will still have issues, because of our stupidity and laziness. Let’s think about them for a change, or do you want them to walk around with oxygen tanks just to be able to go outside one day?
If you have never seen the animated movie Wall-E, put in the effort and watch it. It will change the way that you see things and change the way you think about the future.
Very true, we are lazy and it's difficult to change one's ways but we will have too.
Thank you for writing.
Unfortunately, you are so right.
On the many occasions that I point out to someone that 'they just dropped something..', they either laugh and keep walking or pick it up and throw it at me.
So we got the arrogant and the ignorant to deal with.
It's actually a huge fine over here for littering, and I have seen plenty of people doing it. I even downloaded an app for the EPA to report litters and though I took before and after photos- the car the number plate, nothing ever happens because they want video instead, so unfortunately it is so hard to care- well not hard to care, hard to do anything about it. I still don't give up though!
The new problem now is disposable face masks.
https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=121298449647237&set=a.103600268083722
This problem surfaced in the past 45 years, it is disgusting how much waste is left everywhere.
Humans need a huge wake up from what appears to have been a slumber for some time, greed and self, if nothing is done soon why have a future generation, what do you have to offer them, one huge trash can?
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You're definitely right, dumping of refuse at the roadside or just any place is wrong. Here in Nigeria in some particular area, we face a lot of challenges, especially during the Rainy Season, which causes erosion.... During this Season, erosion formed by heavy Rainfall draws out waste materials at the roadsides and from the gutters into some areas which make the place messy
Thanks for sharing!