Sunday, May 19, 2013

Beautiful Trash

R.a.n.t. of week of 05/19/13
The world is truly a beautiful place. It doesn't take long after opening ones eyes, before you find something wonderful. Granted, it can be harder and harder to find true beauty without philosophizing the wonders of cement, but it can be found. An anthill on the sidewalk, a squirrel running up a tree, pretty flowers in a well kept lawn helped by bees, and so on. But nothing really compares to a scene of tranquil serenity as an open field, a grassy knoll* or a densely populated forest. Fortunately, most cities, even in large ones, make sure to retain some form of ecological beauty. Where I live is no exception.

But now we come to a problem. What if, despite the best intentions of the city, the park is trashed. How might that happen you might ask? Well, no. You probably aren't asking that, are you? I'll bet you know the answer as well as I do. People are pigs, and realistically that's giving pigs a bad name. People have no consideration or appreciation for beauty. One of my local parks I visited recently was sadly really trashed. As I strolled along, there were several park officials walking around trying to pick up trash. I wonder how awful the park would look without their maintenance. One of the hardest places to pick up trash is the shoreline of the pond it seemed. Walking around the pond, I noticed trash practically dotted the shoreline. How upsetting and distracting. People have no pride any more.


* Unless (of course) people are shooting from said, grassy knoll.

6 comments:

  1. This is a common problem it seems. I recently included litter in one of my Thematic Photography blog posts as well - http://bobscotney.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/letters-and-numbers-around-us-thematic.html

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    1. I checked the blog out. Some interesting photos. Loved your comment about discarded energy can.

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  2. We have several nature areas which are maintained mostly by volunteers. I am very thankful for them because places aren't usually trashed when I get there... but I know it is because someone cleaned it up before I arrived.

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    1. It's sad when we have to pay people, or rely in volunteers to make sure a park, rec area or nature spot is free of litter.

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  3. Hi Jeffrey - your park is publicly owned ... the Eden Project is a charitable private operation ... it is kept pristine - but the visitors respect it ... and there are bins of various descriptions all over the estate ...

    Litter is a dreadful blight - people are so irresponsible ...

    The domes of the park have similar perspectives - I was wondering when your domes were created? I see the domes were inspired by J Baldwin's Pillow Domes ... he was a student of Buckminster Fuller ... interesting - as I didn't know that - just spotted that information in Wiki ...

    Cheers Hilary

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    1. At this park, there ARE bins all over the place. Problem is, the people who live in that area are lazy. I've seen people toss trash on the ground, just a few feet from a rubbish bin. Sad really.
      The horticulture exhibit at the park began in 1898 in a greenhouse setting. That was taken down in the late 50's and in 1959 the Domes were under construction. They were completed in 1967 and each dome had a different climate. A desert, a tropical and a "show". They have remained basically the same to this day. Currently, the desert and the tropical domes are under construction. There were talks about taking them down permanently because they were falling into disrepair. But it looks like they are under repair once again. I would have been sad to see them go, even if I don't get a chance to see them very often.

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