If you are my age or older you probably remember the owl from the 1970′s who encouraged us to “give a hoot don’t pollute.” For a trip down nostalgia lane or if you have never seen the commercials click the play button on the YouTube video below to watch a classic 30 second commercial.
I remembered the commercial as I was reading a letter someone had written to an advice columnist about her significant other whose philosophy seems to be “I don’t give a hoot so I pollute.” She is what I would consider a normal American who is environmentally conscious and is taking several steps to reduce reduce pollution (drive a high mileage car, eats organic, composts, recycles). Her significant other has said to her “I don’t care about pollution. I won’t be here in 100 years when everything is trashed and neither will you.”
That’s a comment that stopped me in my tracks. While people may be shocked to read a statement like that, there are a lot of people who feel that way and just don’t care. They are so shortsighted they can barely see beyond the end of their own noses.
While it’s frustrating when someone is so indifferent about the environment, all any of us can really do is lead by example. We can’t make someone care and even with laws governing recycling, burning, and emmissions control; people find ways to bypass them all the time.
The gentleman who runs our local recycling and garbage center (I live in a rural area and don’t have garbage pickup) says that as long as he stands right next the recycling bins everything is okay but the second he turns his back someone dumps garbage in it. They don’t care about contaminating the recycling bin; they just want to avoid the $1 per bag it costs to put garbage in the dumpster.
It’s sad and it’s frustrating. I wish we could make everyone care about the planet.
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