Communities all around the world are dealing with climate change. There are more and more people taking actions in the pursuit to solve some of the problems. From the Cancun climate change talks, to teach-ins, and every day actions, such as, cleaning the streets in Richmond. Here at the RYSE center some of the youth have taken they’re time to express themselves about the issue of littering. Richmond, mostly in the low-income neighborhoods has trouble with littering. However, people are taking actions, from creating videos, to writing blogs, and taking action in the streets.
But! Have you ever wondered where a lot of our litter goes? And how much of our trash actually gets recycled? There is a plastic island, known as the North Pacific Garbage Path. It is estimated to be larger than Texas or even larger but no one knows exact size. We have a huge problem with our recycling system, only about 27% of all plastic gets recycled. However, we need to start with the basics! Which means cleaning up the garbage in the streets and stopping littering. Check out what folks have to say about littering down below!
Will attends Kennedy High in Richmond, Ca. He is concerned about environmental issues. Will also works for the RYSE Center, and does vblogs…check them out!
In Richmond California, littering is a well known thing. It is ordinary, it’s accepted but unacceptable. The morality behind littering is very much ignored. Littering is one of the main reasons a city or area is deemed unhealthy. Because of litter people loose respect for their city. When people loose respect, nothing good is to come. It’s VERY unhealthy. In order to live in a healthy environment, one must respect it. In order to be healthy one most respect themselves physically and mentally. In order to respect one’s self one must respect its environment. Richmond California’s environment and health has been harshly effected by littering (in what ways? What about the Richmond landfill?). It has affected us by making us seem like dirty people, disrespectful people and overall lazy people.
The cure to litter is very simple. Media. Through positive media we as a people can eliminate the struggles with the blasphemous act of littering. The real reason many people litter is because they’ve never been seriously told by a close role model about the serious impact of littering. Littering dose a greater negative then most people think. Littering is one of the many reasons people are refrain from entering an environment or helping it. Many people may think, “If they don’t care about, why should I?”
SO, we as a people must do what we can to be positive role models to our peers and stand up against the terrors of litter.
What are small things people can do in an every day basis to help the cause?
For more information check out the following Links: http://extra.mdc.mo.gov/nomoretrash/
To see how children can help the cause.
http://www.worldvolunteerweb.org/news-views/news/doc/anti-littering-campaign.html
TO learn how not so large groups make differences.
http://www.divinecaroline.com/22370/101238-take-action-start-no-littering-campaign
For more information on cars and that type of littering
Jose is another youth who attends Kennedy High, and his concerns also include environmental issues as well.
Littering
When I see litter on the ground it makes me pretty angry. I start to think, “Why don’t people care?” You hear people complain and talk about how dirty a place is even though most of them either contribute to the problem or don’t do anything about it. It really makes me angry when I see people littering. If they are at distance where I can say something to them, without having to scream at them and seem to be aggressive, then most likely I will tell them to pick up whatever they threw on the floor.
There was this one time not too long ago when noticed someone throw a can on the ground and then just walk away. I was in Oakland with my friend and his dad who was driving. Watching that made me so mad that I accidentally dropped the F-bomb out loud while his dad was still in the car. I quickly realized what I said and tried to cover it up. My friend was laughing hysterically and I just laughed a little, because I also found it funny.
My friends and I dislike littering so much that we made a game where we have to pick up trash and throw it away if we step on it or touch some while we are walking. We mostly pick up bottles and look for recycling bins when we play this game instead of just throwing them away in the trash and not recycling. Throwing away your trash shouldn’t be hard. Actually isn’t there are at least one trash bin available on just about every block in any neighborhood.
I for one do not litter and you shouldn’t either! Why? First of all when you see a clean neighborhood what do you think? What I think is a little like...”Hey, this place looks nice and not raggedy, I like it. I might come back more often“. Now if I were rich and saw a clean community I would probably think something along the lines of…”Hey this place is pretty nice and clean, maybe I should invest in this nice neighborhood since it seems like they know how to take care of their streets”. Well that would be if I were “ballin”, that means I would have to have alooooot of money. Now If I was still loaded with money and saw a community that’s dirty with some litter on the ground even though there were trash cans around, then I would have to think twice about investing money.
Having a nice clean community will have people coming back to it and investing in it. It will also be beneficial for the air and people’s health. With less crap on the floor releasing chemicals into the air, it will obviously be less harmful to people who breathe that air. Like I said, Don’t litter, It’s better for you, your health, and your community.