One Redditor is on a crusade to let the people of Humboldt County, California, know that littering and defacing nature will absolutely not be tolerated.
In back-to-back posts on the platform, they shared pictures of a box full of trash they collected from a bonfire site on Clam Beach, followed by a snap of a rock that had been tagged with spray-painted graffiti.
"Can we also stop doing this s*** please?" they captioned the post of the graffitied rock. "Why do people have to permanently deface nature."
First, it's commendable that they decided to clean up the litter from the beach before it could enter the ocean and cause harm to wildlife. But that shouldn't have been their responsibility, and having to do so would no doubt have spoiled their opportunity to reconnect with nature.
Second, the Redditor pointed out some perhaps overlooked issues associated with using paint on rocks while responding to a commenter who tried to play down the issue.
"Do you know what's in spray paint?" the original poster said. "That s*** will slowly leak into the ocean 20 feet away, but yeah let's just 'decorate' the earth."
Both are troubling acts that could have profound consequences. According to Unesco's Ocean Literacy Portal, "The majority of plastic pollution in the ocean is caused by littering."
The organization also noted that plastic waste makes up 80% of ocean pollution, and between 8 and 10 million metric tons of plastic enter the ocean every year.
Plastic can take between 500 and 1,000 years to degrade, and while it floats in our oceans, it will gradually break up into smaller and smaller pieces. These micro- and nanoplastics will contaminate water sources and enter the bodies of marine creatures, eventually making their way to humans through the consumption of seafood.
While the effects of microplastics on the human body are still being studied, they have already been linked to health complications like lung problems, fertility issues, and neurological deterioration.
Meanwhile, these plastics could poison marine ecosystems — which could have severe knock-on effects — and kill animals by getting stuck in their digestive system after ingestion.
Elsewhere, a study published in the Water Research X journal, shared by Science Direct, found that additives in micro-paint particles can make them more harmful than plastics. These often go undetected because they are simply so small, but the study found paints in "sea surface trawls, sediments, and animal digestive tracts."
All in all, it was a bad day at the beach for the Redditor, who obviously stumbled upon the actions of people who don't give nature the respect it deserves.
"Immortalized on a rock," one person's sarcastic post began. "Truly a noteable human achievement brought on by a lifetime of hard work."
"Unfortunately we're on the way to the bay and disrespectful people always pass through," another added. "I've stopped getting mad and just pick up the trash and move on with my day."
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