Littering: Amelia Warde at TEDxManly
[Music] over 50 years ago a little story book called bter snikes and gumbles was written as people started to realize all the things they were throwing on their rubbish heaps was going to affect their future rubbish was starting to accumulate and be absolutely everywhere and in those days rubbish heaps were spread wide throughout the Australian bush every farmer every Factory and every home had a rubbish sheap where all manner of rubbish was thrown from tires to Steel cans from stoves to old cars the author sa Wakefield realized littering could be reduced by entertaining the hearts and minds of children I recently pulled my copy out of this book from behind all my new grown-up books to reread it I remembered back to when it used to be read to me at night as a little kid as I said the author realized littering could be not a problem anymore if she could entertain the roots of where littering starts he wrote about two opposing groups of imaginary creatures both of which thinly disguised parodies of different opposing human groups in the environment the litterers and those who clean up after them the bter snikes were the litterers they lived in rubbish heaps and ate magazine food pictures they had noisy parties and were incredibly lazy the gumbles on the other hand were industrious much given to having picnics together cleaning up rubbish and being friends with all the bush animals much like today's environmentalists today we Face a similar problem and I believe it's time for new ideas a new change a refocus on littering where it really counts in the hearts and minds of children it's not that littering is new far from it it is Millennia old but what is changed is our awareness of right and wrong when it comes to littering strangely we hold in our hands the power to abolish all forms of human life and yet The Dumping of litter and rubbish is still an issue we dare not forget today we are The Hires to the only beautiful and lifegiving planet that really matters to us all we are the new generation of humanity and I believe we should be unwilling to witness or permit the continued destruction of our planet to an uneducated or uncaring minority we are committed here in Australia and around the world keep Australia beautiful decided that they would create a committee of children under the age of 15 armed with the knowledge that people over the age of 15 make up 98.5% of Australia's litter and here I am representing New South Wales and presenting jeel so wait does that mean children throw away litter yes these children are the Undiscovered ones the uncaring and uneducated litterers they litter in schools every day they litter where you can't see them in the corner of buildings they litter by walking away from their drop rubbish they L quietly sneakily and deny that actions I believe littering with denial is not a misdemeanor it's an indication of lack of honesty a failing of society a lack of moral decency no Society can endure when its members are lacking in honesty of character there is an ethos in our community in our nation and in our Global society which enables trust between people exactly as there a moral compass in the individual but if the individual commits acts of littering and then denies these unworthy actions they lose moral Direction by the constant repetition of littering with denial discrediting the moral strength of our whole society we cannot be defenseless and let this happen to us the new generation of humanity an idea for us us to attack This Global problem is by developing a contest which encourages school children not to litter and critical changes such as school staff no longer picking up children's rubbish a potential contest strategy is one that motivates and encourages schools and students to create a cleaner environment in their school there are many examp examples of this approach in the adult World such as the Tidy towns and clean beaches Awards we can strike at the epicenter of littering by engaging schools and school children in these types of contests just one simple idea can make a difference can change the world this new idea for a clean School contest could be be called emu parade after the Australian name of the litter Drive used to pick up rubbish as a group across playing fields paddocks and in the bush it is vital for our society as a whole to develop trust in this issue and I hope the effort we make to reduce littering will develop trust and honesty in the Next Generation