Litter

On my early morning walks it is light before I get home now, and I am thrilled. Sadly, though, next week daylight savings begins (I refuse to capitalize it), and it will be another little while before I will enjoy light on my walks.

With the springtime brightness comes a sad realization, though. There is a lot of litter on our streets and in our ditches. It really is ridiculous. Occasionally I or my family will take some time and pick some of it up, and once or twice a year a work crew will come dispose of it.

As I examine the mess from afar, I notice one thing virtually all of the litter has in common: it's all from some type of junk food, or something that's convenient, but not particularly good for you. Pop and beer bottles and cans, candy wrappers, chip bags, cookie and cake packages. One day, stunningly, there was most of a beautifully decorated cake, in all its grocery-store packaging in the entry/exit of a mobile home park, just sitting there. I picked it up and put it to the side so it didn't get run over, thinking maybe someone lost it from the roof of their car or something, that it had  been forgotten. It sat there for quite a while. Weeks. (I would have picked it up and thrown it away, but by then I was curious as to how long it would actually sit there!) Animals finally got into it and the packaging has finally disappeared, for better or worse.

In my own quest to minimize my garbage, eat locally and better, and stay away from junk and soda, this litter is amazing to me. Do people just drop it there as they are driving or walking by? Does it fly out of the car by accident?

I remember driving home from Marysville to Stanwood, and one of my children let a small Cheerios box fly.  I nearly had a fit--We stopped the car and retrieved that silly box in some amazing traffic. I wonder if that child is a willfull litterbug now as a young adult?!

In a populated area such as ours, there are garbage cans everywhere, from bus stops to shopping centers, to parks and public areas, to places of employment and business. If I find some garbage in my handbag or car, on my next stop I can surely dispose of it in an appropriate place.

I had an interesting friend, Johnny, with whom I worked some years ago. I remember once Johnny said, "Imagine what the world would be like if everyone picked up just one piece of litter every day." I think the world would not only have fewer pieces of litter, but also people who are more aware of litter's impact and who may think twice before dropping trash onto the ground or be proactive when they something flies out of their car or whatever.

As for the junk food wrappers, I find it interesting that the same people who don't mind putting that junk into their bodies don't mind polluting our world with junk, too. I remember McDonald's used to have printed on their bags, "Keep America Beautiful. Please put litter in its place." Hey, Mac, thanks for the reminder. Should the corporations that sell us things be responsible for the garbage they generate, especially when it lands in our gutters and streets? Because the consequences become all of ours, whether we litter or not.