Sunday, April 8, 2007
Oscar the Grouch loves trash. He even has a song that says so.
I have to admit, I'm a fan of Oscar. But I wouldn't want to live in a trash can (even one which I happen to think is actually a TARDIS - after all, it's clearly dimensionally transcendental. Does that make Oscar a Time Lord? But I digress...) And I definitely don't love trash.
I've been spending a lot of time walking, running, and riding along the streets and roads around here, and I can say without a doubt that the amount of trash lying on the ground is absolutely apalling. It seems like there's garbage everywhere. What ever happened to throwing garbage in a trash can?
I was particularly struck during the Eastern States 20 Mile race two weeks by the number of energy gel packets I saw along the road. Now, I'll grant you, a dozen or so empty packets over 20 miles after 500 runners have passed may not seem like that big a deal. But we were specifically asked to hold on to any garbage we generated until it could be thrown out at an aid station! How difficult is that to do?
Occasionally a piece of paper, or a cup, or a bottle will fall out of my car as I'm getting in or out, and I'll find myself thinking, "It's just one ____, is it really worth reaching under the car to get it?" The answer is "YES!" And I hope if someone sees me dropping trash on the ground and not picking it up, they'll give me a good solid kick in the backside. Because I don't want to be contributing to the disgusting litter that I'm seeing everywhere I go. Maybe if enough of us take that attitude, we can someday return to having clean streets and roadsides where the only thing to see are the plants and animals.
Around here, there's a lot of concern because Mayor Jerry wants to bury a portion of the Pine Bush Preserve under the expanding Albany landfill (a huge money-maker for the city of Albany.) If what I'm seeing keeps going, he won't need to... because we'll have buried everything around us under the trash we're too lazy to dispose of properly. Whether via recycling (yeah!), reuse, or some other method. But just dropping garbage wherever we feel like it needs to stop.
JMH
