Whenever I see someone driving along a road, open their window and throw some litter out, I could quite easily drive them off the road, drag them out of their car and beat them unconscious. Without any hesitation. Setting their car on fire would just be the next natural step.
Trouble is, it wouldn’t do any good. There are far too many people out there with the attitude “out of sight, out of mind” who simply don’t care. Like a baby who throws a toy out of the pram, once someone throws an empty crisp packet out the window, it ceases to exist in their mind. It’s no longer their problem. “Someone else will sort it out”.
Now I see a great deal more of the countryside than most as I spend a lot of time walking around taking photographs and have had many a summer’s day covering miles on my mountain bike. So when people throw out plastic bottles, crisp packets or plastic bags full of rubbish out, I know that it eventually finds its way all over the place. Stuck in ditches, up against walls or fences, wrapped in tree roots, it ends up anywhere and everywhere. It looks terrible and I can only guess what these synthetic products do the the environment. It makes me sick.
Although to be fair sometimes they make for interesting photos (as above). But if you take a long term view of it, I wonder what the countryside will look like in 50 years time. The throw-away society we seem to be a part of is still relatively new, but I don’t see it disappearing any time soon. It’s not going to be pretty if things carry on the way they are. I just wish people would take pride in the planet on which they live – it’s my planet too.
Why the hell did you take an armchair with you on your hike. You are so lazy. What next, the kitchen sink?
Heh heh, now there’s an idea for a photography series!
Heh, I don’t remember seeing this one in your Flickr photostream. You could post it to a rec group 🙂
I’m with you on the position. The only thing I’m going to be guilty of possibly discarding out the window is perhaps a banana skin.
I don’t suppose we have the option to ask them to leave our planet, though, do we ?
Uh, wouldn’t setting a car on fire emit toxins into the air, which in turn hurts the planet? And violence doesn’t help anyone or strengthen an argument. Perhaps you should take a deep breath and calmly catch up to the car and explain the issue. I’m sure he/she would understand and think twice before doing it again.
Peace.
Eh, did you read the rest of the article Chaz and not just the first paragraph?! I’m hardly advocating burning people’s cars and violence – which was why I went on to explain the futility of reacting that way. I’m not the “thinking with his fists” kind of guy.
Unfortunately as I said talking to these people doesn’t do any good. They’d most likely say they wouldn’t do it again but habits like that are almost impossible to break and there are so many people who have an “out of sight, out of mind” attitude to littering that it would be a waste of time. Education is the only answer and for many people it’s probably too late.