There comes a point when staying silent does more harm than good, especially when it comes to protecting the environment.
Photo via X (MYNEWSHUB)
A group of local volunteers, tired of watching their hard work go to waste, took to social media platform X to highlight a recurring issue during one of their river clean-up efforts. While collecting garbage from the water, they caught a local homeowner casually tossing a bag of rubbish into the very same river they were trying to restore.
And this wasn’t the first time…
In a video that has since gone viral, one of the volunteers holds up the bag that had just been thrown in, addressing the camera: “We’re not here to shame anyone, but this is exactly why our rivers stay polluted. This man threw rubbish into the river while we were in the middle of cleaning it.”
They explained that they had already warned the man several times in the past, “We just want him to understand—how would it feel if someone came and dumped trash in his home?”
Fed up with repeated offences, the group decided it was time to take a stand: “We’re going to speak to him directly. If it turns into an argument, so be it. Enough is enough.”
The video then shows the group walking up the riverbank to confront the homeowner, “Can you stop doing this? This is your trash, and this is exactly what causes floods and other issues,” one of them said calmly.
At first, the man denied it, claiming this was the first time. But the volunteers stood firm: “We’ve seen you do it before. Please, just stop.”
Eventually, the homeowner gave in. He admitted to what he did and promised to change his ways, “There are proper bins nearby,” one of the volunteers pointed out. “There’s no excuse.”
This moment serves as a reminder that change often begins with uncomfortable conversations. It’s not just about picking up after others—it’s about holding people accountable and educating them on how their actions affect the world around them.
Because standing up for the environment means knowing when to speak out and when to demand better.
