DON'T TREAT MOTHER EARTH LIKE A GIGANTIC GARBAGE BIN

 DON'T  TREAT MOTHER EARTH LIKE A GIGANTIC GARBAGE BIN

On Sunday, October 15, the Barrie Garden Club ventured out on a dark, dreary, and drizzly day to pick up litter, along Highway 26 close to Wilson Avenue.

As I was picking up all kinds of litter such as license plates, chairs, discarded clothing, plastic bags, lots

 of cigarette butts, and a myriad of discarded coffee containers, I began to reflect on all the problems triggered by litter.

Here in Canada, we are very lucky to have an organized system where most municipalities and cities

 make sure that there are regular pick-ups for your garbage, compost, and recyclables.

So it boggles my mind why so many Canadians do not use the readily provided containers, but instead

 treat Mother Earth like a gigantic garbage bin.

I simply cannot understand when someone buys a cup of coffee, they then go for a long hike, they

 manage to carry the cup full of coffee, but the minute it’s empty, they simply cannot manage to carry

 it back home and place it in recycling.

I started to think about what I’ve observed in other countries in Europe. When travelling through rural

 areas in Norway, I never saw a farm with rusty discarded farm equipment or any kind of litter. The

 citizens obviously are very proud of their country, and they want it to be as ecologically healthy, and as

 wow-inspiring as possible. Not only is litter extremely unsightly, but unfortunately, it has a very

 damaging impact on the ecological health of flora and fauna. When cigarette butts are discarded,

 wildlife may eat the filters and die from poisoning. Chemicals from the filter may leach into the soil

 and prevent plants from getting nutrients needed to survive and thrive.

Most people may not realize that plastic bags carelessly thrown out of the window of a car can actually

 end up killing aquatic life in the ocean. You might wonder how is that possible? Plastic shopping bags

 are light and they will blow here and there  in the wind. Many of them will end up in lakes and rivers.

 And, all rivers eventually drain into the ocean.

Since plastic bags may take up to 1, 000 years to decompose, plastic bags irresponsibly discarded

 anywhere in a few years could end up in the ocean. So any marine animals, like a dolphin or a seabird

 that ingest this plastic will probably die an agonizing death.

Microplastics are created as plastic waste breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces over time. 

Microplastics today are found from the Arctic to the Antarctic, and in the deepest part of the ocean.

 Over a million marine animals die every year simply because people all over the world have chosen to

 let plastic litter be dumped into the environment.

In 239 cleanups spanning 42 countries and six continents completed by the Break Free From Plastic

 movement discovered that Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and Nestle were the most frequent companies

 identified with plastic litter in the oceans.

Global coordinator from Break Free From Plastic Von Hernandez stated,“By continuing to churn out

 problematic and unrecyclable throwaway plastic packaging for the products these companies are

 guilty of trashing the planet, on a massive scale!”

In a study from the Netherlands in 2023 , they found microplastics in the samples of blood. 

Medical experts have no idea what kind of havoc these microplastics will have on our health and what

 kind of unknown ailments they might trigger.

So every time anyone carelessly discards any kind of plastic on the ground, they might trigger their

 own trip to the emergency room.

If all levels of government started to fill the airwaves with ads highlighting the very alarming

 consequences of reckless littering, it hopefully will convince people to think twice and do the right

 thing.