Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Earth Day Thoughts


Forty-five years ago when Earth Day began, I can't remember being very tuned in to the whole idea. 

I do remember over the years as a teacher engaging in projects that got us all out of school for a few hours to go clean up a designated area. 

While participating in these activities, I was always amazed at how much garbage people could discard in any ol' place they wanted. 

Before Earth Day was established, I think we had already been fully indoctrinated with the notion that it was a sin to throw garbage out a car window or dump it anywhere besides waste baskets, garbage cans or the dump, as we always called what's now the "transfer station."

"Pick up after yourself," was a staple among the rules taught to us as kids----and firmly enforced.

Of course, as a kid, I was kinda glad that the rest of the the world passing through our neighborhood hadn't received the same instruction----especially when it came to their pop bottles and beer bottles.

I was happy to pick up after THEM.  

After all, unbroken beer bottles were worth a penny and pop bottles sometimes could fetch up to 10 cents apiece.  Whenever an old gunny sack in the wood shed of our North Boyer farm was nearly full, Mother or Harold would haul me down to the distributors to hand over the containers and fetch my cash. 

My dad eventually got to calling those containers "Marianne's." 

"There's a Marianne," he'd say as we'd drive past bottles lying along roadsides. 

I was a regular visitor to the ditches surrounding our house for more than just the "gold" in my modest bank account.   

During the summers, before countywide weed spraying started, they also reaped delectable dew berries, which I picked diligently in hopes that Mother would have enough to bake a pie or some jam. 

Occasionally, snakes would scare the bejeebers out of me as I did my picking.  Sometimes those bottles or berries would have to stay until another day when maybe that snake had left the area. 

These days, we don't see too many dewberries with their prickly vines along the ditches, and if we do, they probably aren't safe for human consumption because of weed spray. 

We DO see those beverage containers, though----lots of them, and I no longer view them with eyes filled with dollar signs.  

Instead, these days I view them with disgust, especially when I see a whole new crop appear just a week or so after I've gone out an retrieved the last batch to put in a garbage sack bound for the transfer station. 

Some of us who walk or bike South Center Valley Road regularly have shared a mutual hatred.  

We don't know what he looks like, but we have picked up a few clues as to his regular habits---the most regular being his dumping of dozens of Icehouse beer cans, often in multiples, often in just one pass through the area. 

The theory among the residents for the past few years has been that he must have a job somewhere in Kootenai or Ponderay.  After work, he stops off at the convenience store for a case of beer, guzzles as he drives down the country roads and then flings the cans out the window before arriving at his home somewhere north of our neighborhood. 

Let's just say Icehouse Man has been prolific over the years.  And, let's just say he has been loathed by everyone along South Center Valley Road who picks up after him with no reward other than to clean the ditch one more time. 

Of late, however, we've discussed the fact that Icehouse Man must have moved because we're now dealing with an even wider assortment of beer brands as we pick up after the pigs who apparently never received instruction from their parents and probably weren't listening when someone was telling them how nice it would be to keep the earth clean. 

We haven't missed Icehouse Man, but I do wonder if the neighborhoods on his new route to his home from wherever he's driving have taken on the clean-up burden that the folks along our road have shared for years. 

I cannot, for the life of me, understand why people have to fling their trash amidst the beauty.  Recently, someone even dumped a big TV along North Kootenai Road which would probably require a front-end loader to pick it up. 

Last night while biking down Selle Road, I could not believe the amount of concentrated garbage strewn for about a fourth mile on one side of the road----all for someone else to pick up. 

I can feel myself getting mad as I write, thinking about the lack of responsibility which seems to be so prevalent among our populace.  

Maybe we need to enact some universal laws bringing back the old practice of paying for empty cans and bottles.  

Maybe that would help.  I know I sure loved having the opportunity to make a little cash when I was a kid.  And, possibly if the people who buy those cans and bottles of liquid to consume while they're out driving would think twice before throwing away some potential money.

Twould be one small way to honor Earth Day, keep our planet clean and lower the blood pressure of all those who carry around garbage sacks, picking up after the two-legged pigs who love to litter. 

Happy Earth Day.  I'll probably take a garbage bag on my walk today!  And, if you go out to clean up in your neighborhood and Icehouse Man has moved in, you may need two bags.  


1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Be sure to wear gloves!!!!

Someday - much to the dismay of most - everything we buy may be traceable to us and then those "fines for littering" will have some real meaning!