All over the world millions of people litter on a daily basis. It is very hard to spend time outside and not to run across any litter. One can assume that the reasons many complete this act is because a trash can may not be accessible. However, littering is a lot worse than you think. Seth Megow an IT specialist at Valdosta State University dedicated his day to cleaning VSU's trashed front lawn the day after the graduation ceremony. Megow and his four children were traveling past the school when he noticed the residual from the ceremony scattered across the lawn. Megow decided to pull into the campus and pick up the trash with the help of his little ones. Stories such as this one can prove that littering causes more problems than one may realize.

When one litters they are making a conscience choice to deliberately trash the earth. Many do not see this as a huge problem. However, humans are not the only creatures that inhabit the world. Littering not only puts each of us at risk but it puts the beautiful animals that reside on earth at risk as well. To put littering in perspective consider this scenario, perhaps your roommate decides to leave their trash on the living room floor instead of tossing it into the trash can. Without a doubt, many would admit this situation would anger them. I am almost certain that no one wants to live in their roommate's trash. Littering the earth is the same scenario but on a larger scale. We are all roommates who inhabit the same earth. Everyone has to do their part or our world will suffer greatly.

According to Litteritcostyou.org 11.5 billion is spent on cleaning litter each year. Every time you litter, the clean up is left to someone else. Imagine if everyone did their part. These funds would be able to be spent elsewhere. Perhaps these funds could be spent towards healthcare or education. Our human race causes more damage to the earth than we realize.Did you know that nearly 50 percent of litter comes from cigarette buds? In fact, cigarette buds can cause forest fires, contaminate lakes, oceans and contribute to the extinction of animals. The truth is many animals both land and sea suffer from containments such as these daily.

According to Whales.org, one million birds die every year and 10,000 sea turtles from swallowing plastic. Animals can not distinguish what is good for them and what is not. Not only do animals die every year from ingesting plastic but they also suffer great external injuries from the litter we cause. Every year several animals cut themselves and even suffocate due to litter. Many people do not know these things.

Imagine a world free of containments that cause harm to our animals. As humans, we must begin to make conscious decisions to prevent harm to the earth. We share this earth with so many other organisms. Please make the decision to be a clean "roommate." If we all make this decision the earth will be a safer place.