Earth’s radius is 3,959 miles around. 7 Billion humans live on these 3,959 miles. Among these 7 billion humans 8. 7 million other species live. And out of these 8. 7 million 100,000 go extinct each year. Out of the 7 billion humans 25,000 are killed in car accidents. 7 billion humans have created 75 trillion dollars. Of that 75 trillion dollars 11. 5 billion dollars is being wasted every year. But what is killing off these animals? What is taking money away? What is causing these car accidents? It’s something you may think so simple. Littering. Littering affects every living thing on this planet from plants to animals.
There are 8. 7 million species on this planet but there is only one species that destroys its home. Humans destroy the earth, we destroy the earth. Most people assume that littering only impacts the animals and our water, and it does, but littering has to power to destroy our economy. We give it that power. Every year programs like Keep America Beautiful, Begin with the Bin, and Litter Project take 11. 5 billion dollars to clean up the trash that is being littered. That is a lot of money being spent to clean up after others. The economy is affected in other ways.
Litter reduces a homes value anywhere from 10 to 24 percent. It reduces property value by 7 percent. But what really hurts places with a lot of litter is up to 36 percent of business say they would never build or sell in a littered area because no one wants to shop at a place where there is a lot of trash. This means not enough money is being brought to towns and cities simply because people litter. Littering can be deadly to the living things that walk and exist on this planet. People think nothing of it when they throw things on the ground instead of in the trash.
They think “well it’s just this one little thing it doesn’t matter”. But if everyone is thinking the same thing we end up with massive amounts of trash. 250 million bags of trash are generated each year. This littering may seem harmless but in reality 7,000 lives are taken away from animals every year. This number will only increase if littering continues. Why is it fair that an animal’s life is cut short or a whole species goes endangered simply because we are too lazy to find a trashcan. All animals are affected but the marine life are the animals affected most by littering.
Approximately 1. billion tons of trash goes into the ocean every year even though the amount of trash generated each year is 250 million. All of the commercials and all of the ads you see about littering and the effects on animals are not an exaggeration. Well most of them. Animals are the ones who suffer the most from the damage we do. It may not be so noticeable here where we live but littering can influence the way us humans live our lives. If you are a litterer you can get fined anywhere from $20 to $30,000 dollars. But more importantly littering pollutes the water making it unsafe to drink and even swim in.
This is true for not only bodies of water but for groundwater as well. Littering and places with a heavy amount of littering threatens the wellbeing of people and animals. It attracts diseases, bacteria, and veromon. But above all litter attracts more litter. People are most likely going to throw trash on the ground if they see other pieces of trash. Littering can also be a fire hazard. All you would need is a pile of trash and someone to come along and throw a cigarette down on the ground. And if cigarettes weren’t bad enough they are the number one item littered bring it to 50% of all litter on earth.
For most smokers they don’t really think about what they are doing. They don’t know that cigarettes take up to 10 years to disintegrate. The trash we carelessly walk by and maybe even the trash we have littered ourselves will affect you. When it comes to littering what goes on the ground comes back around. Would you believe it if I told you there is 2. 6 trillion pounds of trash on this Earth? Well there is. To tell you the truth there isn’t anything we can do about it. We just have to wait while the Earth does it’s job to disintegrate all of it and that can take awhile.
Styrofoam and plastic take 1 million years to decompose. Aluminum takes 200 to 500 years. We can throw trash on the ground and “get rid of it” but this trash never actually leaves at least not for awhile. No matter what we do littering will always happen there is no way to ensure that everyone will join together to stop it. But you can put up a good fight to save the planet and the other roommates that we share this planet with. Although small you can make a difference. Just think you are one of 7 billion and you have the power to prevent some of the 8. million species to live and not join the 100,000 that go extinct.
We all live in this big house called earth together. We all have chores to do and everyone has to do their part. So do your part. The next time you see trash on the ground pick it up. Before you throw something away stop and think if it can be recycle. Don’t be lazy and drop or throw your trash on the ground walk over to the nearest trashcan and throw it away. This earth is beautiful and you can help make sure it stays that way. Imagine driving down the highway and seeing clean streets.
Imagine going to the beach and see unsoiled sand and clear waters. We all live in a beautiful home. And we share it with many different people and creatures. But we have stopped seeing the beauty in our home and in our roommates. So do your part and clean up. If you put in the effort others will surely follow. The change for a better home can start with you. We live in a home that is 3,959 miles around. In this home we have many great sites and many fascinating people and creatures. Littering and waste could destroy it but with help and effort from everyone we can make our home safe and beautiful again.