For as long as humans have roamed the planet, we have created garbage. Way back when, it might have been a pile of animal bones, vegetables rinds, or worn clothes, whereas for the last 100 or so years, we have created piles of plastic, glass, paper, rubber, and metal all littering our environment.
As the planet is speeding towards a climate breakdown with unseen disasters to follow, we find ourself fighting wars on many fronts. One of them is the war against pollution, with garbage being the most visual, often right under our noses.
Researchers are telling us there are now microplastics in water, soil, and even in the air on every continent of the planet. Traces of various levels of plastics are found in animals and humans alike.
Whole islands of garbage are floating in the oceans gaining in size, only to be broken up by mega storms and then wash up on our beaches. Marine life is greatly endangered through ingesting particles and entanglement. Meanwhile on the continents, many waterways, forests, fields, meadows, cities, towns, roadsides, and parks are contaminated with all sorts of garbage.
Our landfill sites are overflowing and expanding to new pristine farm land, to then be covered with a few feet of dirt and left to rot and ferment while contaminating the soil, groundwater, and air for many years to come.
Wealthy countries have been dealing with the ever-increasing garbage by shipping their trash across oceans to poor and corrupt countries, often causing contamination and poisoning of their own environment.
There are many factors causing all that garbage. Overpopulation, consumerism, convenience, packaging, making profits, poverty, lack of education and awareness and funding, or just blatantly not caring for the environment.
Those of us who have travelled in developing countries will have seen much unsightly trash only a few steps away from hotels and tourist sights. It always pains my heart to see people allowing their community to turn into a garbage pit. Lack of funding to establish systems for collection and disposal, as well as not educating the citizens about the hazards, are mostly to blame.
Here in North America, garbage contamination is not due to the lack of infrastructure to dispose of it. Neither is there lack of education, as most children will participate at one point at a school-organized cleanup.
For many, there seems to be a disconnect with nature and a lack of awareness of the impacts of garbage contamination. There seems to be an inherent habit to disrespect nature and fellow citizens. Selfish and careless individuals who will do whatever they want continue to litter the environment with coffee cups, wrappers, or dog poop baggies.
Billions of cigarette butts are discarded every day, with their plastic fibre filters leading the list of garbage found in the environment worldwide. The breaking down of these filters in time will allow small particles to be absorbed by water and soil — a slow and deadly process.
To prevent a total and fatal plastic contamination of the entire planet, a major shift needs to happen:
- Industries have to produce quality products that last longer and have to reduce and recycle packaging.
- Industries need to stop making kitsch and useless junk. It all ends up to be garbage and needs to be disposed.
- Governments need to educate and regulate production of consumer products. If it’s junk, don’t allow it to be made, imported, or sold.
- Retail must reduce packaging, sell quality products, and introduce refunds. Just imagine if a Tim Hortons coffee cup had a $1 deposit. Surely there would be no more coffee cups scattered all over the place.
- As consumers, we must reduce our hunger for buying inferior and useless stuff. It all ends up in the garbage dump and costs a lot of money. Of course the production and shipping of all that material consumes huge quantities of energy and raw material.
To save our planet from poisoning, humanity needs to recognize the damage caused by garbage.
Citizens of all stripes must get involved in cleaning up the environment. By taking part in a cleanup, we get a sense of ownership and responsibility for the planet. We must start right outside our own homes and in our neighbourhoods, then move on to county roads, ravines, creeks, lakeshores, and beaches.
Seeing garbage anywhere must not be acceptable to anyone anymore. If you see it, get rid of it — for only then will the land we walk on, the water we drink, and the air we breathe be clean and healthy for a long time to come.
Municipalities and organizations in many countries are calling on their citizens to help with spring cleanups.
Here in Peterborough, mayor Jeff Leal issued a Rotary-prompted proclamation calling on all citizens to participate and help clean our community during Earth Week at the end of April. Several community organizations such as the Ashburnham Stewardship group, Friends of Jackson Park, Crawford Rail Trail, Rotary clubs, and church groups as well as businesses are coming out to clean up trash accumulated throughout the winter months.
Join a group or start your own initiative with family, kids, friends, or colleagues and be part of a solution. Adopt a section of a park, a path, a ravine, a beach near you and keep it clean throughout the year. Your connection to that piece of land will change you from a frustrated bystander into a participant and steward.
Remember to bring a plastic bag with you on your walks — you’ll need it. Happy cleanup!
