In response to questions of proper etiquette when visiting national parks, the National Park Service long ago developed a catchy, popular phrase: "Take nothing but photos, leave nothing but footprints."
Sadly, based on patterns of current tourist behavior, it seems that phrase needs to be recirculated and reclaimed by nature enthusiasts.
An example of such thoughtless conduct was displayed on a recent post in the r/MildlyInfuriating subreddit. The original poster posted three pictures from two sites featuring vast arrays of litter.
"On what planet is this acceptable?" the OP wondered. "These people disgust me. I feel terrible for their families and hope they don't have kids."
It should be second nature to adults why littering is bad for the environment — numerous famous ad campaigns have explained it over the years — but given the state of national park etiquette, let's break it down again.
Litter, and particularly plastic litter, can massively disrupt our local ecosystems and environments. Specifically, it often breaks down into tiny pieces called microplastics, which are so harmful that scientists have declared them a "global emergency" because of their potential to negatively impact human health and wild animals as well.
How can this littering epidemic be combated? Well, the top answer is obvious — clean up after yourself when you spend time in nature.
More generally, the National Park Service advises what it calls the Leave No Trace Seven Principles guidelines, which encourage respect for our wild environments in broader terms — not just monitoring your own trash, but refraining from wildlife interactions, minimizing the impact of campfires, and so on. The more people who follow those guidelines, the better off all of us will be, including animals and plants.
Commenters were also not thrilled about the massive litter piles.
"I hate litterbugs like it takes little to no effort to clean up your trash but you need to be a piece of trash," one wrote.
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"People like this suck, so sad," read a top comment.
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