Let's Change the Culture... 'Someone Else Will Clean the Place After Me'
Chlorophyll
I went to the public park as usual to go for a walk, but instead of finding the spot where I always go to breathe fresh air, I encountered a painful scene: tissues, plastic boxes, empty water bottles, cigarette butts, and scattered debris everywhere.
I asked myself: How can we demand a healthy environment while polluting the very place where we breathe with our own hands? I did not wait for a sanitation worker, nor did I dismiss the issue as not my concern. I brought gloves, a mask, a bag, and tongs from home, and began collecting the trash. I then cleaned and disinfected a bench, placed my bag on it, and after walking, I sat down to reflect and write in my journal. I did not do this seeking recognition or applause, but because I felt sorrow for a public space that is supposed to be a refuge for people.
I posted what happened on my Instagram account, and the surprise lay in the volume of positive engagement and new followers. At that point, I realized that people still want to see initiative and are looking for a positive model they can participate in, and that many are dissatisfied with such neglect and incidents.
Given my specialization in botany and environmental science, what I witnessed cannot be summarized in a single word. The trash we leave in parks can become part of a broader environmental and health problem.
Cigarette butts, for example, are not just an eyesore; they are waste containing chemicals that can persist in the environment for a long time. Plastic bottles and bags, on the other hand, can accumulate and break down over time into smaller pieces, becoming part of the plastic pollution problem that affects everyone—plants, animals, and soil. Undoubtedly, the accumulation of non-organic waste and scattered harmful materials creates a suitable environment for insects, pests, and rodents, especially when accompanied by food remnants, moisture, and ambient heat. Furthermore, pollution of the environment surrounding plants harms soil health and the quality of the park’s ecosystem.
A clean park is not only more pleasing to the eye; it is a more suitable place for walking, exercising, sitting, and relaxing, and it contributes to providing a better urban environment for residents. Plants, meanwhile, are an essential part of this equation. Trees, shrubs, and green spaces help improve the environment, provide shade, and contribute to reducing temperatures, thereby helping to mitigate the worsening effects of climate change, while supporting biodiversity within the city. However, we cannot demand that plants provide us with a better environment while we treat the soil and surrounding areas as dumping grounds for waste. Let us also preserve their environment.
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From another perspective, there is a social message no less important: when a child or young person sees someone bending down to pick up a bottle or tissue from the ground, they are learning more than they would from dozens of slogans. We need to shift from a culture of “someone else will clean up after me” to a culture of “my environment, and I am responsible for its cleanliness.”
I believe that institutions concerned with parks and the environment can transform these individual initiatives into community programs, such as volunteer days for park cleanups, awareness campaigns linked to schools and universities, proper placement of bins, appropriate waste sorting, and increased awareness of the impact of cigarette butts and plastic on the environment. They should also encourage park visitors to report trash or behaviors that harm the space. Moreover, specialists in botany and environmental science can play a greater role in community awareness, because protecting green spaces does not start with the soil alone, but with human behavior toward it.
By the end of the day, I didn’t return from the park having engaged in physical exercise alone; I also brought back a message I believe deserves to reach everyone. Praise be to God, I achieved what I set out to do, because no religion, sect, morality, upbringing, or public decency permits or justifies leaving behind a polluted place and an environment conducive to disease. Cleanliness is not the sole responsibility of sanitation workers, nor is the park the exclusive property of a government entity; it is a public space we all use, and therefore its preservation is a shared societal responsibility.
What I did today may have been little more than a trash bag, a pair of tongs, and gloves, but it proved something important to me: a small initiative can make a big impact when others see it. Let us leave behind in parks only one thing: a beautiful legacy, not litter.
In my humble opinion, a clean environment does not begin with a grand decision; rather, it sometimes starts with a single person who recognizes wrongdoing and decides not to walk past it. To a new, fruitful agricultural future, God willing.
Ph.D. in Plant Philosophy
