Litter bug (warning slight rant ahead)

I was watching a documentary last night on the degeneration of coral reefs in the world due to global warming (very interesting).  During the program the guy picked up rubbish out of the pristine sea and with a sad face plonked it in the boat.  It reminded me of being in Fiji.  What a beautiful Island that is, my husband was born there and on our visit we saw all sides of that wonderful country.  The most disturbing part of our trip was the resorts.  It saddened me that all these tourists who were sucking up what Fiji had to offer cared so little for the place that they just let their rubbish float out into the sea.  

We used to enjoy Kayaking in this little bay at our resort.  Everyday when I took the kids out, there was always rubbish floating on the waters edge.  It was a different Fiji than I had expected to see.  Other visitors would just zoom on past all this rubbish, Kayaking out to the lovely reefs... I couldn’t...  I couldn’t just float by and ignore the chippie packets and chocolate wrappers discarded in the water.  I felt like I was grieving for the place this used to be before the rubbish arrived.  So being the mean mum I am, our Kayaking trip usually started in a ‘see how much rubbish you can pick up’ competition and it wasn't' over until the rubbish was gone.  Actually come to think of it, it’s not being a mean mum; it’s raising environmentally responsible children. Just because you didn’t drop it, it doesn’t make it any less your responsibility.    

It’s not just Fiji, its everywhere, I came back from dropping my son off at school this morning with a sick daughter still in the car and she said “Mum someone dropped their McDonalds rubbish on the roadside.”  It makes me sad, who the hell thinks it’s OK to just throw rubbish out of the window of their car and litter all over our so called clean green country.  There is always rubbish on the main road next to us and the only thing that stops me from dragging the kids out there to pick it up is that it is a very busy road and dangerous to be on.   Come on people if I can pick up my recycling that flies 800 meters down the road then surely other people can hold onto their rubbish until they get where they are going.

Do people just not think about the consequence of their actions?  If everyone was as lazy as them then this country would look like a hideous rubbish tip.  Forget the lazy #$%@ that drop their rubbish on purpose, we need to become more responsible for cleaning up our country.  Yes we didn’t do it, but that doesn’t mean we should ignore it.  We need to care enough to put some effort in to looking after this beautiful place we call home. 

What can I do? You ask.  It’s as simple as picking up that rubbish you see on the footpath, showing others by example that that’s what we need to do, teaching your children that even though it’s not their rubbish, that they are still responsible for it.  Its a never ending lesson, my kids still walk past rubbish as if its not there.

On that note, teaching them that if it’s too gross, don’t touch it J but maybe ask for help (I’ve seen some stuff in my time that I would not want my child to touch).  Again may I state that some people are really disgusting.

OK rant over, I’m not even going to go into the fact that advertising, packaging and the general greed of consumers is what the problem is.  I am no better than the next person in regards to this.  Sometimes I wonder what we have done to this world we have been given to look after.