Speech Number 2 in the Communication and Leadership Manual

My World

Yes it is - and it’s yours too, so why not start valuing it! Look at that lovely sunset! Watch the sun or moon rise above the water! Enjoy the invigorating fresh air! Not the polluted stuff millions have to endure. Please don’t look down and spoil it, for whatever we toss up always comes down.

Why are we such a nation of litterbugs, hell bent on destroying our beautiful country? No longer is it safe for our children to play in parks, fish in the shallow creek, play on most beaches or even swim. Our Brisbane River downgraded from a “D” to a “Minus D” is a national disgrace.

Where does it come from? Not one but many causes. The run off from farms and industrial sites that encourage the rapid growth of weed inhibiting the water flow. But also from our desecrated small streams that eventually feed into it. The water near stagnant as it can not run freely thanks to a cocktail of dumped household rubbish, car parts, old bikes, kitchen utensils, the off cuts from the new fence. You name it - and we have got it in the creek! Consequently we have the rotting fish on the bank with more floating, the sealed bag of kittens to drown or starve to death, turtles on the grass looking for shade, dependent on dew for water.

Our recreational parks and beaches are now for the depositing of addicts needles. Broken bottles, cans, food scraps and wrappers mingle with human and animal waste. How often you see the “toss and miss but not retrieved and put in the bin” act? We are not alone. Very few areas fare any better. Many problems begin with government – encouraging the building of some dams to restrict water flow and lack of funding. Maybe we should have “On the spot” fines” as in Singapore. Perhaps reliable unemployed or others doing part time community service could be gainfully occupied issuing warnings with request to “pickup and do the right thing.” Non compliance would incur an on the spot fine or if needed, an I.O.U. to be deducted from next welfare payment.

Unfortunately in some cased you are damned if you do and damned if you don’t. Such as the case of who gets the water - the farmer or the river? Surely we are capable of pulling together for a better future. If the deserts of Israel can be made so productive, why must our problems sit in the “Too hard basket?" It is up to you and I – not “Someone” to act now. You may say “But what can I do?” Well, you can do a lot. You are but one voice - but convince your family and you are four or five voices. When you think “Clean up Australia Day” and the rubbish collected! Will it be as bad in a couple of year’s time?

At regular intervals, headlights dimmed, they sneak in along the grassy edge to dump their rubbish and depart. A family hears, know, mutter and go back to sleep.

Why? Are they afraid to confront, or report or don’t they want to be involved or considered to be dobbers? Do they think of the consequences - for it will them that complain bitterly about the condition of the creek? Obviously it is because the elusive “Somebody” again did nothing.

Was it that they had exhausted or not been issued with vouchers? Considering the amount of green garden wasted which the council converts and uses, by selling excess garden mulch they could discontinue the vouchers and accept it free. They should still cover costs. Was it the $15 fee or why not store it until the next kerbside collection? I beg of you to help keep us pollution free.

Remember that if you have no consideration for others it could be one of your family that falls victim of such pollution.