I spent yesterday morning with the kids cleaning up our local town. We did concentrate our efforts on the part opposite one of the local pubs but even so, don’t smokers know what a bin is?
I could not believe how many cigarette butts and bits of broken glass the girls and I found in our two hour stint. I am not usually that concerned with other peoples habbits but yesterday did make me think. I can honestly say that I never knowingly litter. My kids have been brought up to be the same. We are not perfect and occasionally forget to put something recyclable in the recycle bin. However, this is not a daily occurance or habit and neither is it for my kids.
I didn’t mention Clean up Australia to my children. They saw it adversised on the TV and wanted to do the right thing. I was happy to oblige! I was happy with my kids enthusiasm for picking up this rubbish and I was equally enthusiastic about their joy when they found a whole bag of empty beer bottles that were not broken and could therefore be recycled. The kids viewed it as a game but also knew the impacts that this rubbish could have on our wildlife.
Ok, so I am nearly at the end of my rant but just want to say one more thing. We joined in Clean up Australia to do just that. We were happy to help BUT after spending 2 hours cleaning up after people who can’t put their butts or bottles in the bin (which was located only meters away) I have to wonder what kind of world are we living in. We all make mistakes but this was just blatent lack of care – Please pick up your litter.
It has been said many times that small steps are required to bring on greater change. Surely it would only take minimal effort to put a bottle or butt in a bin. That small step could be the start of something big.
