Clean up!

Stop! The Earth is healing itself at this very moment. Nature is always giving and humans are always taking. There is no equilibrium because nature does not have an accountant, it is a one way street to destruction if the natural resources are deprived. The impact can be visibly seen when one's lush green grass turns into yellow, the blue skies turn into a purple mist with scrambled clouds, the water is chemically unbalanced with all the excess waste. The environment seems gloomy and unbalanced when the natural mechanisms are altered.

The Earth is a living organism, has its organic makeup, and needs care just like us. If we don't respect the Earth, Earth won't respect us back. Every individual should have principles that they strongly believe and support. Another set of principles, which every human should be focusing on more should be taking care of nature, these could be classified as natures principles. Keeping the environment clean should be a priority at all times for its inhabitants.

Humans have been engineered in this system of give and take, only do what benefits in monetary terms, humanitarian efforts are often overlooked. A few years ago me and my friends started a summer community clean up for two schools right before classes started in September. We set out with gloves, garbage bags, and a mission to clean around the school and the soccer field where the children will be playing in less than a week. One of the leaders of the whole movement designed a digital pamphlet with the time, date, and location of the cleanup and shared it digitally over WhatsApp and Facebook groups. As the time came, we found five of the founding members stretching and ready to battle the heat and rubbish for an afternoon. As time went by more people joined the effort as the group grew to ten people. We finished one junior school and focused on another middle school, five hundred meters away, and marched with our cleaning supplies. People were looking out the windows as we marched through the neighborhood, few questioned us from their porches, and few joined us after finding out of the goal. All in all, the group collectively cleaned two schools and set a positive imprint on the neighborhood.

On other occasions, I have interacted and joined people picking up plastic bottles from parks, fishing out the paper from water banks. When talking to the individuals, I feel they share a communal respect for Earth and have been passionate about living in a cleaner world. Side project, we should work together and modernize cleaning efforts digitally. By creating groups on-line and grouping people based on their demographic setting, members can work together and organize clean-up days locally. And just to make it more interactive members can post before and after pictures of the areas they have helped clean.

If you are a litterbug, hopefully this @inthegreen entry can change your mind next time you think of littering. And for those who have been playing there part, keep spreading their knowledge and efforts to attract more self-sufficient eco-friendly humans. Every bit of effort counts and I salute everyone who keeps our home clean. All in all, make the park more greener for you and your peers.