All over the planet, people take the things that they no longer need or want and throw it out their windows or leave it in parks and yards and along the street. It is outrageous! There is garbage all over the place! People need to stop littering because it is hurting so much of our beautiful planet. Littering pollutes not only the water and soil, but even our air! We drink that water, our animals live in that water and soil, we grow our food from that soil, we breathe this air! We cannot sabotage the only resources that we have as humans to survive!

Littering spreads disease, kills wildlife, and, most importantly, causes pollution. Pollution is all around us. People littering is one of the most common forms of pollution we know. What we fail to acknowledge when we are destroying the Earth is that it is the only place we have and once it is gone, it is gone forever. We don’t have anything else in this current time and day. So we need to learn to make better, more educated decisions about how to keep our home clean. You wouldn’t release your bodily functions on the floor of your own house; so it just makes sense that you wouldn’t pollute the planet with your garbage.

Up to 90% of Americans litter. That is almost all of us! I know that there has been times in everyone’s life where you accidentally let a plastic bag slip out your window or an empty water bottle blew away from you in the wind that you couldn’t catch, but this is 90% of people purposefully leaving their trash all over the place simply for convenience sake. The most commonly littered items are food wrappers, disposable cups, plastic bottles, cigarette butts, grocery bags, straws, tire and vehicle debris, and beverage cans. A number of these things can be recycled all together. We, as humans, need to learn to be less lazy and walk a few extra feet to place our old items where they need to go.

It is enraging. Hayden Houser says, “Don’t do it. It’s bad for the Earth!” Following his statement, Mr. Farley seconded his statement saying, “I think we all need to be more proactive and mindful. I think a lot of small changes can add up to a big difference.” So make a difference. Do something. Even if it is small, do it.

It was in the 1970’s when littering became illegal; however, that clearly isn’t doing any good for us. People litter every single day. There are different recycling and garbage facilities for a reason so we need to utilize our resources and get our acts together. There are plenty of ways to help out. For one, you can stop littering and start recycling. That one is a given. You can join community groups that pick up trash to get it out of our streets. If you don’t have one near you, start your own! Encourage others to do better for our planet. This is our home and we must preserve it.

If you want to get more involved but do not know how, click here to make a difference!