My deal with nature.
The Beach, Camping, and ´Chilling´ in the Park" season has officially arrived. Spring is here and I can´t wait to spend some time outside. During this time, I love swimming at the beach, hiking with my man or simply having a beer with my friends in a park.
This year I was blessed to spend a few days on the beach in Vietnam and hike the Pap of Glencoe in Scotland. Both experiences made me love and cherish our earth even more. And both made me realize how much nature's beauty is impacted by our recycling behavior.
Some places gave me the chance to really focus on the beauty of its nature und unfortunately some places were shadowed by floating trash. After this experience and inspired by this beautiful blogger Hanna I made a promise to myself: Whenever I am in nature and see trash within my limits, I will pick it up. This is my way to contribute to our nature. It is so easy and takes barely additional time. After having a joyful day in a park, why leave the chips bag only a few meters away from me? Just because I did not leave it there?
Once you start you will realize how much people leave behind, and it´s not all trash. I even found shampoo, which I took back and left it in the hotel. Who knows, before it ends unused in the ocean, maybe someone will be happy to use it.
I know I might be naive and some will end up anyways somewhere back in the ocean or on trash hills. But I don´t have a better solution at this point. Nature, animals and life revolving around it have a right to have a clean place. We should respect it.
It´s a known circumstance: people behave differently based on their surroundings. In clean places people tend to carry their stuff to the next trash bin, once the place around you is the trash bin, some people tend to treat it that way.
BUT, we can do something about it. Since I am not alone in this challenge, I believe we will see how parks, hiking trails and forests will get cleaner and cleaner every year. "Once recycling is perceived as a normal activity"* (chapter 6.13), it might feel less of a burden and more people will follow. See yourself!
Just check on Instagram or google the following hashtags and you will find so many inspiring people and stories: #trashtag #2MinutesBeachClean #plasticfree
*Interesting aspects about waste and recycling behavior you can read here: Environmental Literacy in Science and Society by Roland W. Scholz, Cambridge University Press