Land pollution

By Elson Hebel

When I was a little boy, my father used to take me to his farm for gardening and even planting crops. We usually go to the farm on weekends, because that’s the time that I can help him. The crops that we always plant are Yams, taro, and others. Some of the crops don’t grow and died. The plants died because of the land pollution it will effect the crops by not mature and able to grow. If anyone get caught, he will pay 1,000 dollar or go to jail. There are three ways that people pollute the land: littering all over the land, improper garbage disposal, and dumping of chemical fluids on the land.

People littering the island make the land polluted. Most of us like to throw the trash on the road while in the car. Everyday people are polluting the land, Because of pollution, we do not just destroy the cleanliness of the land but we destroy the beauty and increase the ways of getting diseases on our island. For example, it we litter too much then tourists will dislike our island. Tourist will not be able to visit and even stay, because of the pollution. As we all know mosquitoes live in empty cans. The tourist will not like to stay in a place that has mosquitoes. Now days sanitation is making sure that if a place is not clean, that place will be shut down. It spoils everything; school and sakau bars were closed down, because of too much pollution through the land. These things caused very big problems now and the future of our children. They throw empty cans, plastic, and even cigarette filters. But they do not realize what will happen to their environment or their surroundings later on. As a result, empty cans will cause the land pollution and will ruin the crops that we will plant. The ground is alive, that’s where the roots of the tree get their food. There has been many times that my dad, when digging the ground, has found empty cans or plastic. They can kill the roots, and these things will ruin the plantations. The roots of the yams will not able to spread out through the ground.

People are improperly disposing their garbage, which also pollutes the land. Most people they just put their trash in the back of their houses. This will really make the land polluted. After a baby finishes using a diaper, the mother thinks she can place it anywhere she wants too. The mother just picks up the diaper, and tosses it at the back of the house. Many places in a community have a lot of garbage in the back of their houses. Because the plastic does not dissolve, it will not form ground. It will endure the same, until people get rid of it. But what if people don’t find that out, nothing can grow including the grass or the trees. Nothing on earth will exist.

Lastly, spilling the chemical fluid on the land will contaminate our land. Spilling oil or gas fluids will corrupt our land. As a result the trees will also be damaged by not getting any energy from the sun. The oil will spread out through the ground; it will cause the trees to die. So the oil will contaminate the ground it can also contaminate the pesticides and insecticide. The community should take care of our responsibilities, because if we do not people will die. The community or the people of Pohnpei will loose our beautiful green island. Everything on this beautiful island will be destroyed.

People make the land pollution. The causes are littering, improper garbage disposal, and spilling of chemicals. We should all take care of our land by putting our garbage where it won’t contaminate our land. If not, the Sanitation department will punish them or force them to clean their mess. I strongly ask and I also encourage you to keep our island clean for the shake of our lives and the lives of our children in the future. It is the upcoming generations that will suffer more. So lets all extend our kindness not just for us but also our children. Let the environment be the way it was created but don’t take your part of changing the beautiful creations.

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