One fine December morning in 2009, we decided to go to Al Ain for a family outing, so we set out on an early road trip. At around 9am we stopped for breakfast. We had everything packed, so we pulled over when we saw a spot where we could spread our mats and open our parcels.

We figured that this particular spot was probably a host to a number of travellers like us. How could we tell? From the garbage that had been strewn all over the place – paper cups, plastic bags, paper plates – all kinds of rubbish.

I pulled out my camera and took a few shots of the scene. I promised myself that once I got home, I would bring this issue to light. But life and school and family being what they are, I eventually forgot about the matter. It wasn’t until last week when I was looking at photos on my computer and came across the ones from that Al Ain trip that I remembered my forgotten promise.

At one time or another, all of us have made pledges – pledges to conserve water, pledges to save electricity, pledges to be more eco-friendly. These pledges often resemble diets, where you follow the plan for a week and eventually stop, thinking that it's not changing anything.

In his poem entitled Leisure, Welsh writer William Henry Davies wrote, "What is this life full of care, we have no time to stand and stare". Davies died in 1940, but I think this idea is still true today. We are so often blinded by the developments the human race is making that we fail to see the big picture – but the big picture is staring at us with bleeding eyes!

Global warming is real, and the damage we’re doing to the environment with our garbage is real, so when are we going to do something about it?

Or are we as humans simply so arrogant that we refuse to relieve ourselves from the ignorance that burdens us?

Aysha Samrin, age 17