With the advent of social media, we have come across many movements which may have started small but spread fast and soon became a global movement. ‘Hashtags’ is the buzzword that can trigger a huge revolution if it hits the right spot. A few years ago, the Ice Bucket Challenge became a major sensation which was started to raise awareness about ALS. There are also some small YouTube challenges that erupt for entertainment purposes and spread throughout the globe. There were the Birdbox challenge and ‘neknominate’ craze where people had to guzzle down insane amounts of alcohol.
While many of the small challenges that go viral do not make any sense, this time we have a new challenge that is trending – #trashtag. The Trash Challenge is on the rise and is restoring the faith of many people in the goodness of humanity.
People have a bad habit of littering. Even if there is a trashcan just a few meters away, people are too lazy to walk toward it. They would just throw their junk on the street and keep walking without even thinking about the waste once. This is the kind of carelessness that has brought our planet to such a sorry state – we do not really have proper waste management techniques and landfills are on the rise. Plus, all the once-aesthetic places like beaches and parks are getting transformed into dumping grounds. We haven’t even left Mt. Everest, which has become a dumping ground for our waste as well. It is getting quite clear that we need to tackle the problem of waste accumulation fast.
The Trash Challenge may be a trend that erupted all of a sudden but it comes with an underlying motive – clean up! With the rising trend, more and more people are clearing up their community areas and then presenting a ‘Before’ and ‘After’ picture. Not only are these clean-up operations dramatic, but after seeing the comparative pictures, you can objectively find out how terrible waste can be.
The concept of #trashtag has been there for quite a long time but it did not really fly off that easily. But the internet acts in a weird way and so all of a sudden, the trend has erupted over the weekend. Wooded areas and parts of beaches are getting cleaned by people from all kinds of background. They collect the garbage in bin bags and sometimes pose with them. It has united the ‘bored teens’ to come together and do something for the world.
It seems that the people who are becoming a part of this challenge know why clearing up the natural landscape is so important. Cody Hanson has explained it best. According to him, there is only one outdoor and while we may use it for different purposes, we must be respectful toward it. So, according to him, it doesn’t take long to pick up what we are leaving behind and then pick up some more. Especially when it takes just minutes to clean up something that might outlast us for a long time.
Cody knows the problem with waste and he wants to make sure none of it becomes an issue for the future generation. Like him, many people are joining the #trashtag challenge. Maybe, it’s time for the rest of us to jump in too!