That age old lesson...

Hey, you. Yeah—you.

I saw you drop that Snickers wrapper on the ground as you walked to class.

I saw you toss your empty Mountain Dew bottle out the window as you sped down the highway.

I saw you look the other way while Fido did his business in the neighbor’s lawn.

Don’t you know that littering is one of the leading causes of carbon emissions? Ninety-four percent of people cite littering as one of the top environmental concerns. And yet, littering persists.

There is nothing more frustrating, disrespectful and just plain ugly than litter on the ground. What’s worse is that it is easily preventable. The solution: don’t do it.

When you litter, it’s like you’re dumping waste in your own bed. But I would never dump waste in my own bed, Megan. That’s gross.

But it’s true. When you litter, you’re jeopardizing the lives of plants and animals and ruining the planet. The earth is our home and it should be treated as such. If your roommate tried to throw trash on the couch, I'm sure that you’d have a few choice words to say.

Monday morning, on my daily five-minute walk from home to campus, I came across four pieces of garbage. At nearly one piece of trash per minute, I found the amount of crap littering the campus to be appalling. The central green was speckled with discarded, half-eaten ice cream cones, candy wrappers and even a forbidden beer can.

I picked up these droppings as I went along, and I soon realized the definite lack of garbage cans on campus. Outside each building stand only ashtrays. I was forced to carry these bacteria-filled, stench-carrying pieces of trash in the building with me, where I promptly hightailed it to the nearest waste bin and subsequently the nearest restroom so I could wash my hands.

In truth, Augustana should really have more garbage cans around campus. Garbage bins might not be the most picturesque of things, but what’s worse: ugly garbage cans next to the door or nasty, rotting bits of garbage scattered all over campus? I am hard-pressed to find anyone who would choose the latter.

The solution to littering, however, requires more than just a few more garbage cans. It requires a bit of work on our part, the willingness to put that sticky, now empty Snickers wrapper in our pocket or backpack until we can get to trash can.

You have a choice. You can be lazy, take the easy way out and drop your garbage wherever you so desire, in doing so harming our environment and spoiling the habitats of practically every living thing. Or, you can proactive and figuratively kill two birds with one stone by picking up your trash and tossing it in a garbage can, thus preserving the environment and our lives and keeping our surroundings just a little bit prettier.

Come on, people. Let’s do what we all know is right. Keep garbage off the ground.