Are you a parent? Imagine your infant barely 15 months old, still unsteady on their feet. You are having a lovely picnic in a park. The temperature is about 24°C and it is getting close to sunset. Its just hitting that time of the evening when the light has that magical, twilight feel to it. The light is starting to dim and the sky starts to change from blue, to colors of red, orange and crimson. You are lying on a picnic rug with your beloved, joyous and relaxed, watching your little sweet-heart run around on her unsteady legs, chasing a ball, a bee or a jogger and his dog.

Then suddenly she stops, bends down, picks something up and puts it in her mouth. At this age everything goes into their mouths doesn’t it. With revulsion though, this time you realise it is someone’s discarded cigarette butt. Both you and your partner burst into action, flying to snatch the cigarette out of her mouth. The urgency in your reaction initially surprises your child and then reduces her to tears as she does not understand what has happened. All she knows is that Mum and Dad, previously at peace are now agitated, upset and stressed.

More importantly though, you are too late. The damage has been done. Your precious bundle has just ingested an absent stranger’s germs as well as the toxic poisons that every cigarette contains. With your early evening picnic in tatters, you pack up your rug, your devastated child and head home. All this simply because one thoughtless, lazy and filthy person could not discard their rubbish appropriately.

I have a daughter, she definitely is my pride and joy, that is us on the left. Her name is Grace and at the writing of this post, she is just past 18 months old. She is the reason for writing this post. You see, I believe the Gold Coast is the best place in the world to enjoy the “outdoor lifestyle”. The weather is brilliant all year round, if you don’t believe me, have a look at the monthly temperatures we get here at the following link: Gold Coast Weather

As the weather is always so pleasant, we like to spend as much time outdoors as we can, letting little Grace run amok in parks, playgrounds, at the beach or anywhere she can enjoy a safe, healthy, outdoor environment. This way of life is the reason we moved to the Gold Coast. We know there are just too many wonderful things to experience outside to waste our leisure time in front of Foxtel or a PS2 Console.

I have a problem though. I cannot find a single park on the Gold Coast where I can let Grace run and play without fear of her picking up a cigarette butt. They are everywhere. I have not found 2 square meters of public ground anywhere on the coast free of cigarette litter. I am only talking about cigarette butts too and have not mentioned other human filth like fast food wrappers, broken glass and discarded bottle tops. Its a disgrace. Can’t you see how beautiful our country is? Can’t you appreciate it? Don’t you want to preserve it? Do you not you realise that the damage you are doing when you do not dispose of your rubbish responsibly, is done to your own own home. There are bins everywhere, it is not difficult to use them.

I am actually doing a bit of running at the moment too, just trying to keep fit. One of the things that astounds me are the fishermen on the Gold Coast. The Gold Coast is marbled by estuaries, rivers and creeks. Have a look at a map or an aerial or satellite image and you will see what I mean. Every time I go for a run, I cross numerous bridges, all of which are regularly used by fishermen trying their luck. From these runs, I have formed the opinion that people who fish are the most filthy people alive. Every day I cross these bridges there is a new wave of discarded fishing wire, rusty hooks, empty bait packaging, cigarette butts, beer bottles and fast food wrappers left lying around. You guys are outdoor people, you are supposed to love our waterways. Yet on a daily basis you leave your filth on the bridges you use to wash into the waterways that you draw so much pleasure from. Then tomorrow you return to the same fishing spots, with yesterday’s rubbish still blowing around your ankles, to start the next round. Can you not see that this is paramount to defecating in your own living room?

I think Australia Day is a real eye opener too. When Australia day approaches, there is so much talk about what it means to be Australian, what national pride is, about mate-ship and the Australian way. It is on the radio, it is on TV, it is in the newspapers, it is on talk back, every one has an opinion. Then Australia day arrives, we all have a day off work and enjoy a big celebration. When the celebration ends though, this is when the true measure of pride in our beautiful country really is revealed. How many of you collect your beer and wine bottles, wrappers and other rubbish and take it home with you? How many of you have enough Australian pride to leave the little piece of Australia that you just enjoyed on our national day, in the same or a better condition than it was when you arrived?

I don’t know if you have noticed this, I certainly have. Australia on the 27th of January is a pigsty. So many of us leave our Australia Day celebrations behind us, polluting our great nation when we go home. Perhaps we should change our national day to “Clean Up Australia Day“. Then at least we can have some pride in what we achieved for the day. We can have pride for what we put back into the nation, rather than rhetoric about what we are taking.

You may live here on the Gold Coast or you may just come to visit, it doesn’t matter. In fact it doesn’t matter where you live or what places you visit, if you look you will see that the world just screams “beauty”, “peace”, “breathtaking”, “overpowering” and a million other amazing things almost everywhere you look. When you drop your rubbish, you take a little bit away from that and you’ll be surprised how it will directly effect you over the course of your life. It could be as simple as losing some enjoyment of a once breathtaking view, which is now spoiled. Or you could lose a past-time, one that relied on a natural resource that is now depleted. You might lose your job as tourists stop coming to a rubbish tip that previously was beautiful. Or you could even lose a child that ingested the poisons you left behind.

It is not hard, please look after your home, your country, your world. Just put it in a bin.