Littering ==) Picking up garbage

... said:

I cross posted this to several outdoor groups because I believe the information concerns us all
outdoorsmen and women (and I wanted to reach the maximum audience). Please read on and spread
the word.

Shortly after I bought the cottage, I started noticing much garbage on the trails. I decided to
start picking it up. I am up to 19 bags full of garbage collected so far. The vast majority is pop
cans, plastic bottles, glass (including beer)

Sounds like the typical hiker.

-MSE

MrSlantEye said:

Quoted message said:

Shortly after I bought the cottage, I started noticing much garbage on the trails. I decided to
start picking it up. I am up to 19 bags full of garbage collected so far. The vast majority is
pop cans, plastic bottles, glass (including beer)

Sounds like the typical hiker.

-MSE

That's a bad thing? Picking up trash?

MrSlantEye said:

... said:

I cross posted this to several outdoor groups because I believe the information concerns us all
outdoorsmen and women (and I wanted to reach the maximum audience). Please read on and spread
the word.

Shortly after I bought the cottage, I started noticing much garbage on the trails. I decided to
start picking it up. I am up to 19 bags full of garbage collected so far. The vast majority is
pop cans, plastic bottles, glass (including beer)

Sounds like the typical hiker.

-MSE

Sounds like the typical idiot that gives MTB'ers a bad name.

user0 said:

MrSlantEye said:

... said:

I cross posted this to several outdoor groups because I believe the information concerns us all
outdoorsmen and women (and I wanted to reach the maximum audience). Please read on and spread
the word.

Shortly after I bought the cottage, I started noticing much garbage on the trails. I decided to
start picking it up. I am up to 19 bags full of garbage collected so far. The vast majority is
pop cans, plastic bottles, glass (including beer)

Sounds like the typical hiker.

-MSE

Sounds like the typical idiot that gives MTB'ers a bad name.

Maybe I'm not reading this the same way that you are, but my experience is that most family hikers
leave a trail <sigh>. When I was a Scoutmaster, that was one of my challenges with the new boys --
getting across: leave no sign that were there.

David

"B a r r y B u r k e J r ." <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

MrSlantEye said:

Quoted message said:

Shortly after I bought the cottage, I started noticing much garbage on

the

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

trails. I decided to start picking it up. I am up to 19 bags full of

garbage

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

collected so far. The vast majority is pop cans, plastic bottles, glass (including beer)

Sounds like the typical hiker.

-MSE

That's a bad thing? Picking up trash?

Duh. NO. The hikers brought it IN.

user0 said:

MrSlantEye said:

... said:

I cross posted this to several outdoor groups because I believe the information concerns us all
outdoorsmen and women (and I wanted to reach the maximum audience). Please read on and spread
the word.

Shortly after I bought the cottage, I started noticing much garbage on the trails. I decided to
start picking it up. I am up to 19 bags full of garbage collected so far. The vast majority is
pop cans, plastic bottles, glass (including beer)

Sounds like the typical hiker.

-MSE

Sounds like the typical idiot that gives MTB'ers a bad name.

Maybe I'm not reading this the same way that you are, but my experience is that most family hikers
leave a trail <sigh>. When I was a Scoutmaster, that was one of my challenges with the new boys --
getting across: leave no sign that you were there.

David

"Desert Traveler" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:GeNZa.54850$Ne.33785@fed1read03...

Quoted message said:

"B a r r y B u r k e J r ." <[email hidden]>

wrote

Quoted message said:

in message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

MrSlantEye said:

> Shortly after I bought the cottage, I started noticing much garbage

on

Quoted message said:

the

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

> trails. I decided to start picking it up. I am up to 19 bags full of

garbage

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

> collected so far. The vast majority is pop cans, plastic bottles,

glass

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

> (including beer)

Sounds like the typical hiker.

-MSE

That's a bad thing? Picking up trash?

Duh. NO. The hikers brought it IN.

Where I live here in Southern California, I am just off a portion of the Pacific Crest Trail. This
being the case, I wind up with numerous hikers knocking at my door for various things such as water,
phone use, and remarkably.....directions. Most of them are very nice people and I've had some very
enjoyable conversations. I will say, however, that every year, the road from the trail to my place
is invariably littered with trash such as empty soda/water bottles, food/snack wrappers, old
clothing, etc. Now....it isn't heavily littered, but its littered nonetheless.....and during the
hiking season is the only time it happens. So I know where its comin' from. Certainly, not all the
hikers are tossing in their contribution to the mess......just a very few of them. And...every year
I go out with my ATV and trailer, pick it all up, and feed it to the dumpster.

So I guess my point is that no group, be they hikers, mountain bike riders, horse riders, ATV or
other OHV riders, has risen to any sort of lofty status over the rest of us. There will always be
bad apples which make us all look bad. So, I've resigned myself to this yearly cleanup. No big deal.

Brian

When I was a kid my dad always had us pick up a little more than we brought. If enough of us did
that there woudl be very little trash anywhere on our trails and waterways.

"..." <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I cross posted this to several outdoor groups because I believe the information concerns us all
outdoorsmen and women (and I wanted to reach

the

Quoted message said:

maximum audience). Please read on and spread the word.

Shortly after I bought the cottage, I started noticing much garbage on the trails. I decided to
start picking it up. I am up to 19 bags full of

garbage

Quoted message said:

collected so far. The vast majority is pop cans, plastic bottles, glass (including beer) bottles,
and packs of cigarettes. I bring it back,

recycle

Quoted message said:

or dump it.

Simply put I think people who litter, ever, in any capacity, have some serious moral deficiencies.
Who the hell is lazy and selfish enough to

throw

Quoted message said:

trash out the window instead of waiting for home? Serious loosers IMO. I started discussing this
with my neighbours (who agree, some already pick

up

Quoted message said:

garbage themselves) and went to the provincial police about it (who said they will come up and
asked me to complain to the municipality).

If you have any friend or know anyone who does this and thinks it's cool

or

Quoted message said:

okay, please do everyone a favour and smack some sense into them. And if

you

Quoted message said:

ever see garbage on the trail (or anywhere) and pick it up, I thank you, many people like me thank
you and the earth thanks you.

Cheers.

Fabien

Bob La Londe said:

When I was a kid my dad always had us pick up a little more than we brought. If enough of us did
that there woudl be very little trash anywhere on our

Hi,

I was taught the same, and we taught the Boy Scouts in my brother's troop to do it as well (they had
a backpacking oriented troop.) At first the kids would whine about it--"I didn't bring that trash
in, why should I have to pick it up?"--but after a few trips it became a habit, then a "badge of
honor" that the campsites were spotless when our guys got done with them.

I still police up any campsite (and usually the trail, too) before leaving, and insist anyone with
me helps. I just hope our Scouts are teaching their kids the same lesson.

Rick

B a r r y B u r k e J r . said:

MrSlantEye said:

Quoted message said:

Shortly after I bought the cottage, I started noticing much garbage on the trails. I decided to
start picking it up. I am up to 19 bags full of garbage collected so far. The vast majority is
pop cans, plastic bottles, glass (including beer)

Sounds like the typical hiker.

-MSE

That's a bad thing? Picking up trash?

No, picking up after hikers is a good thing. It's a shame that hikers leave their refuse behind.

-MSE

MrSlantEye said:

No, picking up after hikers is a good thing. It's a shame that hikers leave their refuse behind.

That's another reason I like scrambles. In the past year I have found two pieces of trash once we
got past 7,000 feet. A very rusty tin can last year, and small piece of plastic a week ago.

Cheers, Lech

x-no-archive: yes Rick Courtright said:

I still police up any campsite (and usually the trail, too) before leaving, and insist anyone with
me helps. I just hope our Scouts are teaching their kids the same lesson.

I don't know about your Scouts, but _my_ Sea Scouts do a "river clean up" every year. We spend a day
on the water usually in Steveston harbour and it is a rare time when we go home with fewer than 4 or
5 big garbage bags full of stuff. Some goes into recycling, most into land fill.

We have never had any kid complain about our clean up day. They get to paddle about the harbour all
day, we usually have a picnic on Steveston Island, they all get a turn to drive the Zodiac, and they
do some good. Not much, but some. The point of the exercise is not really to clean up the harbour,
because you'd need at least a regiment to do that, but to give them the idea that they should take
care of the place they live in or visit and to get into the "leave no trace" habit. Similarly, the
rule on all our camps is to leave the place cleaner than how we found it.

When the kids see for themselves the accumulation of the garbage over a few months, they get to
appreciate that it is not "it's just a gum wrapper, don't make a federal case out of it".

--
Greetings from Lotusland

Rick Courtright <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Bob La Londe said:

When I was a kid my dad always had us pick up a little more than we brought. If enough of us did
that there woudl be very little trash anywhere on our

Hi,

I was taught the same, and we taught the Boy Scouts in my brother's troop to do it as well (they
had a backpacking oriented troop.) At first the kids would whine about it--"I didn't bring that
trash in, why should I have to pick it up?"--but after a few trips it became a habit, then a
"badge of honor" that the campsites were spotless when our guys got done with them.

I still police up any campsite (and usually the trail, too) before leaving, and insist anyone with
me helps. I just hope our Scouts are teaching their kids the same lesson.

Rick

That's what I'm teaching to my child and it's what I was taught. Leave it cleaner than you found it.

But there's no lack of trashy people in this world so it seems it's always an uphill battle.

={oak}-

Live Oak said:

Rick Courtright <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Bob La Londe said:

When I was a kid my dad always had us pick up a little more than we brought. If enough of us did
that there woudl be very little trash anywhere on our

Hi,

I was taught the same, and we taught the Boy Scouts in my brother's troop to do it as well (they
had a backpacking oriented troop.) At first the kids would whine about it--"I didn't bring that
trash in, why should I have to pick it up?"--but after a few trips it became a habit, then a
"badge of honor" that the campsites were spotless when our guys got done with them.

I still police up any campsite (and usually the trail, too) before leaving, and insist anyone with
me helps. I just hope our Scouts are teaching their kids the same lesson.

Rick

That's what I'm teaching to my child and it's what I was taught. Leave it cleaner than you
found it.

But there's no lack of trashy people in this world so it seems it's always an uphill battle.

={oak}-

I once told some people with me that they'd have to find their own way home if they didn't go get
the stuff that they threw behind some bushes. They were really mad and didn't understand. They
basically thought that I was some kind of an enviro-nut <sigh>.

David

Quoted message said:

But there's no lack of trashy people in this world so it seems it's always an uphill battle.

={oak}-

I think MOST campers/hikers are the thoughtful type who do at least their share of picking up, if
not more as in the case of those of us who leave a place cleaner than when we entered. If the
majority of people dumped trash, we wouldn't be able to see the woods for the mountains of trash. It
only takes a few slobs to color our perception of the rest the world. Reality says it is up to us to
make up the slack. Laura

I've never littered and consider those who do disposable sociopaths, but I consider picking up
someone else's trash an enabling activity so I can't bring myself to do it. Get rid of the
litterbugs, not the litter.

I applaud those who teach others not to litter but can't help thinking that picking up someone's
trash teaches them that it's okay to litter since no negative consequence accrues. This point is
bolstered by the postings of those who cleaned up trash on private land. People of low character
always leave a bigger mess when they perceive there's a maid service.

Practically, the deposit fees are effective as far as they go but lot's of litter doesn't fit the
criteria so I favor super heavy penalties for littering. $5,000 - $10,000 plus 6 - 12 months
full-time trash detail in the jurisdiction of the offense for willful littering. Lesser penalties
for negligent littering (blown out of truck bed, etc.).

MrSlantEye said:

Quoted message said:

That's a bad thing? Picking up trash?

No, picking up after hikers is a good thing. It's a shame that hikers leave their refuse behind.

Hey, here's a really cool experiment for you. Hike the 60 mile section of the Florida Trail through
the Ocala National Forest. Notice where you find trash. You too will become incredibly good at
predicting the future: "Hey, I see trash. I bet there's a dirt road coming up".

--------------
Steve Silberberg "][email hidden] Read "We'll Kiss For Food"
kissforfood.comkissforfood.comOpen ↗

I picked up one guys litter once, every bit of it and it was a full green garbage bags worth..

That was of course after he tossed it out his car window on a side road. I was some distance behind
him, I stayed some distance back and found what house/cottage he pulled into.. The next morning I am
certain he was thrilled when he woke up to find all that trash on his lawn. The worst part is, I
didn't even have to follow him, there were papers in the garbage with his address and name on them,
how stupid are some people??

Unfortunately my wife and I both smoke, but even our butts don't see Lake Huron, they come back with
us in an empty.

"David Wood" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I've never littered and consider those who do disposable sociopaths, but I consider picking up
someone else's trash an enabling activity so I can't bring myself to do it. Get rid of the
litterbugs, not the litter.

I applaud those who teach others not to litter but can't help thinking that picking up someone's
trash teaches them that it's okay to litter since no negative consequence accrues. This point is
bolstered by the postings of those who cleaned up trash on private land. People of low character
always leave a bigger mess when they perceive there's a maid service.

Practically, the deposit fees are effective as far as they go but lot's of litter doesn't fit the
criteria so I favor super heavy penalties for littering. $5,000 - $10,000 plus 6 - 12 months
full-time trash detail in the jurisdiction of the offense for willful littering. Lesser penalties
for negligent littering (blown out of truck bed, etc.).

"Karl Pollak" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I don't know about your Scouts, but _my_ Sea Scouts do a "river clean up" every year. We spend a
day on the water usually in Steveston harbour and it is a rare time when we go home with fewer
than 4 or 5 big garbage bags full of stuff. Some goes into recycling, most into land fill.

I'm taking a youth group to a primitive campsite in a national forest, and when I scouted it out,
I decided that the first group activity will be a group policing of the entire campground. We'll
talk about stewardship and God-Art first, and I'll almost guarantee that they'll not only not
mind (most of them), they'll pick up trash on every hike they go on in the future. Don't most of
you carry a small bag for picking up trash on every hike? We can all make a difference, one hiker
at a time.

Peace, Frank