Earthship Logs

A Little Litter, Big Trouble

Attention, crew! Captain Redbird here.

I'll bet you already know that litter is ugly and messy. Did you know it can be much worse than that? Let me tell you about something I saw.

I was just cruising along looking for seeds for lunch. Down below, children were playing and adults were sitting in the shade enjoying themselves watching Millie Mallard teaching her ducklings.

As I pulled out of a dive, I noticed that the kids were playing with a plastic bag. Suddenly the girl grabbed it out of the boy's hand and tossed it into the lake. As it floated away, they tried to fish it back out of the water, but it had drifted out too far. I kept seeing that bag floating around for the next several days. Captain Bluegill swam by and checked it out but there was nothing she could do to get it out of her living room, ugly as it was.

Then one day it floated into the area where Millie and her brood were paddling around. As Millie showed them how to dive for food, her head went right through one of the handles! Although her plastic "necklace" looked pretty funny, it wasn't something to laugh about. Millie couldn't get free, and as she tried to lead her ducklings out of the water, part of the bag got caught on a stick. She struggled and squawked and struggled some more, but she couldn't get loose. The ducklings were frightened.

Captain Bluegill saw all the splashing and swam over, but there wasn't anything she could do to help.

Things were looking really bad, then I spotted a park ranger and flew right at her. At the last minute, I pulled up and she looked up to see what I was doing. I flew over to where Millie was caught, she was getting tired from her struggle. The ranger followed me. When she got close enough, she could hear poor Millie's splashings, and rescued her.

That plastic bag went into the recycling or trash bin -- right where it should have gone in the first place.

Wow! Talk about a close call! Fortunately, this time there was a happy ending, but remember: Litter can hurt wildlife!

Captain Redbird's Litter Tips

Here are some tips from Captain Redbird that you can use at home, at school, and in your neighborhood to keep the environment free from litter.

• Set an example for your friends and family by not littering.
• If your parents own a car, make a litterbag for it.
• Keep your yard clean and free of things that can blow into the street and become litter.
• When you visit a park or beach, take out what you bring in. Keep trash in a bag or backpack until you can put it in a litter basket.
• Talk to your parents about recycling to reduce the amount of litter you throw away.

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