[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvFsMe8_NIM]
A few facts about litter and pollution:
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Litter that is dumped in certain areas can stunt plant growth.
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Every year, millions of fish, birds and animals are killed from consuming or getting tangled up in litter with the biggest culprits being plastic bags and plastic six pack rings.
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Litter carries germs that are quickly and easily spread to humans through rodents.
- Plastic bags take hundreds of years to break down.
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Cigarette butts account for over 50 percent of littered items.
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Broken glass cuts the feet of a multitude of animals such as foxes, raccoons, coyotes, badgers, squirrels, cats and dogs.
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Deer love sweets and bread and will often feed on littered leftovers however, much of this food can become contaminated and cause food poisoning.
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Chewing gum is a dangerous piece of litter that can kill animals that attempt to eat it
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Nearly nine billion tons of debris end up in the oceans around the world every year.
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Every cigarette butt takes at least 12 years to finally break down while it pollutes waterways and soil with lead, arsenic and cadmium.
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More than two million cigarettes are littered in the United States every day.
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Over 28 percent of ocean debris is cigarette butts.
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Littered cigarette butts in America could build a seven feet wide highway of butts across the country.
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81 percent of litterers admit that higher fines and stricter laws would stop them from littering.
Yamuna River, India (photo via Mother Nature Network)
