The grass is green, the trees are shady, the breeze is cool.

If only the Pepsi can, McDonald’s wrapper and plastic bag weren’t polluting the eye-catching sights of spring, I could really enjoy the afternoon.

A couple of weekends ago, I noticed a lot more garbage around the West Lagoon. I’ve seen trash all over near the Lagoon: stuck by the edge of the water, in the bushes, around rocks. Most of what I saw was either some kind of plastic or Styrofoam. Across the street from the Lagoon and in front of the dorms are a multitude of cigarette butts on the ground right next to the garbage cans, making the ground look like an ashtray.

Common sense says floating wrappers and fast-food cup lids in the water aren’t good for fish in the Lagoon.

Though it is the job of NIU groundskeepers to pick up all that garbage, it really does not have to be.

“Our guys go out every morning,” said Darryl Grayson of the NIU Grounds Department. Some of the garbage the grounds department finds includes “pop cans, cigarette butts … books, clothes. You name it, it’s out there.”

Books and clothing are not things I expect to be found lying around NIU.

If people pick up after themselves and don’t let their garbage blow around, efforts could probably go toward something else.

Everyone on this planet leaves a footprint. Take the “Ecological Footprint Quiz” at http://www.earthday.net/footprint/index_reset.asp. This Web site asks users to answer questions about how they live. It then shows how many planets would be needed if every person lived exactly the same way as that person. The site takes into account energy use, driving and flying mileage and where the food you eat comes from.

With the way most people live in America, we would likely need more than one planet to keep resources available and to keep up such standards of living, but our littering isn’t limited to the virtual world.

Garbage lying around actually adds up. NIU has plenty of garbage cans on campus to collect it. If one isn’t in sight, there are buildings that probably have garbage containers. Picking up and reducing garbage will help the environment become nicer today and help keep it that way for tomorrow.

When the Lagoon is clean and free of litter, it is a very peaceful and enjoyable place to be. For the students who choose to spend time there while spring turns into summer, please keep it nice.