Should we pick up other's litter?
Source: Brian Yurasits en Unsplash
Beach litter: Man walking Wales' coastline while cleaning every beach
One man is embarking on the "mammoth" task of cleaning the beaches of Wales as he walks the 700-mile coastline.
Geraint John, 51, of Maesteg, Bridgend county, said he wanted Wales' coastline to be the "envy of the world".
After a five-month cycle around the UK last year, the amount of beach litter he saw did not sit right with him.
"All the fantastic places I went... the image that was stuck in my head was all the rubbish that's around the coastline of Britain," he said.
"I started going to my local beach, whenever I could. But I just felt it wasn't enough," said Geraint, who started his journey in the Mumbles, Swansea, on 13 May.
"Some beaches have been busy. I was down Rhossili and Llangennith beaches and I had about 26 black bags of rubbish from the five days I was there," he added.
Mr John is currently in Ceredigion, roaming the beaches of Llangrannog, Cwmtydu and New Quay. But away from these popular beaches he said the smaller more remote coves were more of a challenge.
"The vast majority of the Welsh coastline isn't accessible, but rubbish doesn't care where it washes up.
"You could spend half a day cleaning this beach and around the corner, there could be 10 tonnes of rubbish just sitting in some secluded cove."
As part of his walk he is trying to raise money in order to buy a boat to be able to get to "all the places that you can't get to on foot where all the rubbish likes to hide".
The impact of plastic waste on the wildlife in Wales is clear to see, according to Sarah Perry from the Wildlife Trust, who said Geraint's task was a "mammoth one".
"Species like birds or seals can get entangled in sea fishing line or whatever's been discarded," she said.
"Other impacts are less obvious, because you can't really see them. We talk a lot these days about microplastics, they're like really tiny particles of plastic and that can be in the marine environment.
"Species like fish and birds, they will consume the microplastics and that then gets into their bodies and that can disrupt all sorts of bodily functions. "
Ms Perry said these microplastics could cause birds to starve to death as they think they are full, but their stomachs are actually just "full of rubbish".
"Some of the areas [Geraint is] trying to reach aren't easily accessible. But his determination is absolutely fantastic, brilliant. It's a great effort."
What do you think of this guy's efforts?
Should we all follow his example and pick up litter that we come across?
Pronunciation:
Pay particular attention to the sounds highlighted in pink. Go to Word Reference to listen to the words (there are a range of accents). Use a 50 or 70% playback rate so that you can hear all the sounds clearly.
The stressed syllable is preceded by '
Listen to the sounds of vowels and consonants in this English File Pronunciation Chart.
beach /biːtʃ/ (long sound) Compare to bitch /bɪtʃ/ (short sound)
litter /ˈlɪt.ər/
mammoth /ˈmæm.əθ/
image /ˈɪm.ɪdʒ/ (the two vowel sounds are the same) Compare to imagine /ɪˈmædʒ.ɪn/
busy /ˈbɪz.i/ (rhymes with fizzy)
currently /ˈkʌr.ənt.li/
accessible /əkˈses.ə.bəl/
tonnes /'tʌnz/ (rhymes with runs)
raise /reɪz/ (rhymes with plays) Compare to rise /raɪz/ (rhymes with eyes)
species /ˈspiː.ʃiːz/
microplastics /ˈmaɪ.krəʊˌplæs.tɪks/
tiny /ˈtaɪ.ni/
stomach /ˈstʌm.ək/
Comments
Great. John is a good man. I suppose that he is very intelligent because his brain must work very well. Although we can´t see his face for the reason his beard, he must be a man who does favour to rest. This is ecologist, true ecologist. Instead of speaking about climate change, sustainability and ozone hole, he makes an effort to clean and to care the planet. I´m sure that he ever threw litter nowhere. He now picks up rubbish that he comes across and which other throw with cheek.
Of course, everybody should follow his example but in two senses, in the first place, without throwing any litter nowhere and, in the second place, picking up rubbish from other rude people. The local government should put his photo in all streets of Madrid. If you made a comment about it, everyone says that is the right thing, but the streets of Madrid are full of rubbish, if you say that pollution is bad thing, everyone is according to you, bur the streets of Madrid are full of cars. What´s the matter my friend? If people didn´t throw litter they wouldn´t have to pick up it and this is very easy, until a sparrow understands it.
See you.
I can safely say that I have never dropped any litter. in our city streets but it especially makes my blood boil when I come across discarded rubbish in the countryside. All this talk about caring for the environment but most people don't give a damn. It costs nothing to keep our surroundings clear of litter yet so many places are blighted by the problem.
Great. John is a good man. I suppose that he is very intelligent because his brain must work very well. Although we can´t see his face because of his beard, he must be a man who does enjoy his rest. This is an ecologist, a true ecologist. Instead of speaking about climate change, sustainability and the ozone hole, he makes an effort to clean and to take care of the planet. I´m sure that he has never dropped litter anywhere. He now picks up rubbish that he comes across which others had cheekily dropped.
Of course, everybody should follow his example but in two ways, in the first place, without throwing any litter anywhere and, in the second place, picking up the rubbish of other rude people. The local government should put his photo in all the streets of Madrid. If you made a comment about it, everyone would say that it is the right thing to do, but the streets of Madrid are full of rubbish. If you say that pollution is a bad thing, everyone agrees with you, but the streets of Madrid are full of cars. What´s the matter my friend? If people didn't throw litter, they wouldn´t have to pick it up and this is very easy, even a sparrow understands it.