Saturday, April 13, 2013

Saving the Planet - baby step

The area where I live is called Brookeville, adjoining Olney. The housing communities are planned and well maintained with lot of walk paths. From spring all the way till late fall, it is not unusual to see a lot of residents running or walking. When I was not jogging, I walk a lot in my neighborhood, generally to stay fit. Despite being a well maintained neighborhood, it is not uncommon to see a little bit trash especially around common area that belong to no particular neighborhood and also in the wooded parts. It may seem rather a generalization, but I attribute most of this to a few thoughtless teenagers and some folks from other parts that commute on Georgia Avenue and Olney Laytonsville Road. I personally do not understand this, but I presume it is more of  "I do not live here, so it is acceptable to throw trash here" would seem to be the mentality. They probably subscribe to a form of NIMBY!

In the past, I would simply bemoan the fact, shake my head, and continue walking. More recently, I have felt the need to take some concrete action such as getting a group together to perform cleanups. Now I find it hard to convince anyone, if I tell them to zig, they tend to zag. In fact, I always say that if you want to convince someone to your point of view, send me to that person to argue to the opposing point of view! Maybe if I performed the task, my actions would be more convincing than my words. More over I felt I was not doing my share. So last week, I went to Home Depot and purchased a Trash Grabber. 

The weather earlier today was too nice and I carried the trash grabber along with a trash bag. I filled by bag with plastic and aluminum cans within a mile of my house and there is still a lot of trash to be picked up. As I walked and picked trash, I observed myself puffed with self-righteousness. I had to talk myself down a bit and put it in perspective; it was only one walk and one bag. At the other end, it was hard to stop myself from getting frustrated by the amount of trash, I could easily have packed ten bags. I felt my instincts to overdo needed to be curbed. I could not clean my neighborhood of trash in one walk. If there is still trash around it is not a failure. There is one bag less today than there was yesterday! It is continual process, more of a marathon than a sprint as most things in life are. This is only the beginning. 

I want to make this now part of my walks which now serve dual purposes; improve my health and the health of my neighborhood. Clean the neighborhood one walk, one bag at a time.