Last Saturday, C.J., Carolyn, Mike, Hans and I witnessed first-hand the extent to which people are willing to litter the ground with their trash instead of putting it in the trash can 30 feet away. Why people think the earth is their own personal, giant ashtray, I will never know. We picked up about 1000 cigarette butts on the rocks on the bank of the James on Belle Isle, and still were unable to retrieve the half-dissolved ones from little tide pools in the rocks. Additionally, there were about three dirty diapers that we had to clean up, endless styrofoam chunks, half-full XL cups of soda from McDonalds, and what seemed like endless minuscule bits of bright paper. It was disgusting, not because we had to pick it up with our bare hands (except Carolyn who was smart enough to bring gloves), but because people have no concern whatsoever the way they are treating the Earth.
Our mission on Belle Isle was to clean up the area not only so it could be clean for now, but also to have a ripple effect preventing future littering. Seeing all that trash littering the James was a perfect example of how the presence of existing litter leads to more people thinking it is okay to add to the litter. I’d like to think that if there wasn’t as much trash on Belle Isle, people would be more careful to clean up after themselves. So, I would hope that our efforts in cleaning up trash will lead to people taking more responsibility for their waste, instead of littering the ground like everyone else.
Lovin’ the title!