Taking responsibility for the Elements of Our Environment
May 21st, 2012
Yesterday I went on the road with Adriaan. He needed to visit a few businesses in the rural communities of the Western Cape and the drive occupies far more time than the meetings themselves so he wanted the company. It is a gorgeous drive, one filled with diversity, grandeur and wonder, and I am always eager to tag along, enjoy the charm and the time with him. So, I packed my computer, camera and a hearty supply of food and hit the road.
But, as is always the case on these trips, I was saddened by one element of the environment. Litter! From Cape Town to our final destination of the day, the banks of every stream were lined with litter. Every roadside stop was blanketed with milk jugs, potato sacks, soda cans, chip bags…you name it. Litter was caught in fences, clinging to Aloe Vera, and not so beautifully adorning tree tops.
Modern Watches
It seems that hardly a day goes by that I don’t explore person boldly drop their trash in the parking lot or tossing it out of the car window. It’s as if they think there is a staff available to pick up after them, as if it makes no discrepancy whatsoever, that they have no burden of responsibility or care. It is thoughtless. It is destructive. It is Wrong.
South Africa is one of the most gorgeous places in the world.The environment is nothing short of stunning, awe inspiring, majestic and marvelous. But to see it littered with everyone’s trash is disheartening. And I can’t help but desire that some sort of campaign be launched to bring change. I remember an ad in the states, when littering was problematic. I believe it aired in the 70’s but I can see it as if it were on Tv now. Traffic is buzzing down the busy interstate, population tossing their garbage out of the car window and chronic mindlessly to their destination. An American Indian, representing the Syn. Clearness of the land before modern civilization, is standing on the shoulder with tears streaming down his face as he watching the environment littered with debris, additional destroying the costly gift of nature and the provision it makes for mankind.
South Africa needs something like this. We desperately need, amid all the other issues that are being faced, to enhance awareness of this destructive habit. I have no idea where to begin yet I feel compelled to do something. Maybe just writing about it will help raise awareness. I could even send this post to local organizations that promote collective causes. Still I know these small gestures won’t clean up those waterways and all the other magnificent features of the South African environment. There has to be a large scale united attempt matched with individual responsibility for real change to occur.
And that takes me to my point today.
Last week I introduced you to the idea of Environment as an element of wellness. Specifically, I presented home and scenery make and all the elements therein as having valuable impact on our well being. I committed to bring posts and a variety of other opportunities into the photo of Elements where we explore how to create a lifestyle of authentic wellness. I realize that a national littering urgency is a bit broader than our household and backyard conditions yet I cannot help but make the connection to our environmental wellness. I cannot help but believe that as small as our individual gestures might be to the bigger photo that our united attempt will in fact activate large scale change and derive the promise our authentic wellness.
Littering affects our lives in ways most of us fail to understand. It impacts our water supply, our food chain. It kills wildlife, and pollutes the ocean. And ultimately all of that affects what ends up on our supper tables and in our lungs. The easy fact is that the destruction of litter moves far beyond the roadside or parking lot where we tossed out the trash in the first place. So Yes, litter is a question to our wellness and Yes, you and me can do something about it by taking proper and meticulous care of our personal space, our personal environment as a united attempt to impact the greater environment of nature.
We must pay more attention.We must be more aware and we absolutely must be more responsible. Our lives, our wellness and that of generations to come and mum Nature herself are at stake. We can exercise, eat right, and forgive others and ourselves. We can take a journey of medical from past abuses and old wounds. We can decorate our homes and scenery our yards all to create wellness for ourselves. But if we fail to extend that care to nature, in time, we will have none of the rest to bother with.
Too often the human race removes itself from the natural environment. We use it and abuse it as if it is only to serve our whims and desires. But since the beginning of life and time, we have been given the task of caretaking. Yes, it makes provision for our lives but the environment is not our slave. We are to tend the garden, to nurture, safe and defend it. It is time. It is time for South Africa and any other place in the world that dismiss this crucial element of wellness to stand up and make a change.
How will you be a part of the change?How will you help clean up the litter and safe our most valuable wellness resource?
Me, I’ll send this letter along to anyone I can think to send it to. I’ll continue to pick up garbage on my walk to the gym and I’ll pray that God will show me more ways to take the initiative and sway unavoidable change. Will you join me?
Taking responsibility for the Elements of Our Environment
