Greetings and Salutations...

On Sat, 02 Jul 2005 06:51:19 -0500, Prometheus
wrote:

On Fri, 1 Jul 2005 13:13:47 -0400, (Jeff Gagnon)
wrote:

Right with you there, buddy. Seems like there's nowhere you can go
ANYWHERE... shore, parks, even state forests... and there's plastic
bags, bottles and wrappers wherever you go. Not to mention "empty"
plastic cigarette lighters.
They're like mushrooms... everywhere.

If "Littering" becomes an olympic sport, the USA will take the gold,
silver, and bronze medals every year. It IS a local thing, people. Pick
up the first plastic bag you see in the woods, and I'll bet you can fill
it with other litter in 15 minutes. You'll feel a little better when you
drop it off in a trash can.

Kind of makes me feel fortunate to live where I do. I don't see that
much litter around anywhere in my area- don't know if that's a matter
of efficient road crews, adopt-a-highway programs, high littering
fines, or people just not throwing trash all over (probably a
combination of all of that) but there's definately not as much crap on
the roadways as there used to be! I do remember it being a real
problem 10 or 15 years ago, but these days an empty can on the side of
the road sticks out like a sore thumb. The biggest difference is in
the volume of cigarette butts- there used to be drifts of those
suckers in every gutter, but there aren't really that many anymore.


It seems to vary quite a bit. I have been hiking in
the Great Smoky Mtns National Park for 40 years or so, and have
seen quite a change there. In the 70s and 80s, It was amazing
how much trash there was along the trails. Drink containers,
cigarette cases, mayo bottles, cans, etc. Even found a number
of used, disposable diapers. I got in the habit of taking a
trash bag along, and would often fill it on a short hike.
However, in the 90s, things improved quite a bit, and,
while there IS some trash on the trails these days, it is
far less obvious than it used to be. There is also a
somewhat smaller number of trash items along the road by
the front of my property...but, there are STILL a lot of
empty beer containers...
So...some improvement here and there, but, not QUITE
enough yet.
Regards
dave mundt