Stop littering
Stop littering
I am a 15-year-old student at Honokaa High School. If you don’t mind, I would like to bring up a serious issue I think we have in Hawaii: littering.
Hopefully, the more people who are aware of this issue and the effects littering is having on our island, the more people will be motivated to do something to stop it.
Littering is a big problem in Hawaii. Many people don’t even consider this issue, but I assure you, it is not something to ignore. Littering takes away Hawaii’s natural beauty. It ruins the sights of the serene valleys, cliffs, grassy pastures and sandy beaches when you see piles of garbage sitting around, or old cars lying there rusting with weeds growing out of them.
Littering not only takes away Hawaii’s beauty, but it also harms the animals living here. Sea animals can be seriously harmed or die if they swallow a piece of garbage, such as cigarettes or silicon packets, when it gets twisted up in their stomach. Sea turtles and other creatures can be strangled by plastic rings laying on the beach or floating in the ocean, left by some careless individual. Littering also can harm plants by smothering them, and animals by polluting their environment.
Littering also can come back to harm humans when the fish we eat also might have eaten garbage or plastic. It also can cause people to be injured if someone steps on glass or cuts themselves on metal while walking with their feet unprotected.
Vehicle accidents can be caused by trash, buckets or boxes laying in the road, causing cars to swerve to try and avoid them. Chemical runoff or illegal dumping also can seep into groundwater or travel through waterways into our oceans. Nobody wants to go to a beach with pieces of trash floating around in the water or bottles and plastic bags on the beach.
Overall, littering is a big issue, and it’s important we take steps to stop it. My suggestion for ending littering would be to have everyone work together to try and pick up trash we see. Schools should have community service activities, where high school students pick up trash in your neighborhood, or in parks or designated areas where you know littering occurred.
I think the best solution to stop littering is to try and prevent it in the first place. You can make the choice that every time you see trash on the ground, make the effort to pick it up, no matter how insignificant it might seem. That small act can make the biggest difference if everyone makes the commitment.
Ask people to think twice before they throw trash on the ground. Think about the environment and animals you could be hurting and instead find a trash can. This can save animals’ lives and preserve our island’s landscapes.
Leiana Andrade Stout
Honokaa