Combating Trash is Location Sensitive

Picking up trash can be fascinating, seriously! I have the blessing of living in two different places, one way up in the mountains with very little trash, and one in the heart of a major city with beaucoup trash so plentiful it seems to come up out the ground instead of grass. So I have different approaches to my dedication for keeping my world cleaner.




In Colorado, I have a friend who is always training pack llamas, so when we do our adopt-a-road trash pickup, we take a llama along with saddlebags to hold the trash. Then we climb down and up ditches, picking up what tourists flying by have decided to jettison. They don’t live here; why should they care?



Rattling the saddlebags and stuffing trash gradually gets the llamas used to packing and we don’t have to carry all of it. Win-win. Plus, with a llama, people always slow down to look and sometimes notice we are picking up trash, which gets them to thinking about not leaving any!



My city home has a real dearth of pack animals, so I have my own mantra for that: if I see a discarded plastic bag (and who doesn’t daily in the city?) I was meant to pick it up and fill it with trash before depositing it in a proper receptacle. That basically means, every time I leave my house, I will be picking up trash, but that has a finite limit, as does the bag. Then I can continue on my way, enjoying the walk, the day and any flowers.



Imagine my surprise the other day while sauntering down a dirt road gawking at the new snow covering on the mountains, when an empty plastic bag drifted in front of me. Here? Okay, same pledge holds, so I picked it up and started filling. Because of our paucity of trash, I walked a lot farther toting it before it was full. And my surroundings were once more pristine.



Can I invite you readers to do the same? Minus the llama, in most cases, I know, but be aware and help out our planet a little.

Growth Makes Us Uncomfortable

It's supposed to. Anything worth doing usually involves some internal policing and stress. That's how we continue to mesh with our world in a meaningful way. For most of the year, I live in the city, a very diverse area the continues to expand my perspective. One block one way is old historical mansions. One block another way is boarded up tenements. They are all part of my milieu. One thing they have in common, at least along the sidewalks and streets is trash. And trash isn't something we venture forth every day to look for.

I used to pick it up everywhere I went, but I never got to enjoy a walk. So I came up with a solution I could live with. Since I'm the Plastic Bag Lady, I am using plastic bags as my trigger. Whenever I see an empty plastic disposable bag blowing around, I take it as a sign that I'm supposed to pick it up, fill it with trash and dispose of it. That limits my trash forays but not much! Do you know how many trash bags there are in the city? Especially a city that doesn't ban them? At least once a trip, and I walk every day, my mandate kicks in.

Sometimes, when I'm preoccupied or feeling tired or whatever, I walk by one. I usually get ten feet away before I come back and pick it up to fill. No problem doing that and when I come back home, it looks better--for at least a while. I sleep better knowing I'm doing things to help my world and make someone else's trip to the bus stop or store a little more pleasant.

Spring and Sprouting Trash

It's spring. Flowers are blooming, and unfortunately, so is trash. More people out walking and apparently littering. If your town doesn't have a clean-up day, organize one for your neighborhood. Send out a flyer or an email inviting everyone to meet at your place for coffee, bagels and donuts (People will do anything for free Krispy Kreems) and grab a trash bag to go out and spruce up the area. In St. Louis City, we have Operation Brightside each May and I volunteered to be a block captain one year. Apparently, that is an appointment for life unless you tell them otherwise. Hey! It's once a year. I can do this.

You can also combine trash pick-up with a potluck to follow, anything that makes your environment neater and helps build community with your neighbors.

Some Things We Old People Can Do to Make Our World Better

This was written over Christmas but has applicability all year long. We have a lot on our minds right now: the economy, terrorism, pat-downs, family, the holidays. Let's not forget about our planet, the one we have to live on and share with others? I was walking through our city neighborhood the other evening, looking at Christmas lights--and trash. A plastic bag blew up around my legs, and I thought it did nothing to enhance the decor. So I picked it up, along with some fast-food containers, and a notice of power shut-off for non-payment, wondering how that anonymous person was doing. I know a lot of people that walk my street are struggling, so what are some things I can do to help that?



Of course, we can identify and give as generously as possible to charities we care about. There are little things we can do, too, to perk up the holidays for people less fortunate that us:


• Pick up the trash: I have this formula that if I find a plastic bag on the street or sidewalk, it is a sign that I'm supposed to pick it up and fill it with as much trash as it will hold. I do this at least weekly. I'm walking somewhere anyway, so why not fill a bag with trash and deposit it in a receptacle? If we all did that, the world might look a little spiffier and worth our efforts.


• Put spare change in the "Feed the Meter" parking meters. We have several of these on corners in the Central West End of St. Louis and all the money fed into the meters goes directly to homeless services. So instead of giving a panhandler money, feed the meter. Then you know where it goes.


• Never pass a Salvation Army bucket without giving them something. I carry quarters and dollar bills in my pocket during the holidays so I'm ready to feed them. It really encourages those frigid bell-ringers.


What are some of the little things you do to make your corner of the world a little better for people? Please share, and sign up to be a follower of this blog. God Bless, and Happy Holidays!