There was a study done where they found that if garbage is on the ground more people will litter. They will not care for their space. But if the place is kept up and there is no garbage on the ground, people will not only refrain from littering, they will also pick up trash.

We are hitting maximum trashiness on this Earth. We have so many containers and wrappers that now they are everywhere. They are becoming part of the soil and there are very few environments that do not have wrappers hanging from trees or cans in the bushes.

On a walk I saw an amazing boulder, completely round and alone in an empty field, as if it were placed there by a giant. It was probably dropped by a glacier as it melted a couple thousand years ago. It felt like a sacred spot. I rested, leaning against the rock listening to the birds. I prayed and communed with this natural anomaly. The next day when I returned, broken bottles littered the area. Some people had come and smashed bottles against the rock. My heart was as broken as the glass shards. How could people be so shallow and thoughtless. Now I couldn’t even approach the rock with glass all over and around it. This illustrated the differences in mental worlds. Are we haters, destroyers, and self-absorbed or are we lovers, creators, and care about others? This is the crux of the issue at hand.

We have all these fights: Government is fighting itself. Industry is fighting the environmentalist, even families are fighting. But I don’t want to fight. It seems so simple – all we must do is care! Doing the right thing shouldn’t be so complicated. Yet it is.

I can’t make the government pass environmental laws or stop the oil industry, but I can buy a small electric car and refrain from buying plastic wrapped foods or things with too much packaging. I can also pick up trash in beautiful places. I know it is just going to a dump somewhere else on the Earth, but my hope is at least it is contained, and some future civilization will mine those areas. It doesn’t seem like much to pick up trash, but it is the mental moment that is rewarding. The feeling of caring is a prayer for a better world.