Littering

Research:

Murder, rape and theft are all serious crimes that happen every so often.  Deforestation, global warming, and continued use of fossil fuels are common factors that are deteriorating ecosystems.  We often hear about these causes and their effects on the news and social media outlets.  But what is one problem that has commonalities with crimes and environmental crises?  Although the answer is underwhelming, it is true: littering is both an environmental problem and a crime that has its own harmful effects and must be treated.  In fact, surveyors at the JB Green Team organization found that “94% of people identify litter as a major environmental problem and yet people still litter” (Illegal Dumping & Litter).  The article then touches upon the main reasons for littering: ultimately some people are careless and litter attracts more litter.  The article then proceeds to cover effects of littering.  For instance, “[l]itter discarded in streets and parks can travel through the storm water system to our rivers and creeks, where it can cause harm to wildlife” (Illegal Dumping & Litter).  Further negative impacts include large financial cost required for communities to clean-up litter, litter being a threat to public health, as well as litter ruining the appearance of public spaces.  The last effect caught the attention of the LA Times as they wrote, “‘[t]he Times feels it's performing a civic duty in calling to the attention of its citizens these disgraceful conditions, and hopes as a result that enough civic pride will be engendered to correct this unhealthy state of affairs’" (L.A. has long been told to clean up its act).  Much like the LA Times, I hope to shed some light on this topic as an instance of civic engagement.  Once again, litter may not be as atrocious as murder or deforestation, however, it is a problem that we must treat before it gets out of hand. 

References:

"Illegal Dumping & Litter." JB Green Team. Em-Media Inc, 26 Mar. 2011. Web. 13 Apr. 2017. <http://www.jbgreenteam.org/litter-preventioncollection/>.

"L.A. has long been told to clean up its act." Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, 22 Dec. 2014. Web. 13 Apr. 2017. <http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-california-retrospective-20141222-story.html>.

Personal:

While littering isn’t a problem prevalent in the media, it is an issue that plagues societies and communities all over the world.  Personally, the community that I live in isn’t awfully strict on littering, thus, at times it attracts some litter.  During my high school days, I often joined extracurricular activities and groups that handled environmental topics.  Often we had sessions where students, including myself, would head to our local section of the L.A. River, and clean up.  Surprisingly, there was lots of litter and trash spread around the area.  The number of people we had was not enough to clear up everything but we did all that we could in the limited time we had.  However, all of that could have been avoided if people did not carelessly dump trash everywhere.  Specifically, for the L.A. River, the endpoint for all litter would be the ocean where all the trash would wreak havoc on marine life.  All these effects are easily avoidable if we take one extra step; avoid being careless and throw trash away where it belongs.
Community Member Interviewees:

Jesus Castillo

                                                           

Bowie Basaya

                                                           

Ishaq Memon