Blowing in the wind
March 29, 2008Why, oh why, is there so much litter, stuck to every tree and branch and barbed wire fence
The litter lying and flying about the place seems worse than ever this year, in particular, polythene bags and plastic wrappers
Every barbed wire fence, (this is an ever so ethical Co-operative Society carrier bag.)
every thorn bush, seems to have tatters of poly bags attached. Along with the domestic waste is the black wrappers from the bails of silage used as winter fodder for the cattle,
I am not sure if the reason it ’seems’ worse this year is to do with the fact the local council has changed the way it operates kerb side refuse collections, so people put out a lot recyclable items out for collection, but in plastic carrier bags, or if it has been like this for a long time and it only now I am out and about with the camera and actively looking at the landscape, that I am noticing it more.
Maybe it would be more constructive, rather than moaning about it, just to start collecting it, this is what Joe wants to do, he fancy’s getting hold of his Grandmas ‘long reach grabber things’ and setting off on a mission. I am not sure his Grandma, would want to give them up for such a task, seeing as she usually uses them to reach cereal packets off the top shelf in the pantry, we will have to ask.
Yes, I see a lot of trash and bags caught on fences and trees and such when I’m out and about in the country. I remove the trash before taking the shot. Yesterday, I removed a big yellow plastic bag so I could photograph an old house. It seems I’m noticing more, too, here in the middle of the USA.
Beautiful landscape captures you have here, though, in spite of the poly bags.
We see that here, too. But we get a lot of empty beer cans to go with the bags. I usually pick up trash when I’m out and about. I think it becomes even more noticeable when I’m out taking photos.
I notice a lot more things now that I’m out with the camera every day, seeing things I wouldn’t normally see. My back door neighbor has a bag caught high in his tree, flapping about in the breeze.
I always see a lot of trash surfacing as the snow melts. Right now there’s a newspaper frozen in place under my mailbox, where Dean must’ve dropped it one morning on his rounds. If the ice ever melts I can get the mess out of there - if it doesn’t thaw out and blow away into the trees before I notice. Hmmm. Perhaps the boys could send me those instructions for the flamethrower thingy?
It seems that nowhere is little free nowadays.
I used to go out once a year and clear up the old quarry near the house where I used to live. As I walked my dog there every day it bothered me more than it may have bothered some other people. Once time, however, I filled three carrier bags with rubbish and put them in the litter bin at the car park. The next day, unfortunately, someone had taken them all out of the bin and scattered them all over the field again. What did I do? Picked them back up again and took them home! Was I being a bit obsessive, I wonder now? I would give up now. Hope you took the Co-op bag and the silage wrapper home with you once you’d photographed them, Uphilldowndale!!! Or do photographers make it a point of honour not to interfere in the scenes they record? Same as quantum physicists know that observing something changes it. To pick or not to pick… My son has the same dilemna with his nose!
the only answer is to boycott the filthy stuff - plastic is a great product for making computer keyboards not one use supposedly disposable packaging. Think how much you use in a day - stuff that can last a life time used once then discarded. Its not suprising we have a litter problem. I cant change any one else only myself so I have been giving up plastic one wrapper at a time and sourcing sustainable alternatives. My bin is much emptier and my mind a lot calmer.