Trash: Somebody Has To Do Something!

Volume 6, No. 1

- By Harvey the Turtle

Harvey the Turtle contemplates what to do about the trash. ©2010 Ramón Bannister

One night Kena Cubed’s founder Ramón had one of his famous bright ideas. He told his partner, “Hey, let’s go for a romantic stroll in the neighborhood.” His partner agreed and they decided to take me along. They gave me the camera so I could take shots of nature and what have you.

Anyway, we went on that walk and saw lots of interesting, colorful things out on the street. I started taking pictures when, after a few minutes, my owners stopped me. What horrified me was that they said I was taking photographs of trash. That’s right, trash! “You mean like when I finish my breakfast and push the rest of it aside,” I asked. They said yes. I inquired, “Well, what is it doing all over people’s front yards, sidewalks, streets and on the shore of this beautiful pond?” They could only give me one answer: “That’s a good question.”

The majority of the trash were cigarette butts, which at least over time they decay. But often there were other things like plastic bags (made out of the same oil that’s leaking in the gulf), aluminum cans, plastic straws (made out of the same oil that’s leaking in the gulf), rugs and many more awful things. Even a baby’s diaper! Yes, I said a baby’s diaper!!! My owner Ramón and I agreed that it’s a sign of self-disrespect. The only reason people would litter the streets of their own and other people’s neighborhoods is because they don’t care. What’s even more disturbing is that we often found trash in people’s front yards! That’s right, their front yards! Below are some, not all, of the photos I took. Move your cursor over the photos and click to see all ten photos.

What Next?

I am thankful that my owners pick up the trash from their front and back yards regularly. That’s right. They’re victims of people who litter as well. They find a ton of cigarette butts, plastic wrappers (made out of the same oil that’s leaking in the gulf), beer cans and bottles, candy wrappers and the like, all of it from other people who don’t give a crap. Oh, that’s something else they found – dog pooh poo right in front of their low retaining wall. They cleaned that up too. That’s not so bad as the plastic because it will at least decay over time. But it’s still unfortunate that people just don’t care. As I said, my owners have a lot of respect for themselves and their community, so they pick up the trash around their home and don’t litter.

My owners even found an unopened can of beer in their front yard! “Hey,” they said, “at least it’s free beer.” They actually split it between the two of them! Ha ha ha. That’s what I’m talking about! They explained that it must have been put there by under-age kids, because it was neatly placed behind something as if they were hiding it from their parents and planning on retrieving it later. But it was in my owners’ front yard, so they drank it. They complained that it was cheap, bad-tasting, watered-down beer, as it was Bud Light. They said it was gross. “If they’re going to leave us free beer, you would think they would at least leave us some Sam Adams or some high quality brew!” Please guys, if you leave unopened beer in your neighbor’s yard, give them good beer.

So, all this and we come to the next question: what next? There’s a lot of trash in my neighborhood, and obviously people don’t care enough to think about saving their trash and waiting till they get home to throw it in its proper location. (If you don’t know what that proper place is, come to turtle school and we’ll teach you some basic vocabulary. Trash bin. Trash receptacle. Recycling bin. Pooper scooper.) My owner Ramón wants to plan a community project, where people from the neighborhood and others from the Boston area go around and pick up trash. I told him that might be complicated, and he agreed. So, he might just ask a few neighbors and friends for help, and post fliers all over the place to encourage people to have more respect for their community.

Stay tuned for updates on what my owner decides to do. In the meantime, I have some advice.

1. Pick up trash from your yard.
2. Instead of using other people’s neighborhoods and yards for your trash, use your trash bin
3. Recycle recycle recycle
4. Produce less waste
5. If you’re not near a trash bin, hold on to your trash – put it in your pocket or car – and then throw it away in the proper receptacle when you have a chance. In other words, show respect for your community.
6. If you leave unopened beer in somebody’s yard, make sure it’s high quality.