Stop Littering People!

There's an old winding road I drive down everyday that leads to the neighborhood where I live. It's quite lovely with the rolling hills, curves and many trees that line the way. Sometimes, however, people who are too lazy to properly throw away their trash ruin this road's natural beauty. When I see entire What-a-burger bags on the side of the road I admittedly get steamed and wish a cop happened to see the person throw it out their car window and slapped them with a "Don't mess with Texas"-sized fine. How lazy and stupid can you be to throw trash out your window? "Outside" does not mean "your personal trashcan". Is it that hard to wait until you get home or wherever you're going to throw it away? It's not THAT hard to find a trashcan - duh!

ANYWAYS, enough of my rant and on with some facts about littering...

• Littering can cost us (taxpayers) up to 10 times the amount to clean up litter than it does to dispose of trash properly.


• Litter sitting for long periods of time can collect water and harvest deadly mosquitoes.


• Litter can attract more litter and fall into waterways and even into the ocean. This water-bound litter can kill marine life that thinks it is food.


• Even the seemingly littlest item, such as a cigarette butt can take up to 15 years to disappear from the environment, and it too kills life as animals eat them thinking they are food. As they breakdown, toxic elements leach into the soil and waterways.


• Gum takes up to 25 years to disappear from the environment. A six-pack's plastic yoke takes up to 450 years.


• 6.4 million tons of litter winds up in the oceans each year. Ever hear of the "Plastic Vortex"? Litter from all around the world ends up in this floating garbage patch, brought together by the oceanic currents.

So, stop littering people! Keep our Earth beautiful and stop costing yourselves tax dollars. Think of the life that is being harmed by litter. Take 5 extra steps today to the trashcan instead of throwing trash outside. Spread the word and report litterbugs. If you walk by a piece of trash, pick it up and throw it away. Maybe you will inspire others who see you doing this act of selflessness.

Visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Litter for more info.