Critter Alley

Critter Alley

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Tote That...Garbage?



This photo of a crystal clear Missouri stream that I visited recently illustrates one of my "pet" peeves.

I will never understand why people believe it's okay to toss cans, bottles, plastic, paper, and assorted other trash on the ground or into the water.

Is it laziness? Stupidity? A completely self-centered attitude?

Perhaps it's a bit of all three.

For years I served as co-leader for my daughter's Girl Scout troop. Whether on field trips or campouts, one phrase always applied:

"Leave the area better than the way you found it."

Don't you wish everyone lived by that motto?

Garbage is ugly. It's harmful to fish and wildlife. It pollutes and helps destroy our environment. If you read this blog, I know I'm preaching to the choir, but consider this informal pledge among us friends.

Let's try to change things.

From now on, we'll each do our best to leave any place we visit a little better than the way we found it. Maybe we can encourage more people to join. You know, get a real movement going. What an impact that would make!

I guarantee that every one of us, from the tiniest critters all the way to the top tier of creation (Could that be people? H'mmm. Sometimes I wonder) will benefit.

So, Rubbish Removers of the world...Unite!

Make a difference in OUR world.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is one of my pet peeves as well. I live near a major provincial wilderness park that caters to thousands of tourists every year. One of the things that we are all taught is what you carry in, you take out. But like anywhere else, there are those select few who think the rules are for everyone else but them! See I told you it gets me irritated!

Anonymous said...

Count me in, Pat. It gets me furious when I see people littering. People who fail to clean up after their dogs irritate me too. A stranger berated Tom and I in the street about dog mess the other day and she would not listen when we tried to tell her we always clean up after Barkley.

The postmen in Britain leave thousands of red elastic bands on the ground when they deliver mail and in a recent nationwide initiative ordinary people all over the country collected these bands for a month, then mailed the whole lot back to Royal Mail!

The Word Place said...

I agree wholeheartedly--and believe that it has to do with ignorance as well as self-centerness!