The Beauty That Surrounds Us “It is amazing that 94% of people identify litter as a major environmental problem and yet people still litter (JB Green Team).” This is entirely true; it is amazing how many people are aware of littering being an environmental problem but still refuse to do anything about it. Littering is a big controversial subject in the world today. A subject with easy resolutions but is hard to accomplish when people are either too impatient or lazy. Littering can be easily prevented but people still choose to litter anyways. People choose to ignore the problems that littering causes rather than be more aware of the major downfalls that littering creates; littering causes problems with wildlife, it affects our health, and …show more content…
According to Johnson, author of “HSUS animal caretakers see litter 's lethal dangers”, “Renata Schneider has seen a number of trash related injuries—birds poisoned from lead weights, skunks with yogurt containers stuck on their heads, birds’ eyes poked out from fishing hooks. But the worst case she remembers was a raccoon whose paws were stuck in beer cans.” By littering animals are put in many different life threatening positions, that many can not recover from. Trash has had a major impact on the wild life and is causing many deaths for innocent animals. Johnson claims, “In Hawaii, more than 1,000 small pieces of plastic were found in the stomach of a sea turtle. Perhaps the most famous case involved a pygmy sperm whale stranded off the New Jersey coast in 1993. Inky, as she was called, had 3 square feet of plastic clogging her stomach.” The trash that is left around get caught in the water systems, travel to the ocean, and cause fatal injuries on animals. People do not realize that by littering they are putting other lives at risk by their carelessness. There are many animals who are injured by what we would consider “casual litter”. There had been many cases where animals were to fatally injured to recover and had to be put down. People don’t realize how even the simple things you throw out the window can cause a serious problem. Beer can plastics are especially harmful …show more content…
People of all ages and gender litter; there is no specific type of people to litter, just about everyone has littered before. When one trash is thrown out it allows other people to think that it is okay to litter as well. Littering affects everyone and people must learn to preserve wildlife. No one really realizes the effect littering can have on not only in everyone’s lives, but also the wild life itself. According to Keep America Beautiful, authors of “LITTER PREVENTION: WHY, WHO, WHERE”, “People of all ages and social backgrounds have been observed littering -- men and women, children, and all ages in between are likely to litter.” At some point everyone has littered, whether it was intentional or not. Keep America Beautiful also claims that “When illegal dumping occurs, days and sometimes weeks or months will pass before it gets cleaned up. In the meantime, people, animals and wildlife are naturally attracted, trash bags are opened, and the trash is distributed on the ground.” Animals are curious creatures and if they smell food, naturally the animals will want to go investigate it. As the trash is now exposed to the open, it can blow in the wind and travel to different places. There are easy ways to help prevent littering; Cathy, the author of the article “12 ways you can prevent litter”, states that “Set an example by not littering.” If you show good
Litter thrown on the ground has an affect on natural areas killing plants and animals. For example, it can result in a bird being stuck in a plastic bottle or a small creature in soda rings. Approximately 7,000
Numerous of people believe only certain races are homeless, but it is certainly not true. Compared to seventy six of the general population, thirty nine percent of Non-Hispanic white individuals are homeless. Compared to eleven percent of the general population, forty two percent of African-Americans are homeless. Compared to nine percent of the general population, thirteen percent of Hispanics are homeless. Compared to one percent of the general population, four percent of the homeless are Native-American. Two percent of homeless were Asians (“facts”). Family rejection of sexual orientation and identity was the most frequently cited factor of the LGBT homelessness. Fifty percent of young people that are homeless say parents notified them to leave or knew they were leaving and did not care (“Eleven facts about homeless”). The Williams Institute, said “forty percent of the homeless youth served by agencies identifies as LGBT. Forty
The city in discussion is New Haven, CT, where there are a number of people identify themselves as being homeless, residing in the streets. In the meantime, the number of homeless people continues to rise. A homeless person is an individual without permanent housing who may live on the streets; stay in a shelter, single room occupancy facilities, abandoned building or vehicle; or in any other unstable or non-permanent situation. According to Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness, a count conducted in 2016 for the state of Connecticut counted, 3,911 people were in a homeless shelter or transitional housing on the night of the count. It represented an overall decrease of four percent statewide from the following year, however, there are a still a
Littering is like a cause and effect when its saw or done others will do the same. In the essay “A Couple Of Really Neat Guys” Dave Barry uses comedy to explain the point of not to litter. He uses hyperbole and one liners to explain his opinion on littering. Littering is something Dave Barry feels very strong for and does not appreciate. So, instead of starting a debate or argument he uses comedy to effectively show his point. Using hyperbole and one liners/puns to show his point that littering is bad and people should throw their trash away.
Recently, an uninhabited island in the South Pacific Ocean was found to be polluted with 38 million pieces of plastic that had been carried over by currents (Wang, “No one lives on this remote Pacific island”). The island, dubbed ‘trash island’, is home to diverse animal populations that have all been devastated by the pollution. On the beach, hundreds of birds were seen dead by reporters and scientists. When analyzed, the primary cause of death turned out to be consumption of plastic. When animals ingest plastic, it clogs their stomach and poisons their body with toxic chemicals. These toxic chemicals cause an array of issues, such as reproductive and endocrine problems. Eventually, this leads to death (Knoblauch, “The environmental toll of plastics”). But due to the nature of plastics, it can take hundreds or even thousands of years to completely degrade, meaning that as plastic pollution continues to build up, more places like ‘trash island’ will be discovered. According to conservation scientist Alex Bond, “…[The island] is just an indicator of what’s floating around out there” (Wang, “No one lives on this remote Pacific
The world in which we live in at the moment has become poisonous. It has been poisoned by the human species’ daily survival activities. Humans around the world have taken for granted the daily impact that we have on the natural world. It all boil down to each and every breath that we take. Each and every breath that we exhale releases poisonous chemicals into the atmosphere. Until when our existence becomes absent, the world will remain poisoned.
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...
Do you know that there are about three trillion pounds of garbage on Earth? Sadly, these pieces of garbage kill animals when they eat the garbage because the garbage has a lot of harmful pathogens which sometimes give them serious diseases. Even the air pollution in the landfill can also harm the animals which can be a real danger to them because they can die or suffer in pain. If people recycle, then it wouldn't create this problem which is going on the world. People should recycle because it saves energy, reduces landfills, and saves money.
Plastic or paper, is a choice that people face when going to the grocery stores. Plastic bags are often the choice that is made. A controversial issue in the world today is the use of plastic bags. Plastic bags are used because of the convenience they give, by being able to carry several items at once. However, in the article, “Banning Bans, Not Bags”, Jennifer Schultz claims, “Plastic bags clog up local waterways, litter roadways, and get swallowed up by unsuspecting fish” (6). Plastic bags are used once, then are discarded or, littered all over the place. When they are littered all over they become problems for more than just humans. These plastic bags pose a big hazard for animals on land and in especially the ocean. Humans eat land and
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.
Although plastic bags appear to be fragile and light, their negative environmental effect is devastating. Plastic bags may cause large amounts of pollution in every step of their limited life cycle, from the extraction of raw materials, production, transportation, and recycling or disposal. Plastic bags can be defined as the most damaging form of environmental pollution. They can have a damaging effect on marine animals and wildlife in addition to the aesthetic effects on beaches, parks, and trees. Plastic bags are potentially one of the main causes of death to marine animals (Harbor keepers,2008). Up to one hundred thousand marine animals or more die each year from eating plastic bags which are mistaken for food. This can result in blocking the animal’s intestines and possibly lead to the animal’s death. Another possible situation is that wildlife, such as birds, can get tangled in plastic bags causing choking and immobility, which may eventually lead to death. (Senior, 2008) and (Citizen Campaign, 2010). In other situations, after plastic bags photo degrade they remain toxic and could be eaten by fish, shellfish or any other marine life and survive this allows the toxins to enter our food chain through bioaccumulation (Puget Soundkeeper Alliance, 2011).
Far too many people opt out of recycling; therefore initiatives should not be solely voluntary. Landfills are becoming more full, and air pollution has reached such high levels that there needs to be government mandates to address these serious and on-going issues. Cities such as San Francisco, Pittsburg, San Diego, Seattle, New York, Philadelphia, Connecticut, Florida and Honolulu have enacted mandatory recycling laws mainly due to difficulties in land fillings and dispos...
The people of America throw away more trash than any other society in the world! America consumes 80 percent of our planet's resources, even though we make up only 20 percent of the world's population (Cooper 267). The average person throws away 4.3 pounds of trash each day. That's about 30 pounds per week and 120 pounds per month! (“Reduce and Reuse” 1). Americans throw away too much - that's the bottom line (Cooper 265). There is a garbage crisis in America and “the only part of the anti-waste message that has taken hold to any noticeable degree is the call to recycle” (Cooper 267). Our country's issues on trash and recycling go hand in hand. America produces too much trash, and the environment is suffering. There is some effort being put into countering these issues through recycling and trash management, but is it enough? (Cooper 267).
People Need to Recycle In the United Sates, where the population is inflated every year. The amount of space for landfills decreases every day. The need for recycling should not be asked, it should just be done out of habit. Everyone in America needs to recycle, to help the lamdfill problem, help the environment, and help produce new products from recycled goods. In America there is about two-hundred and eight tons of residential and commercial trash generated a year, 4.3 pounds per person a day (Prichard 1A). This is an overwhelming amount of trashed produced yearly. When people recycle this number can be drastically cut. But many people do not practice and use recycling. Consumers and businesses should use the three R’s; recycle, reuse, and recharge (Prichard 1A). Consumers and businesses are producing more garbage than ever before. As a result, we are rapidly running out of landfill space. In 1979 America had close to 18,500 landfills, and by 1991 that number was nearly cut in half (Prichard 10A). Kentucky, Ohio, Minnesota, and Illinois will reach their maximum limit on landfills by the year 2005 (Prichard 10A). This whole garbage problem has forced us to try other options. Many of these options have been very unsuccessful. People have tried burning their garbage, that cause pollution to the environment. Some states even resorted to dropping their trash in the ocean, only to have the very same trash float ashore later. Dumping it on other states leads to feuding neighbors. Indiana passed a law to block imports of out-of-state trash, but a federal court ruled the law illegal (Prichard 10A). Instead of trying to find new ways to dump our trash, we need to find b...
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.