How Important is the Link Between Littering and the Future of Humanity?

Ku-Ring-Gai National Park, Australia (image courtesy of worldofmiri.com)

Let’s stop discarding and start caring

Is littering a symptom of something more serious?

When did we stop caring? Or have we never really cared?

Every morning, I go for a walk in the national park around the corner. Every morning I return from my walk with pockets full of rubbish. Little plastic packagings for sugary snacks, potato chip bags, soda cans, or water bottles. Today, I found two take-away cups sitting in the middle of nature on the side of the path.

It’s the same every time.

Seeing these objects makes me angry. I stare at the intruders. Sometimes, I keep walking for two or three steps. But if I don’t pick it up and dispose of it properly, it will still be sitting there in a few days. I know this because I’ve tried that, too. So, I pick up the rubbish and I drop it in the bin outside the national park entrance. I feel grief. It makes me utterly sad to encounter rubbish on this planet wherever I go. I don’t understand. It just eludes me. Why do people drop their rubbish into nature? I don’t even want to start on the effects of hazardous materials on animals, contamination of the ground and our waterways.

A Saturday morning’s haul (image courtesy of worldofmiri.com)

I really want to ask the question why we don’t care? Why don’t we care about the nature around us? Why don’t we hold respect for our oceans, instead filling them up with plastic while depleting the fish levels? Why don’t we even see what we are doing?

Caring too much or too little?

I’ve got a strong personal history with the topic of “caring too much” or “caring too little”. As an empath, I feel everything. I still haven’t fully accepted this bit of my personal blueprint. To give you an idea, it shows up in my life like this:

• I cannot watch movies with even mild levels of violence. I am the kind of person closing their eyes and ears at Harry Potter 1. If I do watch something containing violence, the images haunt me for weeks afterwards.

• For the same reason, I’ve stopped watching the news. I can’t take the cruelty on this planet. Instead, I skim the headlines online once per day. If I want to know more about a topic, I read about it.

• Any display of pain or mistreatment hurts me. I can feel it in my body.

• We don’t have video games in our house that promote shooting or any other form of violence.

• Looking at poverty, child abuse, violence against women or any minority in any part of this world makes me cry.

I know I cannot save the entire planet, but believe me, I would like to. It is hard to let go of that one. I don’t want anyone to be in pain. In theory, I understand we all need to move through our own pain to grow, because, unfortunately, humans seem to move out of their comfort zone only once they are forced to do so by pain. At least, that’s what happened to me. That still doesn’t make it easier.

Looking around at our planet with all the pain, violence, aggression, and cruelty happening everywhere, how can I even exist? I’ve been trying to answer that question for myself for quite some time. I’ve tried different approaches.

First, I went into rescue mode. I, subconsciously but nonetheless voluntarily, took on whatever pain I encountered in the people around me to ease their journey. That path did not work. Eventually, I fell ill (link) because I couldn’t process the amounts of pain. I had to stop that approach. As a by-product of being a rescuer, I completely lost myself and I’ve been on a quest back to my true essence since.

Next, I tried the “I don’t care” approach. It actually became one of my mantras whenever an uncomfortable sensation popped up. The mantra eventually morphed into “It does not really matter, it’s only me.”

None of these worked, as you might have guessed. I tried to talk myself out of caring too much by pretending I didn’t care. Brilliant (?), but seriously futile. This, as you might have guessed, did not move me closer to finding myself, because I actually pushed myself and my “caring too much” even further away.

I am at a stage now where I’ve finally understood that I just care about everything. It’s a fact, it’s my nature, I can’t run from it, I can’t hide it, I cannot change it. That does not make it easier. I cannot close my eyes to the pain all around me and within me.

We can do it, together and little by little

I often wonder if I’m the one who’s getting this all wrong? Is my “caring too much” not fit for this world? I actually don’t believe this. Honestly, I think if we could choose, all of us would select a life filled with compassion, love, care, and inner peace. At least, this is how I perceive the core of humanity, the core of every single one of us. If we carry within us, at our core, love and compassion, it’s time to move back to that core, to our true essence and our true origin. That journey, however, is often very painful which is why we tend to avoid it. It is uncomfortable. It brings up long-suppressed emotions. It forces us to see ourselves for who we truly are, including the bits and pieces we have been hiding because they are ugly.

However, I believe the only way forward for us as human beings is to take on this responsibility and to start caring again. Start with yourself. Start with something close to your heart.

Here are examples of what I and my family do. Maybe one of these ideas resonates with you as well. This is not about having to donate money; this is about finding something that feels important to you.

• I still commit to picking up the rubbish wherever I go. I hope to set an example with what I’m doing.

• We sponsor two girls, one in Bolivia and one in Bangladesh. Besides giving on a monthly basis (to an organization) we keep in touch by writing letters.

• On a monthly basis, we donate to the ‘Treesisters’, an organization committed to reforesting our planet.

• We try to get most of our clothes second-hand. One way of doing this are clothes-swap parties that we organize at our house (pre/post pandemic). Much fun + new clothes for everyone!

• We get most of our fruit and vegetables from a local sustainable farm.

What ideas do you have? Can you share other ways to make an impact?

Why do you think people don’t care? Why do they drop the rubbish? I’m going to persevere, but I’d love to learn what’s worked for you.

Please, don’t close your eyes to your truth any longer. Please, let’s help each other start caring again.