Calling People Out
What happened to the good old days when people respected the environment and put trash where it was supposed to go? Did those days ever really exist or is it that packaging, products and consumption has gotten out of control?
I recently moved from a quiet neighborhood in College Park Maryland, to a busy high traffic area of D.C. Everywhere you look there are people, cars, buildings and concrete. There are no unoccupied spaces.
More and more lately I’ve been walking through the neighborhood, past all the shops, cafes and apartment buildings and have been astounded by the amounts of trash littering the sidewalks, small garden plots and gutters. I try to rationalize it in my head, but there is no excuse. Where is it all coming from? Is it blowing out of the tops of dumpsters and garbage trucks? Is it being blown out the windows of cars? Do people just not care and throw it on the ground? I think it’s probably a combination of all these things, and probably more.
So, what do we do about it? To walk around with a garbage bag and help pick up the garbage would be a solution, but only short term. To post signs and provide more trash receptacles is a good way to reach people, but those efforts can only reach so far. I think that we all need to start calling eachother out when you see someone littering. Stopping someone on the street who you see litter and gently, yet firmly, say “I think you dropped something” or “Hey, there’s a trash can right there”, or something of the like, is important. I feel like it may open their eyes and realize that they are being held accountable for their actions and may make them think twice before doing it again. It’s all about raising awareness and speaking up.
In the past few months, I have built up the courage to politely speak to people when I see them littering. Occasionally I’ll just get blown off, but most times I’ll see people rethink their actions and pick up their trash. It’s heartening to see that a little communication might help make our neighborhoods a little more pleasant.
October 3rd, 2006 at 4:52 pm
Check out the Burning Man views. The event is in the middle of the Nevada desert. Their motto is “Leave No Trace”. The attendance is over 30,000!!! When the event is over, people (volunteers) stand shoulder to shoulder to pick up all the MOOP (material out of place), even leaves that don’t belong in that environment. With the regional events, as people enter, they are provided with garbage bags to Leave No Trace. I love what one of my fireman friends did a while ago, while pumping gas. He saw a person in the car ahead of us throw bags of fast food trash out the car window onto the street. He hopped out of his car and picked up the trash and threw it back into the car, took down the license plate to have a ticket issued for littering. Honestly, it is a hard road to travel. There are those out there that just don’t care, and nothing we do or say is going to change their minds. We can encourage the younger generations though, and that spreads the word even further.
October 4th, 2006 at 9:51 am
I feel like when I think of large crowds and gatherings, I think of lots of trash. It’s good to see an event, such as Burning Man, take the environment and their impact on it so serious. Also, I think that each state should model their trash laws after Washington State. Washington has a litter hotline which is posted on every major road that encourages people to call in and report anyone you see littering, 24/7. In response, the litterer gets a nasty letter in the mail from the State and Sheriffs department, and if they are called in on three times, they receive a Sheriff at their front door. Driving on the roads in this region I see signs saying it is illegal to litter and that there is a major fine, but who is actually enforcing that? People just don’t care.