Imagine if we were able to take away all of the living things from around us, all of the organic things that surround us, all of the trees and the grass, all of the animals and humans, what would we be left with? Imagine if we were able to take away all of the man made structures that had been deliberately put in place, everything that we had ever made, all of the roads and bridges, buildings and railways, what would we be left with? Imagine if we were able to take away all of the rocks and stones and other natural things, rivers, pools and streams, what would we be left with?
Rubbish, that’s what we would be left with, a shameful layer of litter that shadows all of the natural, man made and geological structures that we see around us, a layer of detritus that, like a negative image traces out exactly where man has been, an exact image of our lives, cast in a veil, a gossamer of unwanted and rejected refuse.
Roads and pavements would be picked out by the pock marks of worn out chewing gum. Verges and greenery would appear as a carpet of discarded bottles, cans and newspapers. Where there once would have been trees and bushes there would be a silhouette of wind blown plastic bags and other air-borne trash. Not a square metre would exist which did not contain some form of man made waste. When did this sceptred isle become such a septic pile?
And how did it all get there? Only some of it by accident, falling off passing lorries, blown from bins and recycling centres, mostly the stuff that ends up high in trees. The majority of it though, the vast majority of it must have been dropped either carelessly or on purpose by you or me in a callous disregard for our natural world and our fellow kind. We only have our selves to blame and our lasting legacy to future generations will be nothing more than a filthy, squalid and clogged up environment.
I’m sure mankind has better things to be remembered for.
Thoughts from a Guerrilla Worker 