So Many Butts

It was a cloudy Sunday morning and the river was high from the recent rainfall as Carolyn, Hans, Mike, and I crossed over to Belle Isle. Whenever the wind blew from the direction of the city there was a foul smell. I wondered if the sewage/drainage system flooded and dumped copious amounts of waste into the James. The waters were remarkably higher than I have ever seen at Belle Isle. The flat rocks that people enjoy to lay out on in the summer months were completely submerged. The raised waters of the James did not stop people from treating the area without respect. This visit to Belle Isle was my second cleanup and there was just as much trash as there was on my previous visit.
There before me lay a sea of butts. So many butts. Well cigarette butts in stagnant pools, laying across the rocks, and many kicked into the dirt. Carolyn counted approximately three hundred cigarette butts and between all of us we must have reached over one thousand. It was astounding how many cigarette butts there were scattered everywhere. Equally as amazing is the amount of people who must have frequented the area to throw away all of the cigarettes. For every person who smokes there must be many more who don’t and come to enjoy the area. It feels good that we can make a small difference in the area. However, I wish that more people would be considerate of others.
The scattered dirty diapers were indicative of many little children who frequent the area with their parents. Cigarette butts can be easily be ingested by children and potentially poison or harm them. Also the litter from the visitors can also get into the James during flood episodes just adding to the degradation of the James. It is my hope that we can get more people to clean up Belle Isle and create awareness of the park system. With education people may treat others and their environment with more respect.