Garbage In, Garbage Out

Day four and writing something every day is harder than I thought, particularly because I write about yesterday today which a little Seussian because I actually have to remember back to the penultimate day before yesterday because that influenced yesterday. Whew.

Best avoid any confusion by calling yesterday day four, and, with stiff fingers from the penultimate day before yesterday - climbing at Nowra - I skipped my normal wall climbing session which I usually intersperse with easy strength, and simply did easy strength, core, accessory work and a very pleasant low tide walk around the rock platforms and beaches in my neighbourhood.

Whenever I walk around my neighbourhood I carry a garbage bag and pick up trash as I go. There is always much more litter around school holiday time when the tourists come into town and throw their garbage about; it's not as if they live here or anything. It's not school holidays right now but I scrambled up some rocks to a "new lookout" area that council has signed in an effort to increase tourism. The lookout was always there, it is just that there is now a big blue tourist sign indicating where to turn off the main road.

Before the new council signage, there was a little bit of trash around the lookout but with the sign up there is masses of trash. Almost all of the litter is from junk food and beverage containers. I filled a large garbage bag just at the car park. Garbage in, garbage out as the expression runs. There are two things I always think about this. One is that fast food providers should be paying some kind of environmental levy because all their packaging inevitably ends up littering the country side and must be dealt with by the public; another example of capitalism privatising the gains while the public subsidises the losses. The second issue I wonder about is whether there is a strong correlation, possibly even a causation between people who are willing to pollute their bodies with sugar, industrial seed oil and pesticide drenched wheat products (the basic building blocks of junk food/drink) and being happy to pollute public spaces. Certainly, I don't see any "pride of ownership" in either ruining your health or our public spaces.