Littering: What Goes Around Comes Around

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BARRY CHEUNG
Staff Writer

What counts as litter? Litter is any kind of substance or object that is thrown out to pollute and ruin anything in the environment, including the inhabitants. Littering is performed countless times, but detrimental effects are
caused by such carelessness. However, in order to prevent these negative effects, it is important to be cognizant of one’s responsibilities and stop littering before more health or environmental impacts arise.

In recent years, the environment has been severely damaged from littering. Trash is found lying around, posing harms to animals from inhibiting their natural habitats to food poisoning from food scraps. These trash are not only contaminated, but may also weaken the animal’s health and eventually, our own.

According to the Science Leadership Academy, animals may ingest infectious trash and then animals or humans eat these infected animals. After the 2011 tsunami in Japan, a total of 11 million liters of radioactive water was dumped into the Pacific Ocean by the Japanese government. This affected the Pacific Bluefin Tuna which began to exhibit signs of radiation poisoning, which harms consumers of these fish. Additionally, plastic has been the object that is littered most into the Pacific Ocean. The plastic absorbs toxic chemicals that cannot be dissolved in the water and are eaten by fish, harming the next predators who eat the fish. This continuous cycle can lead to the poisoning of the whole food chain.

According to the Chintimini Wildlife Center, a huge amount of litter is found in bodies of water. The litter eventually dissolves and releases toxins into the water. This water evaporates, releasing poisonous gases into the air. Diseases that arise from littering include hantavirus and malaria, which involves poisoning from heavy metals and toxic chemicals being thrown out daily.

No good comes from littering; it hurts the environment, wild animals and individuals, including those who littered. In order to maintain sustainability, pick up a soda can, stray newspaper, candy wrapper or even a cigarette butt. Imagine how much cleaner the planet would be!