Where people go, garbage, and "nature/natural"

[stabman]

Figured I'd head out to where the city folks go for "nature", but first I stopped to get a coffee and transfer buses.
Checked out a spot I helped clean May 1st, 2015:, with the guy you see down there on a bridge support:

That's just some of the garbage we collected. We packed out 150 pounds of trash that day.
I stopped by on subsequent days to carry out the bags you don't see there; about 300 pounds of trash in total.

People kept throwing trash though.
They toss it from their cars as they drive over the bridge; I was down there sometimes cleaning up further, when entire bags of garbage would come sailing down.

So I gave up on that pretty much, but I still go throw away the syringes the junkies leave behind, because I don't think the kids that go down there should get a heroin syringe in their foot.

Here's what I looks like now, not even a full year later:

Disgusting. :thumbdn:

Anyway, back on the bus to go where the suburbanites go to commune with "nature"...

At the Nature Centre of course.

You can't have nature without flush toilets and refreshments...

Anyway, I went in there to use the washroom, and check out the exhibits they have to teach kids about nature.

I learned that squished pop cans are an integral part of the natural world:

And they did have a rattlesnake there; good thing the Burnside Jack was there to keep me safe!

And of course, nature is incomplete without a gift shop...every city dweller knows that.

 

[stabman]

Nature needs signs:

Good place to start; the trails all connect anyway.

A sign pointing back to the parking lot...complete with natural graffiti:

Oh well.
On we go!

Nature has wide trails covered in wood chips:

I wonder what animal left this motivational message...

A tree had fallen across the path; I climbed over it and continued along:

Even the signs talking of conservation get natural graffiti camouflage:

Oh wow, natural Welsh's wrapping!

Must have been left there by this squirrel...

 

[stabman]

Nature bridge!

A can in it's natural habitat:

Oh wow, the elusive woodland Slurpee! What a find!!!

This was all the "bushcraft" I got to do; no fires allowed, and everyone has to leave after 11 at night anyway.

Down another trail...

And it turns out that cinderblocks are natural too!

And so is rusty steel...it emerges right out of the ground:

Weird how trees fall naturally, looking like they were cut with a saw...

And another natural bridge:

There's a bird:

And the section of nature that is naturally paved to allowed the handicapped to enjoy the naturalness of nature:

Wow, I learned so much about nature just now.


It DID trigger a memory though...
Seeing those cinderblocks reminded me that although I later brought more out to my campsite, the original ones were already there!
I found them in the woods:

Those cinderblocks were not brought there by me.
I did not stack all that wood, nor did I collect that bark.
Those are the activities of someone else, prior to me ever discovering the place.

They did make it all go easier though:

 

[Jens Schuetz]

Most city folks aren't like that or it would be way worse. What's surprising when country folks themselves mess up their own land. Have seen lots of tractors rusting into the ground for example instead of being recycled. Tires in rivers from farm equipment. Empty metal barrels of who knows what. All things no city folk would have in their apartment.

I've seen huge differences in countries. Northern Europe vs India and the US for example. With enough research one might even find a difference between different states.

Either way, let's agree there are pigs amongst all of us though.

Even myself. I remember in Germany when I was small we used to throw stuff out of cars into the bushes but never from a bridge where a person you couldnt see could get hurt. We also made very sure it was only an apple core or banana peel which would become part of nature again. Anyways not doing that anymore.

 

[Tachead7075]

Brutal

I wonder why the city doesnt put a camera on the bridge to catch people in the act and get their license plate numbers so they can be fined and or jailed. You should call or email the city and suggest that and send them pics of the carnage. Some people are such a**holes. Unfortunately there seams to be more and more of these types as the years go on too especially city folk.

 

[Tachead7075]

Most city folks aren't like that or it would be way worse. What's surprising when country folks themselves mess up their own land. Have seen lots of tractors rusting into the ground for example instead of being recycled. Tires in rivers from farm equipment. Empty metal barrels of who knows what. All things no city folk would have in their apartment.

I've seen huge differences in countries. Northern Europe vs India and the US for example. With enough research one might even find a difference between different states.

Either way, let's agree there are pigs amongst all of us though.

Even myself. I remember in Germany when I was small we used to throw stuff out of cars into the bushes but never from a bridge where a person you couldnt see could get hurt. We also made very sure it was only an apple core or banana peel which would become part of nature again. Anyways not doing that anymore.

I find city folk are far more likely to litter and wreck stuff. The smaller the town the less garbage, littering, and destruction there is from my experience even per capita. There are bad apples in all places but, I just think that country folk tend to be more strict and not only spend more time teaching and raising their children but, they spend more time in the outdoors with them instilling values about the forest and nature.

 

[stabman]

Brutal

I wonder why the city doesnt put a camera on the bridge to catch people in the act and get their license plate numbers so they can be fined and or jailed. You should call or email the city and suggest that and send them pics of the carnage. Some people are such a**holes. Unfortunately there seams to be more and more of these types as the years go on too especially city folk.

The odd part is that right next to the bridge there is a parking lot which often has a cop parked in it.

There should be something done about it.
The city even has a make-work program where they have people walk along picking up the trash from the gutters in the summer; they could easily have those people clean up areas like this as well. :thumbup:

 

[Jens Schuetz]

I find city folk are far more likely to litter and wreck stuff. The smaller the town the less garbage, littering, and destruction there is from my experience even per capita. There are bad apples in all places but, I just think that country folk tend to be more strict and not only spend more time teaching and raising their children but, they spend more time in the outdoors with them instilling values about the forest and nature.

Maybe more likely however keep in mind country folks being out more also means they have more opportunity to litter.
Will 1000 country folks who spend every day in the same area litter more or 1000 city folks who come to that place one hour a year?

If you mean more litter per hour and person I'd agree tourists are worse than natives. However in India for example it's clearly the other way around. No tourist pours excessive pesticides on their crop fields or burns his trash on the road side...

Still the percentage of city folk pigs ought be small overall (even if bigger than country folk pigs) or else things would look much much worse, especially without selfless heroes cleaning the mess.

 

[RevDevil]

Off we go to community, doesn't belong in GKD.

 

[stabman]

Still the percentage of city folk pigs ought be small overall (even if bigger than country folk pigs) or else things would look much much worse, especially without selfless heroes cleaning the mess.

Well yes, the overall percentage of the population being pigs is small, or it would be hundreds of times worse (at least).
It is at a level where occasional clean-up efforts by the city would keep it pretty clean; there would still be some trash, but nothing like that.

I'm debating trying again next month, but it's daunting when you see that much trash.
I'll have to get better gloves before tackling it.
And I'll have to accept that I cannot get rid of it all.

 

[stabman]

Off we go to community, doesn't belong in GKD.

Even with the Burnside Jack keeping my safe from that deadly, deadly snake?

 

[Nfd538]

That black squirrel is cool never saw a black one.

 

[stabman]

That black squirrel is cool never saw a black one.

I think here we have more black than grey.
We do have both though.

I almost got a picture of a grey one, but it keep ducking behind the tree.
The black one just looked at me like "What the hell are you doing?"

 

[BenchCo Spydermade]

I go out and clean up all the trash visible on my block once in a blue moon. It is astounding how fast more trash gets there. Enough in a few days that I decided other people must be helping out too, because it would be far trashier if it accumulated at that rate for a long time. But I don't live in nature. [emoji1]

I think courts should use community service as a consequence more often. Would get some stuff done and folks wouldn't be wasting their taxes keeping folks in jail for nonviolent crimes.

 

[stabman]

I think courts should use community service as a consequence more often. Would get some stuff done and folks wouldn't be wasting their taxes keeping folks in jail for nonviolent crimes.

Not a bad thought at all.

 

[Jens Schuetz]

Even with the Burnside Jack keeping my safe from that deadly, deadly snake?

Almost qualifies for the traditional forum if you ask me. :-D

I like your writing style, it's very entertaining. You could probably write a book and I might buy it at that Nature Store.

Cool that you want to do it again. Many who try it once might just give up seeing the mess.

 

[stabman]

The day just didn't feel complete without fire though.
So when I got home, I used the Tree Frog to cut up a pine board I had from the last breaking practice, and used the Emberlit twig stove to boil up some water on the balcony, using a kettle from the kitchen.
Made some Mr. Noodle with the water.

It took a lot of work to get that kettle clean before my wife got home though.

Almost qualifies for the traditional forum if you ask me. :-D

I like your writing style, it's very entertaining. You could probably write a book and I might buy it at that Nature Store.

Cool that you want to do it again. Many who try it once might just give up seeing the mess.

Not a bad thought; I'll have to write some more as I trek around the area and the surrounding spots and see what it looks like.

I initially did want to give up after seeing all the junk, but that would mean that they win.
I cannot let that happen.

 

[Tachead7075]

Not a bad thought at all.

I agree.

A big part of the problem, especially in Canada, is that laws arent strict enough and punishments arent severe enough. You should get 500 hours of community service and a $5000 fine if you get caught littering. Even if its a gum wrapper. That would help I bet. Its just like parking in no parking or no stopping zones. People just dont care and do it anyway because they only get a tiny fine if they get caught. I bet in Singapore and other places with very strict laws and punishment toward this kind of thing you barely see any litter.

 

[Rupestris]

Do you ever venture across the river, Mark?

 

[stabman]

Do you ever venture across the river, Mark?

The Detroit River?
Haven't for quite some time, but I just got a passport, so such venturing can commence again.