[The Weekly Opinion] What to do with garbage?

Dear Steemit readers,

As some of you might have read in my introduction which you can find here, I spend some of my spare time cleaning nature. If there’s garbage to be found on a beach or on a mountain, I will go there and remove it. Afterwards I look for recycling containers and throw every kind of garbage in its respective container.

Would you like to see this pool filled with plastic? I know I don't!

Now, my first concern is, I live in Málaga in the south of Spain. And to be honest, people here don’t care much about the environment. People generally throw stuff on the street or they go drinking on the beach and leave empty bottles, plastic wraps, etcetera. Sadly, most of this stuff finds its way to the ocean and pollutes the water.

This results in various kinds of problems: the destruction of our sea’s fauna and flora, swimming in places with plastic all around you and what most people do not realize, some fish eat the plastic mistaking it for food. The plastic ends up in the stomach of the fish, and at some point that fish might end up on our plate. So don’t be surprised if in the future you will find pieces of plastic between your grilled tuna. Who’s to blame? The big part of humanity that does not want to walk 5 minutes more to throw their garbage in the bin.

I too enjoy a cold beer on the beach on a sunny day. But I always take the bottle back and bring it to a glass container.

I don’t know about you, but I think it’s just sad. We have so many amazing, beautiful places on this earth but little by little we’re destroying it all. A lot of people have said it before, humans do not deserve the earth. All we do is destroy, hurt each other, get animals extinct, destroy forests, etcetera. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not an anti-natalist (person who believes humans should go extinct) but I think it’s time we should take responsibility for our actions and try to make things right. Stop thinking about filling your pockets with money and think of making the world a better place. With great power comes great responsibility (yes, I’m a Spiderman fan).

I’m currently trying to get more people to become eco-conscious and have more respect for nature. But it’s difficult. In my opinion, most Spanish people in the south have not been educated that way. Luckily some are coming around and we are building a group to start doing more clean-ups and other activities.

I would like to hear some opinions of my fellow Steemians. What do you think about cleaning up beaches and mountains? What other course of action should we also consider? Are there any good ways to make people more conscious about it? Any help is appreciated! The final goal is to start a small NGO and completely focus on cleaning, recycling, producing ecological products that do no harm to nature and even plant trees (reforestation).

Most beaches have garbage cans or bins, so why shouldn't we use them?

Life shouldn’t always be about money, let’s take a moment to enjoy the little things. Try to pick up some random item of garbage today and drop it in a garbage bin. You’ll feel better for doing something good, you’ll see! If not, help someone in need, give a coin to the poor, adopt a dog,… There’s so many ways we can make things better! Share your experiences with me, I will be happy to read about them!

Much love!

respectlife