Monday 12 July 2010

A load of Rubbish!

Today I made my weekly walk along the Water of Leith. It was a beautiful day and there were lots of bees buzzing around in the flowers, I got a really good view of a dipper preening by the water, and a couple of bullfinches, saw and listened to some mystery birds that looked like willow warblers but sounded like whitethroats and was excited to get not one but three really good views of a peregrine falcon as it hunted over the river.

So why the title of this post? Well, in the area that I learned today is referred to as the Secret Meadow, a beautiful expanse of grass, bee-filled comfrey flowers, apple trees and rabbits, I found a huge stack of empty beer cans with the remains of a bonfire and some bottles of suncream. Ironically whoever had created all this waste had thoughtfully piled most of it all into a large cardboard box, but really such disregard for the environment is very saddening. The mess will be cleared up tomorrow by someone with a wheelbarrow, but that's volunteer time that could be better spent doing something more creative.

At tonight's volunteer meeting too, the issue of rubbish came up all too often as one that needs constant attention. The situation isn't really helped by the fact that there are not many bins along most stretches of the river and those that there are are not very large, nor do they seem to be emptied too often. But is it too much to ask that people carry their rubbish home with them?

On the topic of rubbish, I have a haiku over on Haiku News today, matched with two relevant news articles. You can find it here.

7 comments:

Caroline Gill said...

Good to see your Haiku, with its telling message.

Thankfully the plastic puffins off Ramsey Island serve a more promising purpose in helping to attract real ones back to the area.

For a cute puffling, see here...

Christina said...

Trash is a huge problem here in the U.S too. People dont think anything of tossing their fast food sacks out of car windows, emptying ash trays in parking lots and dumping everything on area lakes. It is disgusting and rarely is anything done to clean it up. I wonder what their parents taught them, if anything.

EG CameraGirl said...

No, I don't think it's too much to ask. I wonder what goes through people's minds when they leave trash. Do they really think someone else wants to clean up after them? I was just talking to someone today about watching someone toss garbage out their car window. What's that all about? Why do people do that?

OK, I am slowly climbing off my soapbox and backing away.

Anonymous said...

Oh, I so agree. I am so aggravated by people who thing the world is their trashcan - or ashtray. Could you be any more inconsiderate?

The Bunns said...

I just think it takes frequent litter baskets/recycle bins and regular outreach messages - else we all backslide. We are the throw-away people. Maybe soon all fast-food containers and packaging will be compostable.

Pamela Terry and Edward said...

It just boggles the mind.

Lisa said...

yuck. People have no respect for nature.