A Christmas Unmiracle

I still believe in karma. I do. But after today's event, I also think pigeons are evil.

Since October, I've been complaining about the lack of snow. I love winter. Snow is my friend. So, when today I woke up to a downy-white city I threw on my boots and went out for a walk.

So, I'm walking down the sidewalk and what do I come upon? Garbage! That's right: human litter all over the beautiful snow. Nothing pisses me off quite like this brand of laziness, rudeness, and disrespect for both the planet and the community.

What do I do? I scoop it right up, of course. I bend down, pick up that litter, and take off down the sidewalk intent upon tossing it in the next garbage can I spot.

Well, I didn't get two steps forward before I was bombarded--and we are talking BOMBARDED--by like 40 pigeons. I felt it, man. And when I looked down, I was downright covered in crap. It wasn't merely all over my coat, hat, and mitts. No, no, no. That would have let me off too easy. Because my hands were upturned to hold my big stack of garbage, pigeon shit managed to find its way INSIDE the cuffs of my jacket too. YAY!

Now I'm walking down the street, carrying garbage in my arms, and covered in crap. And cursing the pigeons.

I admit, the first thought to run through my mind was, "Karma, my ass! I try to do something beneficial and this is the thanks I get?"

But, you know what? That's just the way it is sometimes. SOMETIMES you do something beneficial to the environment or to your community and you still get shit all over. Doesn't mean I'll stop doing it. Whatever you do to lend a helping hand, somebody will come back with criticisms of your actions. It's inevitable.

At least today my only critics were pigeons. (Evil beady-eyes sky rats!)

Giselle Renarde
Canada just got hotter!

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a scenic landscape is not a garbage can

This photograph, gorgeous but for that blemish of a bottle, was sent to me by my ex.

And there I was thinking his creativity didn't extend beyond the bedroom!

I love this image because I started to absorb that golden sand, those lush green trees and the emerald lake water before even realizing there was garbage in the shot. Then, of course, it's all I could focus on.

Like so much of the pollution that affects our lives and our health, it's hiding in plain sight. I can't see the pollution in my city's air (not today, at least. Ask me again mid-July...) but I know it's there because my throat's closing up.

So many of us concentrate on the symptoms and forget about the underlying cause. Let's see it, focus on it, and find ways lead lives that honour the planet instead of crushing it under our feet.

(And thanks for the image, X. Beautifully done.)

***

Programming Note: To celebrate next Monday's official release of COMING TOGETHER: WITH PRIDE, there will be an interruption in our regularly-scheduled broadcast of THIS IS NOT A GARBAGE CAN. Tune in to join the excitement!

a bench is not a garbage can

This is a bench.
It is not a garbage can.
Some may be confused by the fact that it's covered in GARBAGE, and thus not a place one might feel inclined to sit, but I can assure you it is indeed a bench.

It all comes down to respect. When we leave our crap all over the place, we're inconveniencing other people. It's a blatant display of disrespect for our fellow citizens.

I was already in a rotten mood when I saw this garbage-ridden bench. On my subway, the jarring metallic voices of three distinct ipods were grating on my nerves. Noise pollution in the extreme. It's another instance of us city-dwellers having no respect for the millions of people we live with.

Can I offer a tip to anyone with a portable music player (myself included - I always have my earbuds in): When you turn on your music, hold your headphones at arm's length for a moment. If you can hear anything, your music is too loud. It's going to disturb other people, so have a little respect and turn the volume down.

It's all about respect, my friends.

Bright Blessings and Happy Victoria Day to my fellow Canadians. Enjoy the fireworks!

a mailbox is not a garbage can

Here's a sneaky one: See that Starbucks cup and other assorted trash shoved behind the mailbox? Somebody thought he was sooooo clever, hiding his garbage like that. Nope, you're not clever, you're killing the planet, but thanks for playing THIS IS NOT A GARBAGE CAN!

For newcomers to the blog, THIS IS NOT A GARBAGE CAN is a photo essay, updated weekly, depicting all the places people in my city throw their garbage, despite the fact that these locations are NOT garbage cans. The intent is to shame the lazy bastards into environmental friendliness.

Let's be clean when we're not being dirty!

a garbage can is a garbage can, but...

Oh, close but no cigar. Thanks for playing. Better luck next time.

See, you have to actually put the garbage inside the garbage can for it to work.
Enough said.

And now for something completely different.

I was chatting this morning with the authors from Lyrical Press when a Mae West quote in Jade Twilight's signature caught my eye:

"When I'm good I'm very, very good but when I'm bad I'm better." ~Mae West.

I feel ya, sister! If there's a bad Mae West quote, I haven't heard it. (Thanks Jade)

A GOOSE IS NOT A GARBAGE CAN

I bet you anything those two juice bottles do not belong to those two geese.

This image really hits home the whole 'paved paradise and put up a parking lot' idea. Bad enough we're trying to carve out a living in the desolation of a city of parking lots -- but just look what our wildlife ends up with: a patch of gravelly grass where people have idly thrown their recyclables.

When I was taking this photo, a woman walked by and said, "What a crappy place to build a nest." I wondered if she meant the geese had chosen a stupid place to take a rest. I'd like to think she meant that humans' wastefulness and environmental destruction is leaving little choice for passerby creatures.

Let's be clean when we're not being dirty, friends.

a storm drain is not a garbage can

Just take a look at all that crap. See all that grey stuff built up around the base of the grate? That's not dirt or leaves or anything organic. All that greyness is plastic garbage built up around the storm drain and stained by the runoff from nearby parking lots.

Where does that garbage come from? Everywhere. Any time anyone drops litter on the ground, there's a good chance it'll get carried by rainwater into your local water system. In our case, all this plastic crap gets carried out into lake Ontario. This is bad news for our beaches and aquatic wildlife. I remember a time when we could actually swim in our lake. Now many won't chance it.

My friend Monty wanted me to mention another concern, tied loosely to this one. I need to explain this picture a bit: See that glass tube? Okay, not so much, right? It's near the base of the grate. Well, last week there was another piece of it sitting on top of that storm drain. I got a picture, but my camera erased it (always the camera's fault). Anyhoo, that other piece (not pictured) looked a heck of a lot like part of a halogen or CFL lightbulb.

Enter my friend Monty's concern: Mercury content in compact fluorescent lightbulbs. He wanted me to share with you these safety tips on cleaning up if you should ever be so unfortunate as to break a CFL bulb. Be careful, friends. Safety first!

Before cleanup: Vent the room

1. Open a window and leave the room for 15 minutes or more.

2. Shut off the central forced-air heating/air conditioning system, if you have one.

Cleanup steps for hard surfaces

3. Carefully scoop up glass fragments and powder using stiff paper or cardboard and place them in a glass jar with metal lid (such as a canning jar) or in a sealed plastic bag.

4. Use sticky tape, such as duct tape, to pick up any remaining small glass fragments and powder.

5. Wipe the area clean with damp paper towels or disposable wet wipes and place them in the glass jar or plastic bag.

6. Do not use a vacuum or broom to clean up the broken bulb on hard surfaces.

Cleanup steps for carpeting or rug

3. Carefully pick up glass fragments and place them in a glass jar with metal lid (such as a canning jar) or in a sealed plastic bag.

4. Use sticky tape, such as duct tape, to pick up any remaining small glass fragments and powder.

5. If vacuuming is needed after all visible materials are removed, vacuum the area where the bulb was broken.

6. Remove the vacuum bag (or empty and wipe the canister), and put the bag or vacuum debris in a sealed plastic bag.

Disposal of cleanup materials

7. Immediately place all cleanup materials outside the building in a trash container or outdoor protected area for the next normal trash.

8. Wash your hands after disposing of the jars or plastic bags containing cleanup materials.

9. Check with your local or state government about disposal requirements in your specific area. Some states prohibit such trash disposal and require that broken and unbroken lamps be taken to a recycling center.

Future cleaning of carpeting or rug

10. For at least the next few times you vacuum, shut off the central forced-air heating/air conditioning system and open a window prior to vacuuming.

11. Keep the central heating/air conditioning system shut off and the window open for at least 15 minutes after vacuuming is completed.

Source: U.S. Environmental Protection

BULLRUSHES ARE NOT A GARBAGE CAN

Baby Moses wouldn't have survived bullrushes like these.
Not much wildlife is going to survive here, either.
Disgraceful...

A SNOWBANK IS NOT A GARBAGE CAN

Ah, April in Canada. Looking out my window, I still see some snow on the ground. Mostly mud, but some snow as well.

As I walked down my street (or indeed any street) throughout the winter, I was astounded to see that every snowbank had some garbage thrown into it. This picture was taken a few weeks ago. Now that most of the snow along the roads has melted, the curbside is full of mushy trash.

See all of those snowbanks? They were full of garbage. Those beautiful, natural, white (okay, grey) mounds of virgin snow were full of garbage!!! Every snowfall, the roads got plowed and all those lazy littering bastards out there threw their coffee cups on the snowbanks. Then it snowed again and that garbage got buried under more snow. And on and on and on all winter.

Seriously, how hard is it to put garbage in a garbage can? It doesn't belong in the snow.

A SCHOOLYARD IS NOT A GARBAGE CAN

I happened to be walking a school today just as the bell rang - back to class after lunch. Despite the fact that it was raining, some students (aged 11-14 I would guess) were eating outside in the yard.

When the bell rang, the students got up but their lunch garbage stayed put.

I'll tell you why I was particularly disappointed to see this: I was under the impression that the younger generation took a very active interest in environmental issues. For some reason, I was holding onto this image of children communing with nature, of being closer to the natural world.

Who do they think is going clean up this mess? I have a relative who works as a janitor in a public school, and she barely has time to clean the washrooms at one school before she's off to the next one. In my district, schools are not well-equipped to maintain themselves as far as personnel is concerned.

This is serious stuff. This is the health and well-being of our planet. I guess we all need to set a better, louder example for the young people around here. After all, they'll still be here when we're gone.

A NEWSPAPER BOX IS NOT A GARBAGE CAN

This is the image that started it all.

Every time I walk by this newspaper box, it's cluttered with coffee cups.  Coffee cups go in the garbage, not on a newspaper box.  

I'm guessing people think, "I'm a good person.  I'm setting my garbage on something instead of throwing it on the ground."  Just because you don't throw it directly on the ground doesn't mean you're not littering.  

Let's take a look at the photo evidence.  I took this picture in the afternoon.  See all those coffee cups on the sidewalk?  Those coffee cups were on the newspaper box when I walked by it that morning.  There's this thing called the wind and it's quite capable of blowing a paper cup onto the ground.

There's a garbage can right around the corner from this newspaper box too.  Argh.

A PINE TREE IS NOT A GARBAGE CAN

Today I'm introducing a brand new feature here at Donuts and Desires. THIS IS NOT A GARBAGE CAN is a photo essay, updated weekly, depicting all the places lazy people in my city throw their garbage, despite the fact that these locations are NOT garbage cans.

My inspiration is my revulsion at the amount of litter I see on the streets of Toronto the Good. This is a relatively clean city, and yet there's garbage everywhere. I simply don't understand how people can continue to choke our dying planet out of sheer laziness. There are garbage cans everywhere and they're there for a reason. Did I ever mention I'm an environmentalist?

So, without further delay, onto our first installment: A PINE TREE IS NOT A GARBAGE CAN.

Many people seem to think that a pine tree is a garbage can. I can illustrate my assertion with using the photos above and below, which I took on the main street of an affluent part of the city. As you can see, these pine trees have been used as garbage cans by a whole bunch of people. People who drink grape soda, ginger ale, coffee and bottle water. People who eat cheap chocolate and McDonalds (that white thing all crumpled up in the photo above is a bag from McDo). There's at least one pack of cigarettes in the tree pictured at the right, and there's some other crap in there too.

Talk about the direct impact of litter on the environment! You don't have to actually hug trees (pine needles are sharp, I know), just don't throw garbage in them! It's a pretty easy rule to follow. So, what have we learned today? A PINE TREE IS NOT A GARBAGE CAN