Take a look outside. What do you see? Maybe the last leaves falling to the ground; a squirrel gathering nuts for winter; a crow cawing from its perch on a branch; a plastic bag flying through the air.

Something doesn’t belong there and, as you know, it’s the trash.

I was looking out my own window while writing that first paragraph, writing down what I saw. My guess is that I’m not the only one who finds gum on the bottom of my shoes, or who chokes on the exhaust coming from cars while playing outside or taking a walk.

Sometimes people don’t consider what can happen it they throw that plastic ring (the kind used for a six-pack of soda) out a window. That plastic ring could make its way to a pond, stream or even the ocean, wind up on a duck’s neck and kill it. It has happened.

If you, as one person, are polluting the Earth, don’t you think that there are millions of other people doing it, too? It is all the combined pollution that is causing global warming and other environmental hazards, which eventually could kill us all.

Everyone must do their part to help by taking one step to a healthier Earth. Before you throw that trash outside, consider where it might end up.

Remember, one person can make a difference in the world.

“The Earth is not ours. We are just borrowing if from our children,” author unknown.

Anna Poirier, Poland