Well. I am depressed.
If you are close to my age, maybe you can associate your elementary school days with being embedded in a proactive environmentalist environment - you know - watching OwlTV in the classroom, learning about reusing and recycling and how important it was to conserve energy, idolizing David Suzuki and thinking that someday you wanted to be just like him...
So,
WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED? Do they not teach kids this anymore??
The day before yesterday, I went for a walk in the park by my house. In this park, there is a little man-made stream. (In Regina, we take what we can get.) It's really quite nice. I enjoy walking along the big rocks and watching the ducks, etc. But when I went last week, it was teeming with garbage. In particular, slurpee straws and cups, chip bags, and candy wrappers. I often see young teens hanging out there, which is fine you know, whatever - but TAKE YOUR DAMN GARBAGE WITH YOU. I thought hmmm, maybe there aren't enough garbage cans around. So, I did my good deed for the day and picked up all the trash in the stream. I didn't have to walk more than probably 30 ft. until I found a garbage can. So clearly, it's not a question of inadequate sanitation facilities - it's just plain igorance and laziness. (Which I knew before, but was trying to give the benefit of the doubt) Enraged, I started schemeing ways to start a community park clean up (which I'm still thinking about doing). Then, today - I decided to go out for a bite to eat for lunch - whilst eating at this establishment - I saw some young jerk heave his beverage cup away towards a fence in the parking lot. RIGHT AFTER HE PASSED A GARBAGE CAN. I was so annoyed, I started to get up to give 'im what 'fer - but he drove away - in a car worth far more money than mine, by the way (If you've seen my car, you can still laugh).
My question is: Was there some kind of genetic mutation after the early 80's? Was there some kind of anti-environmentalist movement that I slept through? What happened?
I know that littering isn't exactly something new and that there have been ignorant assholes since the dawn of time. (Hmmm...a thesis project, anyone?) But why have younger people become so ambivalent towards 'being green'? I kind of expect cynicism of environmentalist practices from individuals older than myself who maybe weren't engulfed in "Suzukism". But, I would have assumed that the next generation of young punks would have been A: more educated, B: better equipped, and C: more willing to make a difference. Unfortunately, this doesn't seem to be the case at all. Now, I realise that I am mass-criticising here, which really isn't fair on the non-slob sect. It just seems that even less attention is being paid to the world around them and that if their heads were shoved any further up that place, they could use their tonsils for a pair of reading glasses.
I am fully aware that people older than I am were probably saying the same thing about my generation. I am also fully aware that I sound like an old fart - which scares me a little because I didn't think I would be feeling this way so early on in life. I would have hoped to at least have acquired some early signs of senility and partial deafness by the time this happened.
The next question is: What can we do about it? Has this type of education been pushed to the wayside in schools and now assumed to be common sense? If so, should it be reimplemented? Has the development of "egotistical materialism" in society placed environmental responsiblity on "someone else's" shoulders? How do we instill a sense of belonging and duty to our planet? I know that most of us aren't as Earth-conscious as we should be (and I include myself in that ilk - but I am proud to say I'm improving), but littering is where I draw the line. I just don't understand that type of mentality. And I don't want to.
So, even though it's not our job to clean up other people's trash - I emplore you to take a pledge and pick up at least one piece of garbage everyday. Maybe those around you will learn from your good behavior.
Takin' Out the Trash In StyleImage Courtesy of Today and Tomorrow
( www.todayandtomorrow.net/tag/garbage/)
1 comment:
I empathize with more of your post than I care to admit (have i really become that old guy yelling at young people?). I too am baffled by the younger generation's ignorance or unwillingness to think about environmental consequences of their actions. But I recently discovered it's not just young people -- it's people roughly our age too! A third party listened to a conversation I had with a friend concerning the reuse of plastic bags, including ziplocs that had stuff like cookies in them. Said third party couldn't understand what the fuss was about, mainly because ziplocs bag were so cheap. Her focus was on the monetary cost; she didn't even think about our environmental objections until we told her that's what we were talking about. Humans have short memories. If they're not told about stuff every five minutes, they forget to worry about it. Or they become sick of hearing about it and ignore it anyway. This attitude is probably best summed up by the word 'LAZY'.
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