How many people think about the effects of their trash and where it is? Whether it’s scattered cigarette butts over pavement, or gum spat out onto the side of the road, wherever you decide to throw it, do you think of the consequences? Most animals will eat a lot of anything, including your trash. Guilford County government states that, “birds can die from ingesting poisons from moldy food, cigarette butts, and other harmful substances.” Larger animals such as deer can be “injured from broken glass or plastic, animals found with their heads stuck in discarded buckets, cans, and plastic containers.” Not only the animals are being affected; plant growth and small critters are also affected by the litter on the side of roads.
I was driving home from a friend’s house at night and saw these reflective objects scattered over the side of the road. Slowing down, I noticed that these reflections were due to scattered cans of beer. There was over a case of beer, meaning there were about 24 bottles. This litter was also combined with Pinot Grigio containers from Sutter Home. These bottles were often filled with the backwash of spit from chewing tobacco, disgusting to pick up and leak.
In total, I filled up two reusable grocery bags with this trash, and cleaned up everything from this hill. Where someone decided to litter and throw their trash into the wildlife. This made me think of all the other trash that you see on the side of the road as you pass by. From that moment, I started to stop the car and clean up and pick up the trash that most would just drive past. I believe picking up trash you see is something that everyone should do. Not only does it just make your surroundings clean, but it also benefits wildlife that could be affected by the trash left.
Almost everyone has seen the ocean clean-up efforts, or the signs for littering with fines; there are all efforts in place to stop this. However, it still seems like a prominent problem.
The fact is that people don’t care; so many people don’t care about the effects of their actions on the place they inhabit. They go about life with the mindset of, “Well, I’m only one person, so how much of an effect can I have?” But the truth is that if so many others have that same thought, it turns out to have one giant effect. Kab.org says there are around 50 billion pieces of litter along U.S. roads and waterways. That’s over six times the world’s population, and that’s just in the United States. When people don’t care, then the whole world supports them. It isn’t just humans who live on this Earth; think about others and how we affect them.