Littering is not a new issue. In fact, littering has been an ongoing topic that has seen both periods of great attention and periods of neglect. A period of great attention being the 1970s, featuring Iron Eyes Cody, the "crying Indian," in the Keep America Beautiful commercial. During this time efforts were made to curb litter, and, as the title suggests, improve the appearance of the nation. Currently, the matter of littering is less prevalent. Reasons for this are debatable, but other concerns such as the economy and the state of international affairs certainly have an impact. This does not mean, however, that littering is any less of a relevant subject now as opposed to in the past. The common belief is that litter is a negative societal element. However, there are people against littering, people who are impartial on the issue, and even people who see littering as a benefit in certain aspects. Despite varying beliefs, litter is a societal ailment that needs to be intensely deterred.
Leading the cause against littering are what the EPA calls "non litterers." These individuals are conscientious about the environment, they do not litter, and they also often pick up the litter of other people (EPA Litter Home Page). Initially, one would say that those who are opposed to littering are coming from the viewpoint that litter defaces both the natural beauty of the planet and attractive, artistic creations such as parks, buildings, and other public locations. Although this is true, the concern runs deeper. As stated in the EPA "Facts about Litter," "Litter has gone from being viewed primarily as an aesthetic problem to a broader environmental issue" (EPA Litter Home Page). More than just an ugly habit that hinders the beaut...
... middle of paper ...
...hat everyone chooses a stance in regards to the issue of littering, because then and only then can the truth be exposed.
Much like the varying stances on littering, there are varying statuses of littering's presence. Times of high awareness are originated by a significant number of caring people and can even lead to successful political action. By contrast, there are other times when littering does not appear to be as popular of a concern among the people and does not garner much or any political recognition. During both extremes, there are always people who feel strongly against littering, people who have little or no concern on the matter, and people who support forms of littering. However, the only truly valid position on the matter is one of anti-littering, since littering is a filthy and threatening existence that needs to be ceased as soon as possible.
The majority of people waste food on a daily basis. In fact, in the U.S. alone there is an estimate that over half of the food produced goes uneaten; meanwhile there are people who are in need of food, and it ultimately goes to waste (Dockterman). For example, in his essay, “On Dumpster Diving,” author Lars Eighner writes about his experiences of dumpster diving with his pet dog, during his years of homelessness. According to Eighner, much of the food and materials he came across in the dumpsters were in usable shape, and many items were new. Clearly there needs to be a change in American food waste, in current and, hopefully not so much in, future generations.
Cities, towns, streets, everything has plastic litter all about and this too has repercussions. Source F tells us that there is a multitude of litter and plastic bags are the most easily spread. Plastic bags are light so they can be blown all about and can get stuck on things such as streets and fences. Since plastic bags are so versatile in their spreading Source B tells us that they can often clog drainage systems causing floods later on. Causing problems for us as humans, a bigger reason why plastic bags should be removed or banned. Generally plastic lying all about can really make an area look horrendous. Source C reports a high amount of plastic items. With all this junk lying about it makes our cities and beaches look dirty and ragged. What better motivation to get of plastic when it hurts us as humans. Plastic bags cause way too much problems compared to their ability to aid
I agree with his assessment about society’s throw away mentality due to the fact that I have seen it myself first hand. Recently I helped my sister move out of her dorm room at NAU and I was horrified to see all the things and edible food she was just dumping and what was worse, she wasn’t the only one. All of the kids were getting rid of perfectly good items in the dumpster, so it’s no wonder that dumpsters near college campuses are one of Eighner’s favorite places to scavenge. In his article on page 3, Eighner elaborates on student’s wasteful habits, “but in the case of discards from student apartments, the answer may be that the item was discarded through carelessness, ignorance or wastefulness.” I believe agree with Eighner that some people have a pack rat mentality while others just throw it away. My parents are a good example of this and I think it has something to do with the way that they were raised. My mom is a pack rat, holding on to everything as long as possible and giving away to charity what she doesn’t want anymore. She squeezes every last drop out of a toothpaste tube or a shampoo bottle, while my dad will throw it away half empty. My mom was raised in a single parent household, where money was tight and you used what you had… my dad however, was raised in a more affluent home and money flowed more freely. In fact, my mom does her own dumpster diving fairly regularly in our garbage can by rescuing stuff out of the garbage that my dad has thrown away, including belts, pants, shirts and hardly worn tennis shoes. She doesn’t keep the goods, but instead gives it to Goodwill or the church clothing drive. My dad is her antithesis and is definitely part of the throw-away society. My dad has little sentiment attached to stuff and like Eichner mentioned on page 6, “knows there is plenty more where what we came from.” After reflecting on
First I will summarize an excerpt out of Heather Roger's essay, Gone Tomorrow: The Hidden Life of Garbage published in 2005. Second I will summarize Lars Eighner essay On Dumpster Diving published in 1995. Our government needs to immediately enforce a set of strict standardized laws that carefully regulate and monitor the disposal of todays and more importantly tomorrow trash. I will argue that this is necessary for large corporations and businesses to deduce their consumption. Finally I will argue that we need to educate the public about the importance and need to restrict our consumption to secure our future.
In conclusion, littering needs to be terminated all together, though it will take more than a couple of months, it is possible. With a couple of community service organizations in Indianapolis trying their best to pick up all the litter, that is a first step towards a cleaner and healthier environment. The consequences of litter are very harmful and yet, more people are littering everyday not knowing what that they are putting themselves at risk. If cops become stricter about this law and look out for more litterers, and make the punishment much stricter, I believe in the future, littering will be much more uncommon and the environment will look more beautiful.
We always hear "do not litter!" or "throw your litter in the bins", maybe some of you bored to hear that yet we still do not throw it in the correct place. Litter is a serious habit problem to just throw away objects on the ground or leave them lying on the ground, instead of putting them in the garbage can. In Indonesia, the amount of litter is 175.000 ton/day and this is increasing every day. But we don't have to see that far, just look around us, our campus, Sanata Dharma University is still facing the littering problems. Each day, although there are various spots of bins and it is never full yet there are many litters lying in the floor, you can see the student hall as the evidence that even though it has 10 spots of bins, we still find people throwing their litter everywhere.
Shoplifting When someone steals merchandise offered for sale in a retail store. is generically called shoplifting. To commit shoplifting one must "intend" to permanently deprive the merchant of the value of the merchandise. The ad is a re-sale. Shoplifting most often occurs by concealing merchandise. in a purse, pocket or bag, but can occur by a variety of methods.
As a child, I was taught to always throw away my trash and clean up after myself in order to be respectful of others who might be where I was in the future. I was taught to recycle and always find ways to be helpful to those around me, whether it be cleaning or simply offering my assistance. Over the years, I hate to admit, I have dwindled from my childhood expectations. Yes, I do make sure to always clean up after myself and lend a helping hand where it is needed, but when it comes to recycling and making sure to be active in environmental preservation projects I have not done my best work. In the piece, “A Fable for Tomorrow” by Rachel Carson, a world that has fallen into shambles is described as being far from recovery and having very little
Have you ever wonder what can you do about the bottles and cans you find around you? People that doesn?t care about the world being clean is littering the place. It makes things very difficult to put up for. Recycling cans and bottles can help save the earth form waste and trash buildup and can make new things. I think that recycling should be mandatory and there should be recycling cans in various locations at school and everywhere else.
Litter control is not only an important issue to me but to this state and country. Programs such as Keep America Beautiful and adopt-a-highway are designed to promote a clean environment by educating people and creating projects to help improve the environment (Keeping America Beautiful). Growing up I learned the importance of having a clean environment. It improves the quality of life, it increases your confidence level, and it makes you proud of your community. I feel strongly about this issue because there are a lot of people who just do not care. South Carolina has a goal of making people aware of the environment. The state government has started a campaign called Palmetto Pride (Diane Marlow). The promotion tactics that they use includes South Carolina officials and well-known people promoting beautification of the state. I also have a goal of making people aware of the environment and I decided that creating a project with children would be very effective.
Do you hate seeing litter on the streets, or seeing and smelling heaps of garbage sitting, and rotting away? Humans recycling more will help to reduce this. We throw many things that can be recycled. Recycling glass, plastics, paper, and metals will reduce solid waste dumped into the ecosystem daily. “96 percent of U.S. plastic, and 50 percent of its paper, goes into landfills. Mexico, not exactly a bastion of environmental awareness, recycles more glass than the U.S.” (Alice Horrigan 1). That’s 96 percent of the millions of tons of plastic, which will outlive most of us in a landfill that we could recycle and keep it out of our landfill. Paper is made from trees, if we recycle it, we can decrease our rate of ugly deforestation and the destruction of animal habitats. When paper gets to the landfill, it is guaranteed to get wet. The wetness and decomposition of paper atracts mold spores, which produce an odor and are potentially bad for your health. Also k...
Therefore, recycling can protect natural resources, preserve energy and lessen pollution. If people want to save planet Earth for generations to come, then recycling is necessary. On Debate.org, the question “Should there be mandatory recycling?” was asked and 84 percent said yes, while only 16 percent said no (“Should There Be Mandatory Recycling”). Recycling is very important to the planet and can make a huge difference in so many ways. Recycling is a way of life and once a person has made the choice to follow through with the steps, recycling can become second nature. Every small contribution adds up to how the society shapes the Earth’s future. How will someone make a difference?
People should know the negative impact throwing away a water bottle or newspaper, purchasing meat from the grocery store or consuming gasoline has on the environment, and many do not. By informing society about how their decisions affect the environment, we can help save our planet and change our attitude toward the land we live on, the water we drink and the air we breathe” and truly show respect for the stuff that we depend on. The United States produces “about 8.25 billion tons of solid waste each year” (Russell 1). People do not realize the impact they have on our planet and the environment. When people throw anything in the trashcan, they are contributing to the destruction of our planet.
...mproper way of disposing of waste and other materials. Littering not only impacts our environment but also many animals. Even though many people see littering being done they do not do anything to prevent this. One thing that may occur is that many of these wastes that are improperly disposed of finds its way to the ocean or other places. This is something that can be very dangerous for many aquatic creatures because they could think that it is food and this would cause them to choke on it and eventually die. A lot of people litter because they really have no idea of the damage that they are causing our environment. Another reason why people do this is because they are too lazy to dispose the materials into a proper trash can. Most of the litter that is being thrown on the ground eventually goes and finds its way into the sewers and goes into the oceans and lakes.
A problem that occurs in most states is vandalism. Vandalism is a growing national problem. Last year this senseless crime cost United States Citizens over one billion dollars. Vandalism is a problem that gets to everyone in some form or another. It can affect your family, friends, property, community, and your pocketbook. The more you know about vandalism, the more you can make it a crime that is more trouble than it's worth.