Living with Litter

When we were teenagers, there was a commercial on TV showing a native Indian in a canoe paddling his way along a polluted river. He pulls the canoe up onto a city beach that is covered with litter---cans, bottles, and paper of all kinds. He makes his way up to the highway and watches all the cars whizzing by. A person in the passenger seat of one of the cars tosses a bag of garbage out the car window and it lands at his feet, spilling out its contents. His face then turns toward the camera and there is a tear running down his face—he is crying because people were polluting his country. I was reminded of this ad this past Sunday when I was walking down a side street in the vicinity of where I live in Oslo. For some reason there was a lot of litter in the streets, in addition to broken glass from a few smashed windshields. I walked on further until I came to the main street that runs through our section of the city and the park that is situated there, and again it seemed as though there was litter everywhere as well as overflowing trash cans. I never really catch people in the act of tossing their trash on the street. I’ve got to wonder when during the day it happens. If you comment generally about how much litter there is on the ground, most people will agree with you, but also tell you that they themselves do not litter. So my question then is who is actually doing the littering, because someone is destroying the beauty of the city in this way.

The beauty around us should inspire us to want to take care of what we have and not take it for granted. It could so easily disappear tomorrow. The lovely green park today could become yet another flat treeless asphalt wasteland if it is not appreciated and taken care of. Cleanup costs after park concerts and outdoor events have become quite substantial according to the newspapers here. People leave behind their belongings--shoes, sneakers, sunglasses, articles of clothing, knapsacks and expensive tents (!), in addition to their garbage--food, disposable grills, beer cans, wine bottles, paper and plastic bags--the list is endless. Not only do some people take their beautiful surroundings for granted, they also take for granted that someone will clean up after them. What if that ends? What if the city stopped appropriating money for such cleanups? Appreciating your surroundings, taking care of what you have and preserving what is beautiful now for future generations are lifestyle choices, and they begin at home with parents who emphasize that way of living. My parents did not litter, and we were scolded if we even tried to litter as children. The message stuck--you don’t ever litter--period. Later on when we were older we understood why. We have all seen pictures in the media of urban areas and city streets in different countries that are littered with garbage for one reason or another. Garbage attracts mice, rats and insects such as cockroaches (if you have ever seen a cockroach-infested building, you will want to clean up after yourself for the rest of your life--it is that horrendous). Suddenly beautiful surroundings become ugly. Parks become places to avoid and buildings become uninhabitable. We live in a free society, but that freedom comes at a price--we are required to take care of what we have. That is our responsibility as free people.