ISSUE OF THE WEEK

Amy Litton

We’re at war. And the trash is winning.

I bicycled to work last Sunday, the day following an international effort

to remove the litter that envelopes our cities, beaches and coastal

areas. The volunteer response was tremendous. But we are falling short in

our battle against trash.

Was the effort futile? About halfway through my 10-mile ride, I began to

think the answer is yes.

As I pedaled along Upper Newport Bay, where just hours before hundreds of

volunteers had scoured the uplands, mud flats and water, I noticed a

smattering of cigarette butts in the gutter. Along the perimeter I saw

beer cans and, in the dim early morning light, white “blobs” of unknown

origin. Rounding the corner to the San Diego Creek Trail, I observed a

white shopping bag snagged against the brush, and fresh deposits of dog

and horse manure on the trail itself.

But, like the tip of the proverbial iceberg, I know that huge reserves of

trash and debris lie fallow in the storm drains and sewers of Orange

County. The first substantial storm of the season will flush out this

urban flotsam and deposit it in receiving waters like Newport Bay. This

cycle repeats itself year after year after year. Officials are familiar

with the scenario. The public is, too, to one degree or another.

Proceeding up the creek trail, the amount of visible trash swells

tremendously. Under the MacArthur Boulevard overpass, the amount is

considerable -- several bags worth at least. It lies there, an eyesore,

waiting to be carried by wind or water into the creek and into the bay.

The remainder of the trail wasn’t much better. But in the darkness, the

trash that clings to the mule flat, the bottles and cans tossed aside,

the wrappers, the Styrofoam pieces that become brittle but do not

decompose -- and in the creek itself, the multitude of shopping carts --

was obscured from view.

So was the blitz behind the cleanup effort and the cleanup itself a

waste? A one-day knee-jerk, feel-good response to a year-round crisis?

Officials are hamstrung by tight budgets, and lack the personnel to clean

up after its citizens on a regular basis. Supplemental efforts, such as

the van loads of juvenile crews with their orange safety vests, cost more

than $600 dollars for five hours work.

That leaves volunteers. And enforcement. And peer pressure. On our

freeways, sponsors fund trash removal for a stretch of highway and are

acknowledged with a placard for their efforts. Maybe it’s time to explore

a similar system for our trails and waterways.

Year-round efforts are impossible in areas where habitat has been

reserved for nesting and migratory species. But consider the human

migration that occurs in Southern California each summer -- in fact all

year, to some extent. I walked daily to the terminus of the Santa Ana

River trail this summer. The litter there was horrific. I wondered what

the tourists must think, and how nearby residents could stomach the

untouched heaps of rubbish. Some of it stayed for weeks before being

removed. Some of it never was. Surely the plethora of environmental

organizations, the Scouts and other civic groups would kick in funding

and manpower if officials pursued that approach.

Can the media help? On issues where I’m active and privy to the inside

track, I find newspaper and television stories usually do no more than

regurgitate press releases with little if any additional research.

Columnists and magazines fare better, presenting more thorough and

balanced accounts. Television, though, is especially shallow, going for

sound bites and striking visual presentations over content and

information.

So where does that leave us? Well, there’s no excuse for an uninformed

public, but official efforts are for the most part uninspired, token

efforts dictated by legislation or face-saving measures. The public needs

to be better educated: how much taxpayer money is spent on litter

removal, where does it comes from, how does it affect our lives? (The

syringes washing ashore recently at Huntington Beach being a

case-in-point. People are going to other beaches and taking their

pocketbooks with them!)

Behavior can change. Don’t flick the butts. Report loitering -- which

often produces trash -- to authorities. Police the gutters outside your

residence. Develop programs at the school level to keep campuses clean.

(They aren’t.) Inspire corporations to work with employees to keep

parking areas free of the fast-food packaging that blows away.

Refuse to accept a substandard standard of living where litter is

concerned. Look around, and imagine how our streets, beaches and trails

look to the outsider. And don’t think its income or education related. I

see trash in the best of neighborhoods. This is a matter of dollars and

“sense.”

To paraphrase Pogo, “We have met the trash police and he is us.”

It’s time for a citizens arrest.

AMY LITTON has been a volunteer naturalist for 10 years. An interpreter

for Anaheim City School District’s Environmental Education program and a

substitute teacher, she lives in Costa Mesa with her husband and two

teenage children.

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