I’m not mincing words when I say its madness how some people do not seem to care or take notice. I see it everywhere I go and especially when I am out in nature. Our parks, hiking trails, and national forests, along our rivers and lakes, have way too much trash everywhere.
Over the past weekend, we went on a 3-day camping trip; we picked up four big bags of trash. Plastic bottles, plastic bags, broken beer bottles, to name a few, were among the items strewn around. Some have been lying in our forests for many years. We took it to a dumpster and disposed of the litter.
The sad part is when we leave a place better then when we found it, the next people who use this spot may not care and once again litter the area with trash. At least for a while, that area is free of the trash. We could have spent our entire camping trip, picking up junk as we drove along the trails. Bottles and other debris had been carelessly thrown out of vehicle windows to litter our forests and streams.
Driving the roadways, it is obvious how little some people care about this beautiful planet of ours. I know it’s not all of us who are trashing the world. It’s sad, though, that a small percent who are trashing the world is making such a significant impact on our environment, roadways, and waterways.
Along the Tennessee river banks, you can see the remains of cast-off items. Old plastic bottles, cool whip tubs of long ago still intact with faded lettering, children’s plastic toys, broken and forgotten, in stark contrast with the white pebbles lining the river. As I gathered these items, I couldn’t help but feel anger well up inside my chest at the carelessness these items are pitched aside.
I want to encourage everyone to do a small amount of clean up when you are out in nature. It may seem like you can’t possibly make a difference, but you can. When all of us do small amounts and raise awareness to put trash where it belongs, we really can make a big difference. We cleaned up our campsite and at least that one area was clean of debris. Be kind to the only place we can call home, our big beautiful blue and green planet Earth!