How does Littering Affect the Environment?
Many people may not think that littering affects the environment.
In reality, littering has an extremely negative impact on the environment. Littering tends to damage areas where we live, work and where children play. There are different factors that lead to littering. Some factors relate to what people do, while others come from areas of manufacturing.
Litter can come in many different ways and mainly because people can sometimes be rather careless and negligent. Who does it? Well, a lot of times we see someone driving ahead of us, toss an empty to-go cup out of their window. Or it could also be someone crumbling up a receipt and missing the garbage can outside. It could even be a young child that may not know any better, carelessly dropping candy wrappers on the playground. Some do it by mistake without realizing it, and unfortunately, some simply are too careless and purposely throw trash out of their car window, or just toss an empty can across an open field.<Photo Credit: www.kid-at-art.com>
Littering is a major problem that we need to try to address.
Whenever you go to an event and there are going to be thousands and thousands of people there, it is going to be hard to control the amount of trash left around. As some people will throw their trash away in the proper bins, sadly, some will leave their trash careless on the ground. It is our responsibility as people to clean up after ourselves and try to protect our environment, but that thought doesn’t often cross the mind of others.
In many places, littering is illegal and can carry a fine of $500 and/or jail time.
While some people intentionally litter, this is something that can be controlled. More laws can be put in place to control the amount of litter that floods the streets by careless people that are causing harm the environment more than it already is. Not only is littering affecting us on the streets and our backyards, but it also affects the oceans, rivers and wildlife. Many animals die in their attempts to eat or get caught up in plastic bags left to blow away in the wind. Some people also have been known to throw their beer cans and the plastic rings in the water that can cut the fish and make them choke on the plastic. Many fish die from these factors and it’s time we brought awareness to this problem at hand.<Photo Credit: www. forums.miamibeach411.com>
Littering causes a threat to our health and can cause harmful germs and bacteria. Littering can cause fires and also sends a message that people really don’t care about the Earth. Whereas some people may not be bothered to live in a world surrounded by trash, others may be trying to prevent that. Removing litter costs money, something that is hard for people to let go of. If we can spend a whopping $10 on a fancy cup of coffee, who says we can’t spend a little here and there to help keep our planet clean as well? Above all, littering has a negative effect on everything. Animals get injured and swallow toxic things like oil and pesticides. People or animals can get sick or even die because of careless mistakes that happen in this world every day. Littering can be prevented but it has to involve everyone as a whole to help out. People that get caught littering could face fines or even jail time. So if someone were to get caught tossing out a cigarette butt out of the car window, they should also know they just threw $500.00 away as well. So please, be aware of the all of the consequences of littering and help keep our planet clean! :)<Photo Credit: www.thelitterletterproject.com>
