Trash

In this speech, I will be talking about how we can make a slight difference to a huge worldwide problem. Littering is a problem, small enough for some people to not notice but big enough that it causes significant negative impacts on our planet. 

There is trash everywhere not only does it pollute our environment but it’s just not appealing. When you see trash on the ground it makes you think little of that place. It makes you think that it’s an ugly environment that you don’t want to be a part of. Also, the trash that people drop or throw out usually ends up in landfills. Those landfills get bigger every year. Eventually, we will run out of space for landfills and that would mean less space for us. 

Litter also has a huge impact on our ecosystem in many different ways. Trash that we drop on the ground makes it way to drains, which leads to creeks, rivers and eventually the ocean. That trash looks a lot like different foods that sea creatures would eat. A lot of ocean life has been harmed by this. Over 1 million marine animals including mammals, fish, sharks, turtles, and birds die from plastic trash a year. It's estimated that's there are about 100 million pieces of plastic in the ocean around the world. Imagine all that beauty that you have seen in the ocean covered and destroyed by plastic and trash that we put there. All of it is caused by us.

Now what can you do to possibly stop this problem or at least try to reverse it? There are a few ways to help this global problem. It might not seem like it but just picking up one or two pieces of trash a day that you find on the ground will really help. Think about it, you could be picking up almost 700 pieces of trash a year, and that’s a significant difference. Especially if you get others involved and spread awareness about this problem. Also, if you want to reduce the amount of trash in landfills, there are a few ways to help. About 20% of landfills is food waste. That food sitting there eventually releases methane which is an incredibly harmful greenhouse gas. Instead of throwing away food waste you can compost almost 80% of your food waste; the food turns into the soil that you could use for plants or really anything. A lot of people don’t always realize what they could be doing instead of throwing away their trash. Roughly 70% of items in landfills could be recycled, but many don’t know that.

I strongly believe that it’s not too late to reverse the damage we have done so far. If everyone puts in some effort to do one of these things we might be able to save our planet. Thank you!