Do you want Vermont to be sick? Have you noticed the amount of litter in our state? Littering can turn our Green Mountains into Yuck Valleys. There are days when many of us go for walks with pets or rides with family and we notice litter on our roadsides, in our lakes, and on our forest trails. Third- and fourth-graders from Leicester Central School believe that people should not litter our state because it destroys our environment.
To begin with, litter pollutes our beautiful lakes such as Lake Champlain, Lake Dunmore, Fern Lake and Silver Lake. It also affects our rivers and streams, especially the one we live near — Otter Creek. Many families and vacationers come to our state to enjoy activities such as fishing, swimming, boating, and tubing. This littering problem could make our lakes not beautiful anymore and make our waterways less inviting to ourselves and to tourists who support our economy.
Another reason why littering is bad for our state is that it’s polluting our roadsides. Littering can harm pets and wildlife. Often when we go walking with our pets, they try to eat the trash. This is a problem because they can get sick from it. They can also get hit by a car trying to get to the litter. This also applies to wildlife such as deer, raccoon, skunks, squirrels and chipmunks.
Lastly, littering can make Vermont sick. When people don’t recycle oil containers correctly, it can affect our wildlife, drinking water, and farmers’ fields. For example, the oil could get into streams and lakes causing the fish to die.
To wrap it all up, littering makes our state look unwelcoming and this affects our economy. Green Up Day is Saturday, May 2, in Vermont. Please help us clean up our state. Let’s make Green Up Day — every day!
Mrs. Coro’s third- and fourth-grade class
 Leicester Central School, Leicester