Pick of the Litter
Wednesday, September 26th, 2007
Maybe it’s just me, but I can’t understand why any well-minded human being would ever litter. There is an increasing amount of litter in even the most beautiful areas, such as the beach in my photo. Even with posted fines in the thousands of dollars, there are people littering daily. I did pick up that can and throw it away, but all too often the litter around me is too nasty to even go near.
I have only witnessed a few people in the act of littering, and those I have witnessed fall into two categories. The first was a man who was crazy. He was walking down the street talking to himself, and simply dropped the (empty?) grocery bag he was carrying. I can understand this, because this man clearly had no idea where he was, let alone where the nearest recycling bin was located. The other people I have seen litter were all punk kids, trying to impress their friends. I can understand the urge and so-called coolness of defying authority for the sake of defying authority, but littering is one of those things that is not about authority. It’s about the fricking environment. Under no circumstances is this kind of littering not completely stupid. There must also be innumerable litterers out there who do not fall into any category.
It could be helpful to adopt better recycling programs, like some other countries have, that make it easier for people to recycle. But littering is not caused by lack of recycling. Littering is, in my judgment, an unsolvable problem.
Am I wrong? How to solve it?