Has anyone else wondered why the fast food garbage and other waste along our residential streets is getting so disgusting? Seriously, just take a drive along Promontory Road this week and try to count the wrappers and cups along the way.
I travel for business to Mexico quite frequently, and have noticed that in that country the problem is diminishing.
When I asked someone I deal with why that is, he said it’s interesting that several years ago the government started a campaign to teach kids in school about being responsible for their waste. It is now less socially acceptable to drop your waste for someone else to deal with. Interesting that Mexico is heading one way, we’re going the other. I’m starting to see on our streets what I normally see in the 3rd world countries I have visited.
Interesting that in a time when “environmental responsibility” is such a prominent topic in schools, personal actions of environmental responsibility are declining.
It’s not like this topic is on the same level as the suffering in Syria or many other important topics we could discuss, but on some level it’s another indicator of what is happening in our society in terms of personal responsibility more generally (I think).
Maybe our property taxes should be able to pay for city staff to do more waste removal, and as much as I would support that, the real issue is why it’s now become so acceptable to individuals to throw waste out the window when there’s a perfectly good garbage system in place.
By the way, we do take the time to clean up our own block, this isn’t a gripe from someone too lazy to do his own fair share.
Larry Les