From a boom in litter-picking, to the joy to be found in intergenerational friendship, the new issue of Positive News magazine is packed with uplifting stories about things that are going right in the world. Editor-in-chief, Lucy Purdy, explains more
My toddler calls rubbish “dub dub”. He earnestly points out the bottles, cans and crisp packets by the side of the road as we walk, nodding approvingly as I grab them with a litter-picker and drop them into a bag that’s tied over the pram handle. “More, mama!” he says.
At the age of two, he’s perhaps already experiencing the strange satisfaction of picking up rubbish. As our cover story explores, it’s happening on a bigger scale than ever before in the UK. Shops are selling out of litter-pickers, more and more people are joining mass-scale clean-ups, and increasingly there are efforts to log the junk too, in a bid to tackle it at its source.
Of course, it’s a shame that the problem exists in the first place, but I’m inspired by the inventive ways that communities are doing something about it.
A drop in the ocean comparative to the scale of the challenge? Yes, but litter-picking represents fresh air, exercise, laughter and community spirit too. And, not least, the empowering feeling that we are making a difference, albeit a small one – especially when we do it collectively.
Litter-picking represents fresh air, exercise, laughter and community spirit too
It’s easy to be cynical when we see so much litter and its suggestion that people don’t care.
But as with many of the topics that we report on in the new issue of Positive News magazine, there’s always another way to respond and another side to the story.
