The planet we inhabit is an irrevocably beautiful phenomenon, boasting miracles both scientific and purely aesthetic. Perhaps it isn’t a perspective shared by everyone, but few would say that they don’t feel a sense of awe or, at least, of serenity when admiring a sunset, looking out of the window of a plane as it soars over the seemingly endless sea, or even just sitting on the beach, watching the waves crash on the shore.

Beaches themselves are a thing of beauty as well. They are the singularity between everything we know about our planet and everything we don't know. Every step away from the shore, every foot deeper into the water, is getting closer to an environment not yet extensively explored by mankind. Beaches allow us to taste that terrific and terrifying sense of wonder of the ocean with a safe moderation.

Beaches have also come to house enormous numbers of “spring breakers” that, each year, travel to shorelines around the country to party and forget about school for a week. Perhaps the indulgence is healthy for the mind, but if there is one thing it certainly isn’t healthy for, it’s the beaches.

Anyone who has seen a beach after spring break might have noticed the alarming amount of litter left by the hordes of partiers. Piles of garbage end up lining the shoreline and that wonderful unknown meet instead with the ugliest, most selfish and short sighted side of humanity.

We already have to deal with our own causing of a global climate change, and with our own perpetuation of an increasing danger of overpopulation, as well as countless other despicable things humankind likes to do to its host, maybe the least we can do is not cake these meeting places of civilization and the lack thereof with proof of our immense lack of consideration toward the planet’s health.

Maybe you don’t care about what happens to the planet in the future, maybe you don’t care about the marine life that that trash can harm, maybe the pollution into the oceans doesn’t bother you, maybe the simple fact that those beaches (and the trash) continue to exist as daily parts of other people’s lives after break doesn’t quite get to you, maybe this message won’t quite align with your point of view (chances are if it doesn’t, you already stopped reading) but please, this spring break, have some consideration for your beaches. They aren’t just party stages, they are wonderful pieces of this beautiful planet.

We owe our planet everything. In paying it back, perhaps we can start with a little respect.