Nothing is quite as relaxing as waking up after a night of camping, with the birds chirping, the sun rising, and the … giant piles of trash.
One frustrated hiker captured photos of a campsite strewn with garbage, posting on the subreddit r/Camping.
"Clean up after yourselves!!" they wrote. "This infuriates me that people leave their trash."
Their photos depict several plastic bags, old beer cans, food wrappers, plastic water bottles, and even a bulging trash bag hanging from a tree.
Commenters were similarly embittered.
"This makes me genuinely angry," one wrote. "How hard is it to just bag it and bring it back!"
"This is why we can't have nice planets," another said grimly.
Unfortunately, many commenters were all too familiar with this type of sight.
"I work in the woods and constantly stumble upon piles of new-ish garbage," one person shared. "Gatorade bottles, Capri Sun pouches, pudding cups, etc. that's not even to mention that people use the woods as their personal landfill, even on private property I've seen piles of full garbage bags 5 or 10ft tall and just as big around."
Coming upon somebody else's garbage while trying to enjoy nature is maddening. People have found neon confetti in parks and pieces of mylar balloons deep in the woods. But discarded trash, especially plastic, isn't just ugly — it's dangerous.
Whether it's aluminum cans, chip bags, or plastic water bottles, litter releases toxic substances into the environment. Over time, these chemicals accumulate in the soil — or in the ocean — where they impact the plants and animals that live there. Litter also physically endangers wildlife, trapping small animals, choking and strangling others, and clogging the stomachs of creatures that mistake the brightly-colored trash for food.
And plastic waste is just as dangerous for humans. It's cancerous, it's a vector for disease transmission, and it's been shown to disrupt both reproductive and cognitive functions.
For all of these reasons, it's well worth the extra minute to clean up your garbage — especially after spending time in nature — and follow the principles of Leave No Trace. From recycling to planning ahead to avoid using any single-use plastics, it's easy to be a steward of the land rather than a threat to it.
"No excuse for such laziness!" one person emphasized.
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