Today, when the ecology of the planet is in a state of permanent crisis, the problems of pollution of the natural environment with household waste are very acute. Plastic bottles, glass and other non-decomposing debris in the forest cause irreparable damage to the ecosystem. Education of ecological culture from childhood, careful attitude to natural resources can become a guarantee of the he alth of both the nation and all mankind.
Tourist, are you friend or foe?
When going for a hike, a picnic, or just a walk in the woods, most people don't intend to harm nature. However, more often than not, we cause irreparable damage without realizing it or realizing it. There is, of course, a certain group of the population for whom the principle "after me, even a flood" is a personal conviction. They probably don't read this article.
The average tourist makes a fire when he comes to the forest. Careless handling of fire- and now vegetation, animals, insects, and so on are dying. We trample grass, we pick flowers we don't even bring home, we cut trees, we drive our cars as deep as we can into the woods, leaving behind ruts that are destined to drag on in a few years. And most importantly, we do not clean up the garbage in the forest. The glade after the picnic is all strewn with cigarette butts, bags and bottles. A familiar sight?
Global Harm
If a tourist believes that he does not harm the environment globally, he is mistaken. To everyone's joy, tourists do not carry industrial chemicals with them on a hike. But global harm to the planet can be caused by the fact that it is not a poison either. Kerosene or gasoline for stoves, brake fluid and degreasing agents, various kinds of oil - spill it on the ground or pour it into a river, and now you have already caused the death of hundreds of animals and plants.
Accumulators and batteries - this garbage in the forest infects the environment for many, many years.
Do no harm locally
Local harm caused by a tourist to the forest has many varieties. Let's start with food waste left as garbage in the forest. Leftovers from your table will, of course, be eaten. We hope that by themselves they will not poison representatives of the animal world. But left in a plastic bag, in a broken glass container, in a tin can, they can mortally injure an animal that decides to taste your gifts. And if you didn’t eat it, the food leftovers will rot, exuding an unpleasant odor and spreadingpathogenic bacteria.
Boiling water poured under a tree can lead to its death, especially if it is young. But you won't see it - you've already left. By the way, we left by car. Leaving a rut in the soil and irretrievably taking grassy vegetation.
Did you pay attention to the fact that there are still traces of armored vehicles from the Second World War in the forests? How many years ago did this vehicle pass? The place of the fire, where the treat was so successfully prepared, will remain the same as you left it for at least 5-7 years. And those horns that you made for the fire became branches for at least the same 5-7 years.
Deathbringers
Tourists literally bring death to the forest. I don’t even want to talk about the barbaric, for fun, destruction of anthills (look how they ran!) And why is it necessary to kill the snake you meet? And without even knowing what kind of snake it is. Let her crawl away, because she will not chase you. And the barbaric bouquet-picking? And it would be nice if flowers decorated your home. But they will be thrown along the way.
Nature abhors emptiness
Before the tourist came to this still pristine place of the forest, whole populations of animals lived here. But they are gone. Someone will surely take their place. But this is a different ecosystem, not at all the same as it was.
Garbage in the forest will stop the growth of herbaceous plants, and this will lead to soil erosion, and now, instead of a dense forest, you can see a thinned forest. And then no shadowsfind.
What to do, how to be?
The principle that all tourists should be guided by is very simple: all the changes that were made to the ecosystem by your appearance should tend to zero. And you can start with garbage. Do not leave rubbish in the forest, pick it up and throw it in a trash can. You'll be surprised how easy it really is.
Why is it easier to carry food and drink bottles into the forest than to pick up empty bottles and leftover food? This is an unresolved paradox. And now the decision is ripe - burn everything! Let's assume that you didn't pollute the atmosphere when burning garbage (although it is clear to everyone that this is not the case). What do we have left? Food and paper burned. The plastic has melted, because it does not burn, and now nothing will ever grow in place of the fire. The fire did no harm to iron and glass. Excellent disposal of garbage in the forest!
Another solution is to bury it! It's hard, but let's try. Well, if this is a place of mass recreation. After all, if tourists come here after you, and rotting remains are buried around, then most likely they will not like it. Let's explore the rest. Paper and food will still rot. Plastic decomposes for about 200 years and all these years evaporates toxic substances. Iron and glass will join plastics. Is this how we clean up trash in the forest?
Thought, thought and decided. But what if you collect everything and put it in a pile? After all, there are services that monitorbehind the forest - they will collect. Still better than burning and burying. This is how huge garbage dumps are formed in the forest. A second, a third and so on will be added to one package. If the tourist is a conscious, environmentally educated person, he will choose the first option - he will take everything of his own with him, which will prevent the pollution of forests with garbage.
One of us cannot stop the deforestation of the planet, cannot reduce the number of cars that poison the atmosphere and prevent the extinction and destruction of animals and plants. But everyone can throw garbage in the bin, not pick a snowdrop and make a bird feeder. If each person takes care of the world around him, about a piece of the planet in his apartment and in that clearing where he just had a rest, the Earth will respond to all of us with love and beauty. Big things always start small. If each person says to himself “The planet is in my hands” and turns on his individual ecological consciousness, won’t the whole world become happier, more colorful and cleaner?
