Nowadays, the problem of excessive garbage on the streets of New York has become very important. According to “12 Things New Yorkers Should Know About Their Garbage”, unfortunately, New York doesn’t rely on technology when it comes to collecting trash (6). Writers of another article called “Trash and the City” state that “New York City’s waste transfer system creates three negative byproducts: traffic congestion, air pollution and environmental injustice” (Cruz, Outerbridge and Tripp 4). One can easily notice a lot of cans, plastic bags, cigarettes and bottles on the sidewalks and in the parks of the city. All these things were only used once and couldn’t be recycled or used another time. Plastic is considered to be the biggest issue as it takes extremely long time for plastic to decompose – thousands of years. And before it disappears, the planet will be filled with a much bigger amount. Plastic is harmful not only because it spoils the view of the beautiful city. It is also dangerous for the animals that live in the parks of New York as they take plastic for food and feed it to their babies. Many dead chicks were found in the nests; sadly, they died because of consuming plastic. Birds also pick up bottle caps and cigarettes that might look like something eatable to them. As a result, a great number of living creatures that are essential for the environment disappears. Looking at the problem that isn’t taken care of, children and young adults start perceiving this phenomenon as a normal thing. They don’t see a problem in throwing away a can or a bottle just because there are so many that one person will not make a difference. Such ignorant attitude is catastrophic for our society. So many things that destroy not only our planet but also our inner world become a normality.
Every single person who cares a tiny bit about the environment and about the future of his or her children have asked a question: why has such thing happened? Why didn’t people start taking care of it from the start, and why did they let the problem worsen so much? There can be many answers to it. At schools, many children are taught how to deal with money and people and how to make a decent living. But they are rarely taught how to interact with the environment and they never get to know why it is so important. Many parents are against religions being taught at schools. However, they completely ignore the fact that religions are not meant to make one believe in a certain god or gods. There is more than that in religious studies. Religions also teach children ethics and morals that are completely the same in every country despite its religious background. Every citizen of the world should know that environment is something we live with throughout our lives. We can move all over the world, but the nature always surrounds us. And the respect to it can be found in almost every religion of the world. Hinduism concentrates on the relationship between humans and nature. It claims that without developing a healthy relationship with the surrounding world, one cannot achieve nirvana and become free. In Christianity, God the Father, when He created the world, taught people to respect all the living creatures because the latter were humans’ closest neighbors and had the same rights. Nature was created before humans, which means that God wanted it to rule the world. And it is not just a religious dogma; nature indeed rules over people, which becomes clear when tsunamis and hurricanes come. Although humans are very intelligent and their technological knowledge has reached its peak, they are unable to do anything when nature takes the lead. It is our duty to protect the environment, especially such big and overpopulated cities like New York that suffer from excessive amount of people. It becomes more and more difficult as newcomers come to New York and the city expands. A lot of foreigners as well as Americans have never been educated in religion and thus, have never considered the importance of the surrounding world. Many people are unaware of the fact that what surrounds us, influences not only our health, but also our mood and overall happiness. However, modern citizens are very busy trying to earn more and more money and concentrating fully on their jobs. Of course, this cannot be called wrong. Only a century ago, America helped a lot of starving immigrants giving them jobs and shelter. Trying to provide for their families and themselves is a healthy human need. However, without interaction with nature, it is hardly possible to become happy.
In many developing countries like Pakistan and Russia, the study of nature is often ignored. These countries are less and less concerned about the state of their environment and concentrate more and more on their economical and social issues. If one visits one of these countries, one can understand that it is absolutely normal for those people to throw garbage on the streets. When they immigrate to New York, they bring their ethics with them and thus, are not able to see anything wrong in polluting the streets just because back home it wasn’t a wrong thing to do.
There are not many resolutions to this problem. The article called “Taxes In, Garbage Out” claims that New York should turn its waste into energy, which is an expensive an long-lasting process. The government also can put more trash bins on the street so that people are able to get rid of their garbage every half of a mile or so. However, until people themselves understand the issue, nothing is going to be changed. Until they realize that this problem is going to grow when their children will live on the planet, they will not see the need of carrying garbage to the trash bin even if there is one every single yard. In order to make a difference, people have to have a deeper connection with the problem. One way to do it is to introduce religious and environmental studies at the schools of New York. New York is a big city, and the population of it is going to grow the following years. Of course, many children at schools come from different religious backgrounds, and that is why all major religions have to be looked at equally. All of them mention environment and the right way to deal with it. Children of New York have to be shown documentaries with the footage of birds and other living creatures eating plastic and dying. This experience is not going to be remembered as the most pleasant, but it is most certainly going to affect the young and beautiful minds. Children love animals and enjoy interacting with them in the parks, and they will be happy to help them stay there for longer. Interaction with animals and plants is another effective way of teaching people to stop littering in the streets. Once children get tied to the natural world and realize its beauty and magnificence, they will no longer wish to spoil it with undisposable plastic. Not only will it benefit children and make them more considerate of everything that surrounds them, but it will also add fun to their daily school lives, because being out in the nature leads to healthy bodies and minds and a cheerful mood. It is much more easy to explain ethical problems to small children, because once they turn into adults, they will no longer want to “waste” their time taking classes in environment or religions. That is why, such classes have to be a necessity. If we become aware of the problem and start fighting it, the awareness will travel from one generation to another, which is definitely a way to save the planet.
Works Cited
Cruz, Ramon, Thomas Outerbridge, and James Tripp. "Trash and the City." Environmental Defense, 2004. Web.
Gibbs, Kenneth, and Carol Kellermann. "12 Things New Yorkers Should Know About Their Garbage." CITIZENS BUDGET COMMISSION, May 2014. Web. 21 Apr. 2016.
Rosenthal, Carol, and Michael Ryan. "Taxes In, Garbage Out: The Need for Better Solid Waste Disposal Policies in New York City." May 2012. Web. 21 Apr. 2016.
