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Chloe
01-29-2013, 10:23 AM
I thought about this last night when I went to bed and thought that it would maybe make a good topic on here.

So when I was in high school I wrote for our school's newspaper and for our April newspaper, that would go along with Earth Day, I wrote a message out to the school challenging all of the students and teachers to focus on litter and environmental hazards that surround them every day when they come to school, are at school, and then when they leave school. The basic demand of the challenge was to actively look for litter, pollution, and things that could be hazardous to us and to animals that are between our home and the school. I listed questions below the article to help people kind of know what to look for, so for example, how many pieces of paper or plastic were on the ground when you walked from your car to the school, or how many times did you see trash on the side of the road as you were coming to school, did you see any oil on the pavement in the parking lot, what kind of pollutants did you see around you after you left your house, and so on.

I obviously didn't track what every body in the school saw, or even if they participated, since really how would I? It was mainly just to get people to look around. But a few of the teachers and some of my friends told me that they took the time to look around them for one day and were very surprised by just how much trash and pollutants were around them just between two common points of home and school.

I think if every body here did that for one day then you'd probably get a much better idea of just how much of an impact we can have on our planet in a relatively short distance between two common points in each of our lives. Just a thought. If any of you try please let me know what you think.

nic34
01-29-2013, 10:31 AM
We could get a lot of folks paying for college with civilian service that would address those concerns.

http://www.americorps.gov/Default.asp

Now what we need temporarily is a CCC or WPA to help people get to work on the nation's infrastructure.

Chris
01-29-2013, 10:41 AM
The Texas "Don't Mess with Texas" campaign did much to clean up Texas highways and byways. People, most, seem conscientious about not littering, though there are those who are downright pigs. But various groups and companies and organizations claim stretches of roadways and regularly clean them up.

San Antonio has a hazardous waste cite where you can go to drop off old paint and other chemicals.

I'm originally from Illinois and don't recall ever seeing this, but I would guess other states have similar.

Chloe
01-29-2013, 12:49 PM
The Texas "Don't Mess with Texas" campaign did much to clean up Texas highways and byways. People, most, seem conscientious about not littering, though there are those who are downright pigs. But various groups and companies and organizations claim stretches of roadways and regularly clean them up.

San Antonio has a hazardous waste cite where you can go to drop off old paint and other chemicals.

I'm originally from Illinois and don't recall ever seeing this, but I would guess other states have similar.

I like those kinds of campaigns but this was more of an extremely localized version. What do you look past and ignore every single day from your home to your school or work...

Chris
01-29-2013, 12:57 PM
I like those kinds of campaigns but this was more of an extremely localized version. What do you look past and ignore every single day from your home to your school or work...

Ah, iow, what can you yourself do.

I have mulched over most of my yard to save on water usage--a selfish interest in saving money that contributes to the greater good of use of the local aquifer.

I don't garden as much these days but when I did it was purely organic, no chemicals. Again, selfish interest in not wanting to consume the chemicals but also contributes to no nasty run off to pollute the water system.

I keep my thermostat low in winter and high in summer, again to save on bills but also contribute to keeping energy use low.

Of course I use the hazardous waste "cite" [sic, lol].

I do not litter.

Everyone should do their part.

Chloe
01-29-2013, 01:03 PM
Ah, iow, what can you yourself do.

I have mulched over most of my yard to save on water usage--a selfish interest in saving money that contributes to the greater good of use of the local aquifer.

I don't garden as much these days but when I did it was purely organic, no chemicals. Again, selfish interest in not wanting to consume the chemicals but also contributes to no nasty run off to pollute the water system.

I keep my thermostat low in winter and high in summer, again to save on bills but also contribute to keeping energy use low.

Of course I use the hazardous waste "cite" [sic, lol].

I do not litter.

Everyone should do their part.

I'm sorry what I am trying to say is that when you leave your house and go to school or go to work there are so many things on the ground, in the ditch, on the side of the road, and so on that are harmful in some way but since it's so routine we look past it. What I asked my class to do in that article was to basically take an inventory of everything you find between your house and school that shouldn't be there. You'd be surprised just how much litter and pollutants there are in such a small trip between two points.

Chris
01-29-2013, 01:11 PM
Maybe I'm misunderstanding but now I think I answered in my first post, we here in TX see little liter for the reasons sated. I'm trying to remember, yesterday drove two-hundred miles and maybe saw a few pieces of litter in the road. TX is pretty clean. We even plant flowers along most of the roads...

http://i.snag.gy/Smuja.jpg

Where are you seeing all this litter?

Chloe
01-29-2013, 01:14 PM
Maybe I'm misunderstanding but now I think I answered in my first post, we here in TX see little liter for the reasons sated. I'm trying to remember, yesterday drove two-hundred miles and maybe saw a few pieces of litter in the road. TX is pretty clean. We even plant flowers along most of the roads...

http://i.snag.gy/Smuja.jpg

Where are you seeing all this litter?

point taken and it's a pretty picture, but texas is big, and if you go towards the city you'd probably find more of what I am talking about. However, it is important to note that even in some of the most remote places you can find human trash. We went hiking near glacier bay in alaska once and we were probably a full day's hike from any form of civilization and we found trash. It's sad and unless you are looking sometimes you don't notice the human impact.

Chris
01-29-2013, 01:17 PM
point taken and it's a pretty picture, but texas is big, and if you go towards the city you'd probably find more of what I am talking about. However, it is important to note that even in some of the most remote places you can find human trash.

Not really, I live just outside San Antonio. It's one of the prettiest cities I've seen.

I'm not disagreeing with you but offering some ways to keep the land cleaner.

Chloe
01-29-2013, 01:18 PM
Not really, I live just outside San Antonio. It's one of the prettiest cities I've seen.

I'm not disagreeing with you but offering some ways to keep the land cleaner.

I've always wanted to go to Austin

Chris
01-29-2013, 01:24 PM
I've always wanted to go to Austin

Austin is even nicer than SA. Small town. Capital, great bars, lots of music, BBQ, university. Clean too. But traffic is terrible though, ugh!

KC
01-29-2013, 01:27 PM
I walk pretty much everywhere so I do sometimes see trash on the ground. If there's a garbage can nearby, I will sometimes pick it up.

Chloe
01-29-2013, 04:41 PM
I walk pretty much everywhere so I do sometimes see trash on the ground. If there's a garbage can nearby, I will sometimes pick it up.

I try to do the same unless the trash is something that shouldn't be touched.

KC
01-29-2013, 04:47 PM
I try to do the same unless the trash is something that shouldn't be touched.

Exactly. Anything lying on the ground outside one of our town's many frat houses should probably stay there. I ain't touching that.

Chloe
01-29-2013, 05:16 PM
Exactly. Anything lying on the ground outside one of our town's many frat houses should probably stay there. I ain't touching that.

Exactly. I have an issue with germs and washing my hands and stuff and so I usually have pairs of gloves in my purse, but there's still some things that I won't touch even with gloves :cya20:

Peter1469
01-29-2013, 05:35 PM
I thought about this last night when I went to bed and thought that it would maybe make a good topic on here.

So when I was in high school I wrote for our school's newspaper and for our April newspaper, that would go along with Earth Day, I wrote a message out to the school challenging all of the students and teachers to focus on litter and environmental hazards that surround them every day when they come to school, are at school, and then when they leave school. The basic demand of the challenge was to actively look for litter, pollution, and things that could be hazardous to us and to animals that are between our home and the school. I listed questions below the article to help people kind of know what to look for, so for example, how many pieces of paper or plastic were on the ground when you walked from your car to the school, or how many times did you see trash on the side of the road as you were coming to school, did you see any oil on the pavement in the parking lot, what kind of pollutants did you see around you after you left your house, and so on.

I obviously didn't track what every body in the school saw, or even if they participated, since really how would I? It was mainly just to get people to look around. But a few of the teachers and some of my friends told me that they took the time to look around them for one day and were very surprised by just how much trash and pollutants were around them just between two common points of home and school.

I think if every body here did that for one day then you'd probably get a much better idea of just how much of an impact we can have on our planet in a relatively short distance between two common points in each of our lives. Just a thought. If any of you try please let me know what you think.


I often pick up trash that I walk passed.

Chloe
01-29-2013, 05:37 PM
I often pick up trash that I walk passed.

Try doing a litter and pollutant count one day when you are going between your house and where you work. Even the little puddles of oil and stuff that you can find in a parking lot can be washed into rivers and sensitive areas for example when it rains. It's just amazing how much stuff is out there that is a human creation just between two short distances.

Peter1469
01-29-2013, 05:56 PM
Try doing a litter and pollutant count one day when you are going between your house and where you work. Even the little puddles of oil and stuff that you can find in a parking lot can be washed into rivers and sensitive areas for example when it rains. It's just amazing how much stuff is out there that is a human creation just between two short distances.

I drive to work - it is 17 miles. I do often walk around the Mall in DC and pick up trash there.