August 22, 2005
My daughter has asked before if she can throw some trash out the window of the car when we drive. She must have picked this up from seeing someone else do it since she's never seen me throw anything out of a moving car. ![][1]I tell her no and ask her to hold on to whatever it is until we are near a trash can. And then usually I tell her that she doesn't want to make the Indian cry. She's too young to have seen the anti-littering PSA that ends with the ["Crying Indian"][2].I find it just a bit humorous to say things to my kids that they don't get. It's like a cultural inside joke that they're not part of yet.Apparently some other people aren't in on the joke either.For the most part I think Lawrence residents are more eco-conscious than the average American. Most of you would never think of throwing anything out of your window. I don't see lots of litter on the street and even the alleys downtown are pretty free of solid debris.But ride across the Kansas river bridge on a bike some days. Ride up 11th street between Haskell and Delaware on the sidewalk any day. On our usual family rides we have to maneuver a mine field of glass. I'm waiting for the inevitable day that I have to stop to patch a flat.While I'm weaving in and out of broken beer bottles I often ask myself, "Who the hell throws a bottle out of a window?"I think of the usual suspects, those meddling kids. College kids on drunken drives through town after all night parties. They are an easy target and probably account for some of the littering but I still see a bunch of the amber and green mess during the summer, presumably when "the kids" are not in town. So then is it a townie making this mess?It's not a type of person though, it's a mindset. It takes dissociating oneself from the fact that someone else will have to deal with your mess. It's selfishness and lack of respect all rolled into one.I'm not going to tell you, dear reader, to not throw things out of your car window. If you already do it you're probably too far removed to take my advice. As for my kids, they'll keep hearing about the Crying Indian until they're in on my joke. [1]: http://www.adcouncil.org/images/campaigns/features/crying_indian_feature.gif [2]: http://www.adcouncil.org/campaigns/historic_campaigns_pollution/
Comments
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rpk (Robert Kerley) says...
I saw it just yesterday. Out of state plates, of course.
One of my favorite sayings to my five your old is "whatchoo talkin' about Willis." Hopefully it'll stick and she'll begin a Different Strokes mini-revival at her school.
August 22, 2005 at 10:18 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
liz (Liz Weslander) says...
This is slightly ironic, but we live on one of the thoroughfares that leads into Haskell. When school is out of session, our yard stays fairly clean. When school is in session, our yard becomes a receptacle for fast food wrappers, beer cans, and one morning, an entire styrofoam box of general tso's chicken. So, I'm a believer in the kids/student/out-of-towner theory.
August 22, 2005 at 10:43 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
beatle919 (Marcy McGuffie) says...
This is one of my biggest pet peeves. Why there are so many people who lack social responsibility...I'll never understand. But, you said it well yourself--if they're (adults) already doing it, a few words from one of us won't do much good. Liz, I'm also a believer in that theory...
LOL. I'll all about bringin' Different Strokes back! Last year, I was chatting with some of my 2nd grade students...only to realize they had no idea what a Smurf was! What a sad day that was. Gawsh, I felt OLD.
August 22, 2005 at 11:39 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
cfdxprt (anonymous) says...
You can kill me now - I throw things out of car windows...
They consist of apple cores and other things that furry little creatures, or birds would think would make a nice snack. My general rule of thumb is that if I wouldn't throw it out in my back yard to get rid of it, then I won't throw it out the window of a moving vehicle...other than that, I try to recycle everything I can.
Man I'm such a hippy at heart.
I used to live on Haskell, and it was such a pain to have to dig all the trash out of my yard before I mowed it.
If anyone sees anyone "littering" let me know, buddha and I will consipire to deport them to Mexico.
August 22, 2005 at 12:02 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
chrysanthalbee (chrys anthalbee) says...
rpk i've been asking the same question of my daughter. she makes a mean whatchoo-talkin'-bout face too.
i had to reread a couple of times to catch the slight irony liz points out. i'll be watching the bridge as the school year progresses and note any correlation.
what i think of the particular spots i mention:
-- i think the bridge is a bigger temptation than just any old road. i bet the river is littered with much more human detritus than the sidewalk.
-- the stretch of sidewalk on 11th is adjacent to hobbs park where lots of baseball/softball is played. i think the players and crowd are the main offenders here.
.. and the fact that people that litter are morons!
August 22, 2005 at 12:06 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
chrysanthalbee (chrys anthalbee) says...
cfdxprt i agree with the apple cores out the window as long as it's not being thrown somewhere it may cause a nuisance in the process of degrading. it would be inconsiderate to throw things in someone's lawn, unless it was president bush's lawn as political protest.
i don't, however, like the blanket statement that if something is "biodegradable" it's okay to throw it out. lots of things are biodegradable but the time it takes for things to degrade varies. the apple core will probably be picked up by a critter of some sort. the whole thing could be carried off by a squirrel, or it could be dismantled by an army of ants.
that biodegradable grocery bag however is gonna be an eyesore that most likely someone will have to pick up and dispose of properly.
you're still a good hippy in my book cfdxprt.
August 22, 2005 at 12:32 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Carmenilla (anonymous) says...
I have a great littering story!
I try not to litter. I find it to be lazy selfish behavior. But this one time I was driving back from JCCC and I had an empty plastic soda bottle in my back seat. My car has no A/C so the windows were open. Well, the bottle was vaulted outta my car by an updraft from the open windows (yes, I'm a dumbass). It flew out at 70MPH and bounced on the hood of the car in the passing lane next to me. The car pulls up alongside of me and its a HYBRID!!!! The menacing and dirty looks that eco-friendly gal was giving me were priceless. She wagged her finger at me while I tried to pantomime "it was an accident". Then she sped off indignantly in her silent electrical car. Of all the people that had to witness my unintentional littering, why did it have to be her? To this day, I always empty the car of trash BEFORE I hit the highway!
August 22, 2005 at 12:32 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
OtherJoel (anonymous) says...
"the whole thing could be carried off by a squirrel"
No kidding. I caught one of those little bastards making off with one of my tomatoes that was as big as he/she was. Seeing me, it dropped it and ran, so I picked it up and lobbed it at the squirrel. Before that incident, I could get to most of the tomatoes before the squirrels, but I think I prompted a full-tilt assault, because the vines have been picked clean ever since.
The only litter issue in my yard is Sonic wrappers. There's one about a mile away, and somehow those wrappers and foam cups always seem to make it to my front yard.
August 22, 2005 at 1:14 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
beatle919 (Marcy McGuffie) says...
cfdxprt: you're a crazy hippie..,.and that's all right in my book.
Carmenilla: Great story!
August 22, 2005 at 1:31 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
copt_a_feel (anonymous) says...
I spent my teenage years living in Lawrence with my folks near the Dillions on 6th and Lawrence Ave. I spent my summers mowing the lawn twice a week (man, I loved the Kansas thunderstorms but hated how FAST it made the grass grow). Our yard always seemed to be downwind from businesses on 6th. I was constantly picking up trash. Then they built a bank across from Dillions. Once that bank opened, I started finding money that had blown into our yard - no sh*t! Over the years I must have "picked up" over $100. That was the kind of trash that I NEVER minded!
August 22, 2005 at 1:59 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
OtherJoel (anonymous) says...
It's a miracle that I haven't had Carmenilla's experience with my car. The damn thing's practically been a rolling dumpster lately -- too many meals on the go and my Coca Cola habit have been hard on the poor thing. I've given up on ever selling it. It will probably go from my driveway to the salvage yard one day -- its already pretty depreciated to the point that it is much worthless anyway. But it runs -- for now.
And no, I don't ever throw trash out the window. The back floorboards on the other hand...
August 22, 2005 at 2:13 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
OtherJoel (anonymous) says...
"pretty depreciated to the point that it is much worthless anyway" should read "depreciated to the point that it is pretty much worthless anyway." Sorry.
August 22, 2005 at 2:15 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
DarkHumorGirl (anonymous) says...
even throwing food items (apple core) out the window can be bad because that draws the little critters to the road that they might other wise stay away from... that little squirrel that goes to cart it off might find it to be the last juicy treat of his life.
August 22, 2005 at 4:29 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
cfdxprt (anonymous) says...
I was going to mention that if you do throw food out your window make sure to give it a good heave to keep the critters far from the road. An apple core can really fly...bread is best saved to be thrown in the backyard.
August 22, 2005 at 4:45 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
rpk (Robert Kerley) says...
Has anybody else heard that the "Indian" was a Jewish actor? I seem to recall something on NPR once...
August 22, 2005 at 8:04 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
copt_a_feel (anonymous) says...
From - http://www.snopes.com/movies/actors/i...
"That "crying Indian," as he would later sometimes be referred to, was Iron Eyes Cody, an actor who throughout his life claimed to be of Cherokee/Cree extraction. Yet his asserted ancestry was just as artificial as the tear that rolled down his cheek in that television spot - the tear was glycerine, and the "Indian" a second-generation Italian-American."
August 22, 2005 at 8:12 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Dazie (Aileen Dingus) says...
When I moved into my house (over by you Liz...) we spent DAYS clearing all the crap out of our front yard. Broken glass, cigarette packs, firecrackers, cig butts, random junk...
Ugh.
I think it's cleaned up enough now to allow the kids to play out there, but I'm not looking forward to the inrush of students!
I've had a similar experience with stuff flying out of the car- it's always grocery bags with me. (empty ones- we carry them in the car cuz we have dogs) They whirl around and then VOOP! Out the window. oops.
August 22, 2005 at 8:50 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
chrysanthalbee (chrys anthalbee) says...
"the crying italian-american" ... it just doesn't have the same ring to it, does it?
darkhumorgirl has a point that it is best to heave that apple core away from the road. we don't want to see alvin or any of the other chipmunks dead in the street. the last carcass i saw on the street degraded of its own accord. i thought someone would have picked it up.
if anyone wants to litter my lawn with money (a la copt_a_feel) send me an email and i'll give you my address.
August 23, 2005 at 9:41 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
THX1138 (anonymous) says...
The talk of empty bottles in cars reminds me of a family vacation road trip to Colorado when I was a wee lad. We were in the mountains around Pike's Peak and I had to pee...really bad. Pop just passed back an empty orange juice container to my poor brother who was assigned the unenviable task of holding the bottle steady while I took care o' business. I must have been pretty young because I was small enough to stand comlpetely upright on the floor behind the driver's seat. When I reached about two inches from the top of the glass container, my brother began to pannic and started yelling "Stop, stop! Mom, tell him to stop!" It turned out that my tiny bladder couldn't conquer the volume of the container and all turned out fine.
Yep, we didn't go to Disney Land like other families; we took ten hour road trips and pee'd in the car.
So make sure they don't fly out the window, but always keep some empty bottles handy on the REALLY long trips!
August 23, 2005 at 9:54 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
cfdxprt (anonymous) says...
When I used to fly for a living, putting an empty bottle on board was always on the preflight check list. I had to learn that lesson the hard way...
August 23, 2005 at 12:49 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
chrysanthalbee (chrys anthalbee) says...
so you're a part of the mile high club cfdxprt?
August 23, 2005 at 1:32 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
cvillehawk (anonymous) says...
I read somewhere that the actor wasn't even Native American.
I live about 20 miles from Charlottesville, VA, and I've noticed that the commuters (i.e. "city folk") never litter, but the rednecks who have lived there forever take it totally for granted. I always assumed it would be the other way around.
August 23, 2005 at 1:41 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
cfdxprt (anonymous) says...
chrysanthalbee - nope, I was always too busy working the controls to meet the other nagging requirement for entrance into the true mile high club.
August 23, 2005 at 2:28 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
smitty (anonymous) says...
I always thought about all the rusted cars and trashy scenes in indian country when I saw that ad. It seemed so sad that cars and trailers didn't return to the earth or look part of the earth when deserted, just rusted out junk trashing the scenery. Worth crying over.
Bottle in an airplane makes me think of "The Gods Must Be Crazy". I loved the part where the little guy tried to throw the bottle back to the gods after all it did was bring out the negative emotions and actions that his tribe had never experienced before. He really was giving the gods an a$$ chewing. heeehee Got to rent that movie again soon.
August 23, 2005 at 7:43 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
copt_a_feel (anonymous) says...
A whale of a litter probem -
http://pulsar.esm.psu.edu/Faculty/Gra...
Didn't quite think this one through...
August 23, 2005 at 8 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
chrysanthalbee (chrys anthalbee) says...
copt_a_feel that video is hilarious! it's a fine addition to my del.icio.us bookmarks.
i was taking my daughter to school and she noticed all the trash out to be picked up. she asked me where all the trash goes. good time for a little lesson.
i explained to her that it goes in the ground. i went on to say that that isn't the greatest idea and that's why we recycle some things.
it's not *always* about being in on the joke.
August 24, 2005 at 9:46 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
rednekbuddha (Kelly Powell) says...
Do dead hookers count as biodegradable ?
I hate the morons who find a deep ditch or creek in the country and decides thats a perfect place to dump trash.
August 24, 2005 at 4:27 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Jane (anonymous) says...
Buddah...do dead hookers qualify as trash, and do you object to them being dumped in deep ditches and/or creeks? Just wondering. ;)
August 24, 2005 at 10:32 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
chrysanthalbee (chrys anthalbee) says...
i'm not sure what the native americans did with dead hookers. but i'm sure they wouldn't waste any part of them.
if it takes dead hookers to bring out the lurkers i'm gonna have to make a post about them.
August 25, 2005 at 12:40 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
nathancmartin (anonymous) says...
don't be so quick to assume the results of your actions. understand the difference between throwing garbage on the ground and throwing it in the trash. do you know what happens to garbage once you throw it in the trash? someone comes by and picks it up and throws it on the ground someplace else. someplace where we don't have to look at it and be reminded that we produce so much goddamned garbage. something is waste as soon as it is created. the makeup of a plastic bottle doesn't change once you finish your last sip of beverage--simply because it is serving your purposes does not make it any different. environmentally speaking, what you're using something for does not make a damn bit of difference. it still exists in the world, we're still going to have to deal with it. my proposition is that we eliminate "waste management" completely, or only use the service to pick up recyclables (something i'm baffled by, moving to lawrence a few weeks ago from salt lake city, is that there is no residential recycle pick up). then people will be forced to either litter, recycle or reuse. once the ground is strewn with waste and we can't sweep it all out of sight and out of mind, then maybe we'll actually begin to really deal with the fucking problem.
August 30, 2005 at 12:19 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
mikeS (anonymous) says...
Two things.
1) Why does profanity seem to emphasize passion? Have we run out of adjectives? I am just as guilty. Though, I have found it has quite a negative result when used in the office.
B) Don't throw anything out your window. Even if it is "harmless". I don't think you have the right to choose what is "litter" and what is not. If you want a bunch of rotting whatever, put it in your own backyard. I only hope that you aren't my neighbor.
Now before I get ripped a new one, I will say that landfills aren't the answer for everything. Recycling is the thing to do and needs to be made more convenient. After all, people are lazy. If recycling were as easy as chucking it out the window, then we would all recycle. I could go on, but I fear I may have come to a "battle of wits" unarmed.
October 20, 2005 at 6:25 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
chrysanthalbee (chrys anthalbee) says...
nathan.. good point! as i said, my daughter prompted this whole diatribe in the first place. in the process of explaining to her where "trash" goes i said that landfills aren't the best solution. they certainly aren't because of some of the reasons you elaborate on. i do know that it's just shifting material from one place to another. it's not gone... just hidden.
i too am surprised that recycling services in lawrence is so lacking. i generally collect recyclables until i have little room left in my garage and am forced to move it. i'd rather not pay for the service of moving it beyond what i already do for "waste removal" so i slack a la the grasshopper. this thought piggybacks on what mikeS is saying. we're lazy.. or at least would like to put our free time to other uses. make it more convenient!
October 21, 2005 at 9:13 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )