To the people who don’t think about where they put their trash. This is for you. This is to the people who don’t care where their trash ends up because it’s just trash to them. Well, do I have news for you. You’re trash ends up in places where you like to go! Where do you like to go? You like to go to the beaches or oceans to relax and enjoy the moment. But how can you enjoy the moment knowing that there is so much trash near you? Maybe you’re at the beach right now, wondering what trash? Well, trash is all around you. Although you can’t see it by just scanning the area, trash can be easily under you, hidden in the sand and dumped into the marvelous, eye dropping water with the beautiful fish that you don’t get to see often because they are dying from your trash that gets swept up into the oceans and lakes. Not only are fish in stake here, but there are many other animals like turtles who think your trash, plastic bags, are food and it is killing them. The Marine Conservation Society states that turtles “mistake plastic bags for jellyfish and the bags block their stomachs, often leading to death from starvation”(par. 5). We all love seeing turtles lively and healthy, and by throwing out plastic bags on the ground, they will end up be thrown into the ocean.  The Marine Conservation also states, “[Other animals such as] seabirds mistake floating plastic litter for food, and over 90% of fulmars found dead around the North Sea have plastic in their stomachs”( par. 5). Now do you see what  just small meaningless trash can do to animals?

After putting the blame on yourself and thinking about all the trash you’ve thrown out of your car window, you’re probably thinking about a possible solution to this almost irreversible problem. Lucky for you, I have already come up with a perfect plan to reverse this almost irreversible problem. In order to eliminate the total effect of litter, America as a whole should amp up our laws and regulations of littering. If anyone is seen or reported to have littered any amount, they will be brought into jail to be executed. And I know what you're thinking, it’s brilliant! By doing it this way it will persuade everyone and you, not to litter.

With current pollution to our waters rising, America should make stricter laws and regulations for the people that litter. If you are seen littering or are reported to have littered of any amount, you will be executed. This chart shows the effects of littering and how much of it enters our oceans. By implementing this law in 2017, you will then see a sudden decrease by 2018. Now, after reading this strategic plan, you're probably thinking, how are we going to get this number to go down that fast? Well, a few scientists from National Geographic have stated, “recent studies show that degradation, particularly of shoreline areas, has accelerated dramatically in the past three centuries as industrial discharge and runoff from farms and coastal cities has increased.”(Marine Pollution par. 3) This shows that by implementing this new law and eradicating the previous, will then change these studies to being positive. Another way to take into affect this plan is to look at Singapore for an example. They have very strict laws put in place, but it does work for them. An example of one of their laws for people who litter is “First time offenders who throw small items like cigarette butts or candy wrappers are fined $300. Those who throw out bigger items are considered defiant and are required to appear before the court”(Singapore: Laws To Know Before You Go par. 7). This could help America ease down on the law that I have proposed when littering crime rates are at a low. This will teach the American public that littering is one of the main causes of how our world as a whole, is being affected tremendously. And if we all just do our own part and throw out garbage where garbage is meant to be, we could be able to see so much more beautiful waters instead of wondering why it’s so ugly or thinking that green water is “normal”.