Dan Rubin's column today featured a Philly transplant who learned a little something about some Philadelphians' favorite past time - littering:
Have you ever wondered what, if anything, runs through the mind of a kid who walks down the street jettisoning candy wrappers and soda cans as though he's a spacecraft reentering the atmosphere?
Stephanie Kruel did. At meetings of the Newbold Neighbors Association, she'd watch the local youths treat the Di Silvestro Playground as someone else's problem.
She and some other annoyed activists decided to ask 27 kids, ages 6 to 19, about their attitudes toward trash, hoping the playground questionnaire would open a window into underlying issues - how they feel about themselves, whether they think what they do has any impact on those around them.
Some of the answers she were downright scary:
Asked 'What's the most important thing in your life?' one 11-year-old answered "blowing stuff up," "weapons" and "mom" - in that order.
Another, asked how to prevent others from littering in his neighborhood, replied, "kill people." It's "insulting," he wrote.
She's doing something on a small scale that I wish could be done citywide. Every time I see someone throw litter on the ground, I don't necessarily feel any anger as much as I am curious. I want to know why they did it. Who, in that person's life, taught them that it was ok simply to throw their trash on the ground? Once I found that out, I'd want to find that person and ask them where they got their attitude about litter.
Until we have an idea of why people toss their trash on the ground in the first place, we're never really going to be able to solve the problem. For every "citywide clean up," neighborhood activist, or just regular joe who picks up a piece of trash that's not his, there's five or ten people who don't give a second thought about pitching a cigarette butt, soda bottle or newspaper onto the sidewalk.
Kudos to Stephanie Kruel. When she's done surveying Point Breeze, I hope she can move on to the rest of the city.
Comments (2)
Most of the problem has to do with the fact that many Philadelphians are uneducated and unemployable lazy bums and slobs.
Posted by Anonymous | December 11, 2007 9:42 AM
I can tell you one thing that would immediately cut the litter in half: RecycleBank. The program already exists in NW Philly and pays residents for the amount of recyclables they put out on the curb each week. Showing people their trash actually has value would go along way towards cutting litter.
Posted by Anonymous | December 11, 2007 2:46 PM