I’m taking my daughter to school yesterday. We’re stopped at a stoplight. The passenger in the car ahead of us rolls down the window. She tosses a plastic CD case out of the window into the yard of the residence they happen to be in front of. The light turns green. They drive off.
Today on the way to work, I’m beside a Range Rover on I-435. A nicely dressed, pretty woman rolls down the window and tosses out a foil gum wrapper. At least, that’s what it looked like at 70 mph. She rolls her window back up and merrily continues on her way. She can afford a Range Rover. Could she not afford a waste receptacle? Or maybe there wasn’t enough room in there? Right.
Last week it was an entire fast-food bag of empty burger wrappers and soft drink cups tossed out of a car window speeding down a well-traveled street in Kansas City.
And don’t get me started on cigarette butts. I’ve read that it takes 25 years for a cigarette butt to decompose. Look around. The streets and parking lots are full of them. According to cigarettelitter.org, several trillion cigarette butts are littered worldwide every year.
What gives with all of this littering? Were these people raised in barns?
I train here at PlattForm on Business Professionalism. Another topic I preach is the importance of maintaining a positive mental attitude. One element common to both is respect. Respect for yourself and respect for your colleagues and fellow human beings. In my opinion, littering is the complete opposite—a sad display of disrespect for yourself and others.
What do you think?
August 25th, 2006 at 9:55 am
I refuse to litter, actually. An unfortunate side-effect is that my car fills up with trash rather quickly. It’s a regular trashmobile. I’ve gotta go clean that thing out.
August 25th, 2006 at 10:58 am
You’re exactly right that littering shows a lack of respect. I used to live in a beautiful beachside town in Florida. On one side of the road were the beaufil emerald green waters of the Gulf of Mexico and on the other were THOUSANDS of cigarette butts lining the shoulder of the road. It always amazed me people could have such disrespect for such a beautiful natural setting.
August 25th, 2006 at 12:13 pm
Brandon, I understand about the litter piling up in the car. But thanks for resisting the urge to throw it out the window.
I literaly have picked up trash people have thrown out of their cars, knocked on their window while they’re stopped at the next light and handed it back to them.
They were so shocked they took it back.
August 25th, 2006 at 12:15 pm
Sarah, According to cigarettelitter.org the State of Texas estimates they pick up 130 million cigarette butts per year in Texas alone!
Hard to believe.
August 25th, 2006 at 12:25 pm
Years ago, Texas’ newly elected Governor Anne Richardson decided she’d had enough with littering in the Lone Star State. She got together with some of the top advertising minds in the state and working together they came up with the renouned catch phrase, “Don’t Mess With Texas.”
Most American’s think of this line as an old reference to the gun slinging, tough guy image of ol’ timey Texas, when in reality it was an advertising/PR campaign designed to curb Lone Star littering. Along with “Give a Hoot, Don’t Pollute,” “Don’t Mess With Texas” has proved to be one of the most effective anti-littering campaigns to date.
This proves how a well thought out advertising campaign can bolster civic awareness, create state pride, and prevent petty pollution.