Do you know what is sickening? Driving along the road and seeing the amount of garbage people throw out their windows. There is everything from beer cans to diapers, just sitting around in roadside ditches. It isn't uncommon to see plastic grocery bags blowing around in the wind like tumbleweeds in a Western movie. People throw caution (and their leftovers) to the wind as they drive down the highway, not bothering to keep their trash with them till they get to the nearest garbage or recycling can.
If we want to make a difference in this world, and we really want to make a step in the right direction for taking care of the Earth we need to do so many things. The basic and everyday step we can take is simply not littering. It is taking the time to take your trash to where it is supposed to go.
I have been mocked before by how much littering bothers me, but why doesn't it bother anyone else? There are some things that are out of our own hands, but we make the conscious decision to litter or not. The fact that people don't see anything wrong with it is a massive issue we face as a society.
Before we start protests about plastic straws and grocery bags, we need to take a step back and realize that there is an issue right in our backyards and not just on the coastlines and fun destinations. We shouldn't solely use pictures of the after effects of Mardi Gras or the aftermath of spring break on the beaches be a reason to change. Yes, it is horrible to see the images and think about the damage done, but those are just a few weeks long. Imagine the damage done every day of our lives people do on the way to and from work or school. Those little tosses can add up to major problems.
Yes, we need to take care of the oceans and bodies of water, but you know we also should take care of our own backyards.
We shouldn't just only throw money at causes that are helping across the country or world. We should also take responsibility for what is happening directly around us.
The environmental damage is a big issue, but if there is also economic damage to littering. For people who mow those ditches can experience damage their equipment and to themselves by litter. Half-a-million-dollar farm equipment can be put to a stop because of people throwing large pieces of trash and things they no longer want any more on farmland.
To put it simply, throwing trash or old furniture out in ditches somewhere because you don't know or don't care where you put it is childish. As organizations decide the fate of plastic grocery bags and what their next move is, let's take a step right now by cleaning up our act.
