And another thing...

[altivo]

...about having this stupid detour going past our house: the litter is gross. People are pigs. It's appalling what they throw out their car windows. Obviously they feel no responsibility for the trash they strew around, none whatsoever.

I've decided to keep count of the waste from McDonald's and send them a bill at the end of the season. (Nearest McDonald's is four miles away, but their wrappings and crap are ending up in my driveway and on my grass.)

Comments

[atomicat.livejournal.com]

I just love looking at a beautiful picture I've taken only to find a beer can hiding on the edge of it. Oh wait, no I don't.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

I agree. While it's interesting or amusing to dig up something like that from 100 years ago, it's just obnoxious when people toss things around now as if the landscape didn't matter, and it was someone else's job to clean up their filth.

[schnee.livejournal.com]

Ah, yeah, you gotta love that. When I take a walk in a forest or so and leave the paths (or when there are no paths to begin with), I sometimes come across trash; I usually take it with me then, since otherwise, it'll probably stay there for years.

I don't get people sometimes.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

It's simple. If you ever needed proof of evolution, that humans are nothing but conceited apes, there it is.

[vimsig.livejournal.com]

We would be interested in how it goes with altivo v the golden arches.

On Orust people have summer houses and they throw their rubbish in roadside ditches in plastic bags and because summer house people seem to have summer house brains - most of the rubbish is takeaway cartons this and pizza boxes that, tomato sauce bottles and beer cans. One never sees ingredient packaging in those ditches.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Oh, I don't even expect a response from the McDonald's. They don't care.

As for summer people, it's not just them, or at least not here in the US. I watch what people buy at the supermarket. Not one in five buys ingredients from which to prepare food any more. Perhaps one in three does buy fresh vegetables or fruit and that's about it. The majority are only buying prepackaged foods that can be "prepared" by shoving them in a microwave or an oven, and snack foods that are eaten right from the packages. Cooking is now considered "demeaning" and too much bother. Only crazy people do it.

[avon-deer.livejournal.com]

I hate the cigarette ends that people discard all over the place.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, that has long been a peeve with me. Interestingly, though, that particular kind of litter actually is declining here. Smoking is on the way out, thank goodness. The social pressure has grown so strong that smokers are embarrassed about their nasty habit and hide it.

Quite a turnaround from 12-15 years back, when cigars were a fad. Now THAT really created disgusting litter. I can remember walking through downtown Chicago and thinking the streets were filled with dog droppings, but they turned out to be cigar butts.

[cabcat.livejournal.com]

Gad even I don't get much rubbish dropped on our street and its suburbia. Although I like to think we're pretty tidy in our suburb :)

[altivo.livejournal.com]

It's a cultural thing. People in the US have never been particularly tidy, I'm afraid, but since the 1960s things had been improving. Now it seems to be declining again, in an era when consideration for others is thought to be "out of date" and everyone is only interested in personal gratification.

Teens are the worst, but a surprising number of adults have no concern whatsoever about the amount of trash they generate or what happens to it.

[goldenstallion.livejournal.com]

Dear Rider.

We get the same thing here, mostly fast-food stuff. But also cans, bottles, and the constant accumulation of freebie newspapers around our mailbox in their usually blue wrappers. I am always amazed how many people (I would guess mostly young) toss the whole bag and often the drink cup from the fast-food places out the window. Huh? Ever heard of a trash bag in your car?

I have NEVER done that. I will admit to tossing occassional cigarette butts out and even a gum wrapper or three in past years. But why not just keep the trash until you get home and put it in the trash? Are you that lazy a bastard piece of crap who is so selfish and self-centered and self-important you think it is fine to litter up everybody ELSES road in front of their place? I doubt you would do that on your OWN FRONT LAWN!

Of course there are fines for littering but it is nearly impossible to catch much less prove.

I think Alaska is the worse, however. I like the Adopt a Highway and often see people walking along picking up the litter. Several I see here regularly are older guys or hippie-looking guys on bicycles, joggers and older couples. Sometimes prisoners in groups and in Alaska it was often the military along the highway that runs in front of the bases and forts.

That helps restore some faith in humanity.

Imp

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Yes, there are still people who care. Unfortunately, there are an increasing number of others who will shout "treehugger" at them and toss a beer can or butt in their face.

It varies from state to state, and city to city, too. Some have a culture of tidiness, and some are the opposite. My brother used to say that in Texas it was considered really "lily-livered" to pick up your trash and take it away. "Real men" were expected to throw beer cans and bottles out the window of their pickup truck as they drove along. Perhaps that was some backlash against Lady Bird Johnson's attempts to beautify America back in the 60s.

[heavens-steed.livejournal.com]

I can think of several t-shirt phrases that come to mind when I hear about things like this. People are stupid.

I'm sorry to hear about the trash blowing on your property. That's no good.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

It has always been a problem here, but increased traffic on the road makes it much worse. Yes, people are stupid, selfish, lazy, and inconsiderate. If I needed any proof that humans are just big-headed apes, I consider this to be adequate.

[hellmutt.livejournal.com]

Oh, yuck. I really don't get how people think it's ok to behave like that.

I'm uncomfortable enough with people throwing apple cores and other biodegradable stuff out of a car, let alone plastic trash. Gnah.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Plastic trash is the worst. The entire countryside here is littered with those flimsy plastic bags they use at supermarkets and other retailers. I think more than half of them end up blowing about the country until they snag in trees and flap there for years.

And just think, those are made from crude oil. Not a renewable resource, yet finding a way to recycle them is next to impossible. For a while some supermarkets here would accept them back, but that has stopped.

Ok?

[gabrielhorse.livejournal.com]

They behave like that because they aren't affected by the way of thinking you guys are all buying into. If someone doesn't know a cat's in a box and they run it over with their car, should you hate them for killing a cat they were unaware of? How would you feel if someone shook their finger at you for "littering" because you threw an applecore out your window?

A curious mind asks curious questions.

[gabrielhorse.livejournal.com]

On one hand I applaud your idea of sending McNumbnutz a bill, i want to ask you about the concept of responsibility a little....

...now keep in mind, I neither like litter or fast food establishments, but...

The concept of responsibility... *ponders* I take it you were raised to clean up after yourself. I also take it this was instilled in you primarily by your parents. Being responsible, hmmm... what does it stand for to you?

Also, why do you believe others should act accordingly? for nature? For civilization? Or is it something else?

Re: A curious mind asks curious questions.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

People should not throw trash around where someone else has to pick it up. That is simply rude, inconsiderate, and selfish. I suppose some of them would take a crap on my lawn too, like stray dogs, if they thought they could get away with it. Come to think of it, when we lived in Chicago there were people who would throw used disposable diapers out car windows so someone else had to deal with them.

Honestly, I am puzzled that you would ask this question. Human litter, especially plastic, is damaging to the environment in many different ways. It injures wildlife. It is unsightly. It can create pollution and fire hazards. It can even be a safety hazard along roads. I've actually had one of those stupid plastic bags fly into my windshield and stick there, obscuring my vision while I was driving, for instance.

Making someone else clean up after you as if you were a helpless or spoiled child is immature. Yes, it's irresponsible too. Responsibility is considering the consequences of your actions and owning up to them. It is also doing something about the problems you cause.

[soanos.livejournal.com]

I remember when I lived in the UK for a while, and I picked up a candy wrapper some stupid kid threw on the ground a few meters away from the litter bin and put it in the bin.

Everyone, I mean EVERYONE in vicinity turned and looked at me like I was a friggin' alien from another planet.

No, I am just a Finn.

I think it is just upbringing of kids these days. When I was young, we were taught to put the rubbish in the bin, or if a bin is not available, in the pocket until there is a litter bin available.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Yes, I've had that experience here. "Why would you bother? What's wrong with you?" is the attitude some people take when you bother to pick up trash.

Cultures vary in their attitudes toward this sort of thing. I'd have expected the British to be among the tidier types, but perhaps not. Or perhaps it differs between the Scots and the Welsh and the English.

America used to be really bad in this respect, and I think it grew out of an attitude that there was plenty of open land and who cared if some of it became just a trash dump. We still see a lot of it along roadways because it is dropped by people who are entirely focused on the beginning and end points of a journey and nothing along the way is real or matters to them.

[hellmutt.livejournal.com]

I once got strange looks (and mocked by my dad!) for doing the same while in Denmark. By contrast, people in city centre Manchester, where I work, just don't seem to care what you do. :) They're probably secretly thinking "Fool, this is what we have street sweepers for."

[saythename.livejournal.com]

Yah, we get that too out by work (At home its
beer bottles and such by the side of the road).

You save all that stuff, and ask to see the manager
and dump it, wet and stinking, on his desk.

"You have an explination for this on my property?"

Hopefully its one of those anal rententive sorts
that will huff and whine as you peer down at
him.

I hate litter. Theres so much wrong with the
world and people have to act like this is
Zimbabwe or the Middle Ages.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Selfishness and greed have no boundaries. When you look at the behavior of human "leaders" and "role models" it is no wonder that the majority of the population acts as badly as it does.

[linnaeus.livejournal.com]

Years ago when I was an undergrad in Champaign, I was riding with a friend of mine when someone in a car in front of us when stopped at a light threw a fast food bag out the window. It was pretty offensive, but even in Champaign I wasn't going to pick an argument with a stranger over it for fear of ending up part of a news story about a road rage incident. Anyway, half goofing around I said in an outraged voice intended only for my friend "Hey! That's littering and it's wrong!" Apparently I underestimated how well my voice carried, because to my astonishment the guy got out of the car and sheepishly picked up the bag...

Moral of the story: people know it's wrong, but too many people figure that it's easy and nobody will call them on it. It's depressing, because how hard is it to hold on to your trash until you get to a garbage can? Where's the benefit to the trash thrower, really?

Anyway, that being said, I'm not really on board with the idea of talking to McDonalds about it. The responsibility lies with the yutz who decides that your land is his dumpster and throws it on the ground.

On an unrelated note, it must be a slow day on the internets for a statement as innocuous as "littering is bad" to attract such desperate trolling.

*smiles warmly at you*
*accuses you of being defensive*
*offers you an apple and hopes you can understand these deep thoughts*
*puts a reassuring hand firmly on your shoulder*
*egregiously overuses smarmy poses*
*is still a troll*

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Heh. Yeah, I don't get it. This is very uncharacteristic behavior.

The point with McDonald's is mostly that I despise McDonald's. But I also believe that since they are making huge amounts of money distributing the wherewithal for this obnoxious litter, they should do more to keep it cleaned up. For instance, messages printed on their stupid containers that say "Be responsible, dispose of trash properly" would at least do lip service to the concept. At one time I think they did that, but there was nothing but advertising on this crap. I also don't see their name on any of the signs around here identifying organizations that take responsibility for cleaning up litter on a stretch of highway.

It's a social problem, and not the worst one we have by any means. But our inability to deal with it more effectively doesn't reflect well on our society either.

There are other problems just with this detour. For instance, the speed limit is 55. I think for safety it should have been posted down to 45 for the duration, but that isn't happening. There's also no enforcement, which means that the typical speed of traffic on our road is now approaching 70. That's really deadly on a narrow, shoulderless, two lane road. There's already been one serious accident with ambulances and helicopters and all.

Another is the trucks. There are two detours, clearly indicated by signage. Class I and II trucks are not supposed to use this one, but are supposed to take a longer one that is entirely state and federal highway. A significant number of them are ignoring that, because they can get away with it...

[kaysho.livejournal.com]

It's completely not worth it, but ... set a video camera to watch the street and charge anyone throwing litter onto your property with a trespass. :)

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Chances are the littering takes place late at night when light for a camera would be nonexistent. No street lights out here in the country. ;D

However, if I had the time and money to waste, you're on the right track. I'd make a booby trap to automatically puncture the litterers' tires. Just a small hole so the tire would go flat farther down the road...