The theme for this year’s Earth Day is an end to plastic pollution.

It is almost unthinkable that humans would wantonly destroy our planet through the careless manufacturing and discarding of plastic waste, and yet we are pumping tons and tons of plastic into our ecosystems on a daily basis, endangering not only the wildlife that depend on these habitats but also our own continued existence.

Celebrating South Africa’s beautiful wild places seems like a good way to spend Earth Day 2018, but isn’t it sickening to imagine landscapes like these buried under heaps of trash?

Addo Elephant National Park scenery

Sunrise over the lagoon at the main camp in Agulhas National Park

Blyde River Canyon Nature Reserve

Breede River in Bontebok National Park

Camdeboo National Park scenery

Leokop and a lone paperbark tree in Chelmsford Nature Reserve

Dinokeng Game Reserve Scenery

Ezemvelo Nature Reserve Scenery

Diepwalle Forest, Garden Route National Park

Rondevlei in the Garden Route National Park, seen from the hide

Tsitsikamma coast, Garden Route National Park

Golden Gate Highlands National Park

Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park

Ithala Game Reserve

Sunrise on the Eastern Shores, iSimangaliso Wetland Park

Fever trees in Umkhuze Game Reserve

Karoo National Park Landscape

The scenic route through Kgaswane Mountain Reserve

View from Ted’s Place on the Sweni Trail, Kruger National Park

Easter Sunday Sunset over Loskop Dam Nature Reserve

Mapungubwe National Park scenery

Lenong viewpoint is up there, at the towers, in Marakele National Park

Midmar Dam Nature Reserve scenery

Mokala National Park

Moreletakloof scenery

Scenery at Mountain Zebra National Park

Big herd of roan antelope on the floodplain at Vogelfonteinin Nylsvley Nature Reserve

View over the Oribi Gorge Nature Reserve from Oribi Gorge Hotel

Mankwe stream in Pilanesberg National Park

Scenery at Walter Sisulu National Botanical Garden

Bitter Aloes (subspecies candelabrum) in Queen Elizabeth Nature Reserve

Rietvlei Spruit in the Rietvlei Nature Reserve

Suikerbosrand scenery

Boulders scenery, Table Mountain National Park

Scenery at Cape Point, Table Mountain National Park

Giant’s Castle’s fresh mountain streams

Kamberg Nature Reserve

Reflections at Mahai, Royal Natal National Park

Mangroves lining the lagoon at Umlalazi Nature Reserve