Facts About Littering

Bob Bestler | Quitting smoking pays off

These are some of the gruesome pictures cigarette addicts will soon find on their pack of smokes. The photos will occupy at least half of the package and are meant to scare smokers straight.

We can only hope they help.

I've said before that one of the happiest days of my life was the day, in 1986, when, after 27 years of two packs a day, I tossed my cigarettes out the window of my car and never again picked up another one. (And, yes, I'd have gladly paid the fine for littering.)

I had not seen all the pictures smokers will confront beginning in September 2012. I only needed one - a healthy lung versus a smoker's lung - to convince me, after many false starts, to go finally quit cold turkey.

I actually don't run across many smokers these days; apparently, I run in the wrong (right?) circles because smoking is still a serious health problem in the United States. Here are some facts from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:

Each day 3,450 young people between 12 and 17 smoke their first cigarette and 850 youngsters under 18 begin to smoke on a regular basis.

What is most amazing in all of these statistics is that so many continue to smoke - or begin to smoke - when the price of cigarettes averages somewhere above $5 a pack.

When I quit, as I recall, the price was about $1.25 a pack and all I could think of were the wonderful things I could do with the $60 to $70 a month that I spent on cigarettes.

Today, I guess I'd be thinking about the extra $300-plus I could play with every month.

One thing each of the new packs will have is a phone number to call if you want to stop smoking.

The number is 1-800-QUIT-NOW. You can also contact Smoke Free Horry at 488-1329.

But why wait? Quit now.

Antigua Observer Newspaper | Littering: a BIG issue | | Antigua ...

Why is it some of us feel that throwing a little gum or candy wrapper on the ground or in the gutter can’t hurt anyone?  While that may be true, what we fail to realise that if we all did that (litter) what a horrible place this would be to live in.  So what if no one sees you littering. Does it make it right for us to litter? After all, many of us feel that it’s our civic duty to give our street cleaners work and that’s probably our contribution for their gainful employment.

But what is littering anyway and why should more of us care? Some say littering is the act of putting things where they don’t belong; others say it is making a place untidy. Other descriptions include leaving rubbish in a public place or leaving an untidy collection of things somewhere. Regardless of one’s descriptive preference, the bottom line is “littering” is totally wrong and unacceptable. Littering should not be accepted or tolerated.

We are here to share the only home we were blessed with and have.  Therefore this earth does not belong to me, or you but rather collectively we all inherited it and that makes us poly-owners or poly-inheritors. Let’s for a moment assume that Planet Earth was a multi-billion dollar company in which we all had shares, wouldn’t it be in our best interest to properly manage this company in order for it to make more money or interest for us? After all, no one wants to invest or go into business to fail but rather it would be for the shareholders’ benefit to invest wisely in an effort to sustain and maintain the standards and obtain higher yield from their investments.

The reality is, if we do not take charge now, this “company” will soon go bottoms up and we are destined to lose our investments. Then, another question is “What about legacy?” As predecessors what would be left for future generations, our children, our successors? Would it be a planet in pristine form or one that is dilapidated? Let’s stop and think for a minute, as recipients of gifts we all appreciate things that are nice and good, things that are valuable and untarnished. But whether we’ve been good or bad we all look forward for good rewards, how ironic!

Litter isn’t just an environmental issue but also an “economic development” one. When prospective businesses tour a community, they’re looking for a dynamic, growing community where their businesses can grow. When communities have a lot of litter, it simply shows that the people living there don’t care about their own future. If they don’t, new businesses won’t, either. This can hurt the economic development of a community. The absence of litter in a community reflects the pride that it shows and really does make a difference.

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