Living near a high school, we have clear evidence that teenagers, despite living in today’s “Inconvenient Truth” times, have not fully caught on to saving the planet by not littering it.
Every day after eating fast food in their BMWs and jacked up pick-ups, many of the teens cavalierly toss the remains under their vehicles or over our fence instead of disposing of it properly. It’s disheartening and disgusted. And how can this be considered acceptable?
I cannot think of one valid reason why littering is acceptable under any situation. Why every morning when I fetch our newspapers am I also disposing of flying Taco Bell wrappers and Jack-in-the-Box fries containers? I won’t even start on how I feel about our neighbors who let their dogs poop outside our fence!
So my best hopes for our planet rest with the next generation, that of my eight-year-old. He already seems to get it. He wanted to know why his mother used all those store-bought water bottles when she could refill one from the fridge? And why do we use all those plastic bags when we could carry all our groceries in a big canvas bag? Why can’t he take a thermos to school instead of those drink pouches? All good points. Now the inside of our cars may be stuffed with an assortment of snack and candy wrappers, juice boxes and discarded napkins, but I’m basically OK with that unless the contents alert my nose.
Every now and then when a see an army of orange vested people picking up trash on the roadside I think that all high schoolers should be remanded to perform this duty as part of community service. It does the world good. I also try to remember to bring an extra trash bag with us when we go to the beach just to pick up all the debris left by uncaring beachgoers. Hey, every little bit helps.
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