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Laziness and Ignorance Prompts Littering

Gazette essay contest submission on the topic of why people litter so much in this area and what can be done about it.

What honestly prompts people to litter all over our beautiful north island is pure laziness. Laziness and ignorance. People are too lazy to wait until they get home and carry their garbage inside, and not willing to walk to the nearest garbage can. Most people do not understand the effects that littering has on our environment, and the consequences that come along with it.

There are many ways we could go about addressing this issue. The main thing that needs to be done is to raise awareness on the negative effects trash has on our environment. We should use social media to make people aware of how we are harming our environment, and place signs around that let people know that littering in illegal, and that if you are caught, there is a huge fine you will have to pay.

When we throw our garbage around, we are polluting all of our waterways, therefore hurting our marine life. Birds end up digesting garbage, like chewed gum and wrappers, and it kills them. Besides all that, trash is just not very appealing to look at.

We live in a beautiful place, so why are we trying to change that?  The issue of littering is not taken seriously enough, and it may come as a surprise to many people that there are actual laws against it.

The North Island is a very beautiful place, but in order to keep it that way, we need to protect it from things that us as humans can control, such as littering. We need to place more garbage cans around, raise awareness of the fees you pay for littering, and really just learn to not be so lazy.