Truemors
A few weeks back, on a nice winter afternoon in
Pennsylvania, I was taking a walk through the woods not to far from my
home. I've always been a fan of the outdoors and I'm always looking
around, taking time to enjoy nature. It was that afternoon that would
have a serious impact on the way I view our world.
As I was looking around the woods, I started to notice the amount of
litter that had been gathered there. Soda cans, candy wrappers, food
containers, etc were thoughtlessly tossed onto the ground. This
prompted me to grab my camera and start going to different places in my
area, documenting the litter empidemic that has consumed our Planet. I
was appalled by the selfish acts of individuals who, instead of walking
over to a trash can to throw away their used up refuse, cast their
eyesores of garbage onto the Earth for all to look at. There really is
no excuse this day in age for the litter consuming the soils in which
we walk and live. There are trash bins at every rest stop, conveinence
store, restaruant, park and grocery store we visit. There are dumpsters
everywhere we look, yet somehow, we as humans still manage to discard
our wastes onto the ground.
Litter has many impacts on our daily lives that we don't always
notice or even care to think about. The cost for cleanup of any state
is astronomically high. Last year in Pennsylvania ALONE, taxpayers
shelled out 6 million dollars for road side cleanup. I don't know about
you but I think 6 million dollars is an awful lot of money to be spent
on something that should so easily be controlled. Instead of that money
going to waste pickup, that money could go to helping families who need
to put food on the table and clothes on their childrens backs, who
otherwise could not afford to do so.
Not only is litter an expensive atrocity, it is also a fire hazard.
Statistics show that a fire starts every 12 minutes due to litter.
Imagine how many wild fires could have been prevented have we thrown
our trash into the bins provided for us. Litter is also a hazard to our
precious wild life. Animals don't understand that the trash we so
carelessly toss aside could kill them. Thousands of animals each year
die due to either choking or strangling on rubish thrown onto the
ground. And last but surely not least, it is a driving hazard to all
who is on the road. There are many accidents each year caused by debris
on the road. We've all seen it. A shredded tire, a card board box
blowing down the high way, a plastic bag, or even a back pack.
I think what is so irritating to me about this epidemic is that it
could so easily be avoided. As I stated early, there are trash cans and
dumpsters everywhere we look. Instead of discarding the trash onto the
ground, take the extra 12 steps and throw it into the trash container
that is provided for us. If you are taking a stroll and notice litter
laying on the ground, pick it up and throw it away. Our society has
become so lazy that its to the point of if its not right in front of
us, we just won't go there. We take the easy way out for everything,
whether that be going through the drive through at a fast food chain or
throwing our soda can out our car window instead of waiting until we
arrive home to throw it away.
In closing, if each and every one of us would do our
part by throwing away our trash and bring more awareness as to how this
is actually effecting our precious Planet and our way of life, it is
amazing what we could actually accomplish.
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