Updates: As of March 4th, 2002.
Click here to see Issues #1 - #2 - #3.
A WIND-BLOWN CITY SPECIAL
We're going to be asking some tough questions today... and pointing out some hypocrisy... are you ready for that?
Let's start by asking: What happens to all the flags when the patriotic rush from 9/11 has worn off? Answer shown in pic 1.
And how patriotic is it exactly to buy U.S. flags that are manufactured in another country? Considering that 99% of these flags say 'Made in China', who are you really supporting here? You might as well stick a Chinese flag on your car. Unless the flag you buy and wave is actually made here in the U.S. by legal U.S. workers, it would actually be more patriotic not to bother in the first place. You're not exactly helping the trade deficit, and the logic of people who wave Chinese or Taiwanese made U.S. flags frankly baffles me.
But let's ignore the end consumer for a moment... You want a flag to wave and there's not exactly an abundance of places to choose from up here. So let's ask how patriotic are the stores that sell these flags to us? It doesn't seem to bother them where they come from. As long as they make a nice profit, do they care? And what kind of morality do the importers who place the orders for these flags with China actually have? Very little as far as I'm concerned, but I guess the same thing applies. As long as they make a buck, they don't care where they come from or where they end up.
What about corporate trash? You'll see a selection of photos here from many of the convenience outlets we have here in town. I guess they're called convenience stores because it's convenient to buy your coffee in a paper cup and then conveniently throw it out of the window when you're done with it. Exactly what the convenience is after that has me stumped.
Frankly, their convenience is my pain-in-the ass. It's a major reason why 29 Palms is looking like it's well on the way to becoming a Third-World style landfill. But hey, it's convenience dummy! Why everyone is so up in arms over the proposed Eagle Mountain landfill when we're already living in one and paying taxes for the privilege of it is beyond me.
My view - and it's bound to be unpopular with the people who make money from all this convenience trash - is they shouldn't be allowed to sell anything in disposable paper or Styrofoam cups... You want a cup of coffee from 711? TAKE YOUR OWN CUP. You want a burrito from Del Taco to go? TAKE YOUR OWN PLATE AND/OR WRAPPING.
At the very least these so called convenience outlets ought to charge a $20.00 deposit for every disposable item they dispense. This would be a fully refundable deposit when the person takes it back... but that wouldn't be very convenient for the store... (Do you hear the violins?).
I'm more than a little fed up hearing how tough it is for these people to make a profit as it is and how they don't have the time to get involved in the clean up of trash (that comes from their own businesses) because they are so busy. Maybe they shouldn't be running a business if they can't be bothered or don't have the time to clean up the mess THEIR business helps create. I've seen all kinds of critters in the desert but I've never once seen a Ronald MacDonald out picking up the trash.
Here's another idea that's bound to be unpopular. How about requiring these businesses to provide a person to do nothing but walk around picking up the trash they conveniently dispensed the night before... or at least let them join together to provide a few of them. Now that WOULD be a convenience.
Don't any of our elected officials ever walk around and see this stuff? I honestly have to wonder. My aim is to give our trash the International recognition it deserves, and when people from around the world see it, and realize what a garbage dump it is, and stop coming, maybe then something might get done about it.
Let's discuss wind-blown trash. We live in one of the windiest parts of the state with wide open spaces. We have a supposed natural treasure in the form of Joshua Tree National Park that we use to attract people here (along with our murals - none of which depict wind blown trash by the way)... And the best idea anyone can come up with to solve the problem is having a 'Trash Day' once a year (or twice - depending on where you are). It's a shame we can't get the wind to cooperate with us and only blow one day a year instead of 365.
OK, so the City doesn't have the manpower or budget to control the wind blown trash, but look at the picture below and see if you can see any wind blown trash on the lawns outside the City offices... not one piece... not even a piece of cigarette ash.
Do they have some kind of arrangement with the wind not to blow trash on to their property? I don't think so. Yet it blows everywhere else. I must assume therefore that they do have SOME kind of budget to at least take care of wind blown trash on their own area, and not only that, they must also take care of it on a regular basis, otherwise it would look like every other picture here. All the pictures shown here on the right by the way are from a short walk around Adobe Road, Indian Trails, and Mesquite Springs Road.
So I'm going to go out on a limb and offer a radical idea... How about the next time it's time to work on the lawn outside the City offices, stop... move the men down 500 yards and have them work there instead... and the next time have them move another 500 yards down... repeat this process until they have covered the entire area controlled by the City and they arrive back where they started. By this time the area outside the City office would most likely need another clean up and they can start again. Is that too radical? What is the point in having one little clean area with all the nice grass growing when all around it in every direction is trash? Remember to read the City statement on wind blown trash in Issue 2.
One of the saddest things to me is the way that our preparations for the winter storms this year made the trash problem even worse. Someone - and I know not who - organized all the areas along the sides of the roads to be bulldozed flat to aid water run off and minimize flash flooding... great idea in principle, but all the trash that was along the sides of the road was then just ploughed under and the area is more like a landfill than ever and needs a MAJOR MAJOR (did I say Major?) clean up. I'm sure the driver of the bulldozer saw what he was doing, but he was just blindly following orders. Trash got moved up from the roadsides and is now spread over larger areas than it was in the first place. I somehow seem to be the only person who has noticed this, and despite bringing it to peoples attention, nothing has been done about it. Why? Because they don't care.
We do have a Trash Walk planned for Tuesday 5th March with County Code Enforcement and we're looking forward to hearing all the reasons why they can't do anything about it. Maybe I'm being too hasty in saying that and I should at least wait until I hear what they have to say. But I'm just a born pessimist with very little faith in humanity, and even less in our officials.
Another thing I wonder about is why these people only work Monday thru Friday, 9 thu 5. Most code vioations occur after 5:00 PM, after dark, and at weekends when you could never reach anybody by phone or e-mail anyway. It seems like some kind sadistic trick they like play.
One thing's for sure though... If all the countries who we regard as backward and under-developed could just see what's in store for them when they reach our standard of living, they might ask themselves if they're not better off staying as they are... at least they don't have their countryside ruined as yet by am-pm paper cups, or Del Taco burrito wrappers. Boy do they have something to look forward to. But then again, they might actually have more common sense when it comes to dealing with the problem and making sure it doesn't happen to them. I hope so for their sake at least.
In Memoriam:
I would also like to mention here the recent death of a great humanitarian and environmental activist, Spike Milligan. He died last week of liver failure at the age of 83 in England. His passion for anti-noise pollution, animal rights, human rights, and numerous other environmental concerns was second to none. He - and his efforts - will be sadly missed by all mankind, (well at least by those who knew of him and care about anything), and the challenge is on us to make it a better place to live...
One of his quotes from many years ago, “You have to be an idiot to be happy in the world today”, seems truer now than ever before.
RIP Spike.
Click here to see Issues #1 - #2 - #3.
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