How Littering Negatively Affects our Environment.
The Earth is a beautiful planet filled with extraordinary scenes of natural beauty that is not projected to be preserved much longer. The lazy, disrespectful human population slowly ruins the worlds nature everyday through littering. Some are quick to say that littering does not negatively affect our environment, it simply just looks bad and that's the extent of its harm. Those who believe this are wrong. Next to its disgusting look, littering can cause fire hazards, endanger animals, become a health hazard, and can be costly for everyone. Littering, without a doubt, has harmed this Earth and will continue to damage things if it keeps accumulating at such an alarming rate.
The most common piece of trash we think of being thrown on the ground is probably cigarette butts, “though small they can be very dangerous” (Cruice-Barnett). The chemicals they contain pollute our soil and water. Millions of butts get thrown on the ground by the millions of people who smoke everyday but there are many different types of litter than just that. “Litter is any trash thrown, discarded or dropped by a person onto public property, private property not owned by the individual, or into waterways” (Illegal Dumping and Litter 2017). Litter comes from people dropping their trash on the streets, illegal dumping, throwing trash out of motor vehicles whether intentional or unintentional like “uncovered loads, items that are not secure can easily be blown out of trucks and cause roadside littering” (Illegal Dumping and Litter 2017). All of these methods of littering accumulate into highly concentrated areas of waste that are an eyesore compared to the beauty nature offers.
Animals encounter litter and often mistake it as food and do not recognize it for the danger it is. Animals cannot digest plastic and they usually die from these obstructions. Small animals often get themselves stuck in things like bottles or jars and die from starvation. Not only does littering look gross but “the trash can contain diseases as well, that can be passed between animals that eat it” (Cruice-Barnett). Other toxins are ingested by animals when they eat litter and “these toxins may cause blood clotting, seizures or serious medical issues that can kill animals.” (Irving 2017). Littering includes all the plastic, glass, paper, or styrofoam products we discard of that affects animals by ingestion or physically trapping them but also things like chemicals or gas dumped places or even medical waste.
By Harly Hodge
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