Earlier this week, I went on my first trip to Coopers Rock of the summer. I was super stoked to visit one of my favorite places, especially because I got a new camera for my birthday, and I could finally test its landscape skills. When I finally arrived at Coopers Rock, though, I was greeted by an unimaginable sight, not the breath-taking views, but the copious amounts of garbage thrown in all corners of the park. It was everywhere, in the caves, between the rocks, in the bushes beside the overlook, on the trails, in the trees…name a place and it was decorated by water bottles and tissues.

I immediately began picking up trash, and in an embarrassingly short amount of time I had gathered an M&Ms wrapper, a Dunkin’ Donuts cup, two batteries, a water bottle, a plastic baggie, and a couple tissues. And that was just by the overlook. Just a few yards from the overlook I found McDonald’s bags, cigarette butts, and random pieces of plastic. I should add that all of this garbage was within sight of trash cans and shelters.

Nothing makes me more furious than when people do not respect the environment. This planet is the only one we have, and we have to preserve it and respect it so that our children and our children’s children can enjoy it as much as we have. Some of the favorite memories of my childhood was spent outside in West Virginia’s state parks: rafting the New and Gauley rivers, hiking the New River Gorge, bouldering Coopers Rock, and SUP boarding Boley Lake at Babcock to name a few. West Virginia is one of the most beautiful states in the country, people travel here from all over the world to experience our landscapes. If we do not stand up for our wildernesses- our rivers and lakes and mountains and canyons- our Mountain Momma will die.

Last Saturday was Earth Day, but I’m here to argue that every day is earth day, or at least it should be. Mother Earth needs our help now more than ever, with the threat of climate change becoming a more serious hazard every day. The amount of litter and human waste has led to a huge mass of trash in the Pacific Ocean called the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Animals are eating this trash thinking its food and dying because they can’t digest the plastic. Animals die, we die. But the human thumbprint on the earth can still be reversed, there is time. But everyone must do their part, and it begins with not throwing your trash in the woods!