Litter is Murder.
Everyone has always been entitled to an opinion.
Social media has made it to where everyone abuses that "right," and this has led to grey areas in many things.
Things that get debated on in the comments section of whatever platform you're on, and everyone chimes in with their "expert" opinion on the matter.
We are all guilty. Me for sure.
Some of y'all way more than others.
So in a digital world that now fills us with grey areas on just about any topic you can think of, one statement, can be universally accepted as wrong, and it allows no possible rebuttal.
Littering, especially in our oceans, is wrong.
Wrong.
If you are out there purposely littering. You're scum.
Scum.
Not littering like a banana peel, or apple core, or maybe even one of those "eh" burritos from the corner store, that's all food. That's all fine.
That's not littering.
(Port Mansfield's Chamber of Commerce Pavilion)
I mean a crushed beer can, or energy drink, or PLASTIC bottle of water.
Things like this.
You are scum.
But alas, some of you still do this. Still litter. Still don't pick up that piece of trash you just saw on the floor.
(Trash bags collected from the coast along the East Cut Jetties on South Padre Island)
Blatant littering is a crazy concept. As a kid I remember doing it. But I was a kid. I snapped pretty young, and just haven't since.
On top of that, if I see trash flying around, and if it's not TOTALLY out of my way, I grab it and toss it in the trash. Cause that's what you're suppose to do.
(Volunteers passing bags in a human chain that was collected along shores)
The fact that the world is heating up is also one that should be in those statements that you can't rebuttal.
To me it actually is.
But theres quite a few out there that aren't...how should I put this nicely...hip to the idea, that we are slowly MURDERING the planet with all the smog and emissions and also MURDERING our oceans ecosystem by commercial over fishing, polluting, and...plastic.
So when I was invited to the 11th Annual Port Mansfield Beach and Cut Cleanup, I jumped at the chance to go document this.
Once a year, for the past 11 years, people go to Port Mansfield with the intentions of picking up trash along the coast where not much human traffic happens.
Considering the lack of human traffic, the amount of trash that makes its way there via water currents is alarming. This is just East Cut at little Ol' South Padre Island getting this much trash.
So people donate their boats for the day, load them up with volunteers, and they walk the coasts combing them for trash and disposing of it properly in bright orange bags.
(US 281 Truck & Trailer Services were on of the many business that donated their time and boat)
Trash is inevitable. It's how we handle it that makes the difference.
Next time you see a plastic lid, or bag, or any piece of trash, grab it and throw it away. If it doesn't help, it also doesn't hurt. Don't have a crappy attitude.
If everyone got on the same wave of keeping trash in a contained place as much as possible instead of just throwing it out anywhere when you're done with it, the change for the betterment of our planet would be inevitable as well.
(Volunteers for the 11th Annual Port Mansfield Beach & Cut Cleanup)
This even was a wonderful experience, and I'm glad that there are people out there that care enough to donate their time to help.
This blog post was more about how this even made me feel after seeing all the trash that we picked up that day in just a few hours. Something has to change. This isn't sustainable. We might not see it, but our kids or grandkids sure will.
You can see the video I put together for this event here :
