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Well,
old what’s-his-face finished his chicken and
wiped his greasy mug on me then threw me in this
clear plastic trash bag with the rest of the low
life trash. By then I could care less
because the possible love of my life was nowhere
to be found.
What’s-his-face threw us in the back of his
rig and we headed for home. As we pulled
out of the woods and onto the pavement, I saw
her. Yes, it was her!
There she was, stapled to this fence post with a
bunch of writing on her backside and big arrow
pointing to our picnic area. My heart
sank. What’s-his-face left her there,
and as we headed down the road I waved good-bye
to her knowing I’d never see her again.
Well, I guess by now you’ve figured out my
message here. This is something many folks
do, not realizing that leaving paper plates
stapled to sign posts and message boards, is
just another symptom of a larger problem
trail sanitation.
In our crowded world today, we all must make
sure we pack it in, and pack it out.
Leaving trash and waste of any sort is something
we must not do. Our trails are too
precious to lose because of a trash and waste
problem.
Leaving trash only contributes to campaign by
the anti-access folks to mess with our form of
recreation. It gives us a bad image and
makes our next outing less enjoyable. It
gives our opponents more ammo to shut us down
and lock us out.
I am fully convinced that our future lies in not
leaving our past behind.
Not only do we taint our image, but I can only
imagine the disgust of the poor USFS or BLM
employee who has to go around every Monday
morning and pull down paper plates (not to
mention pick up trash left over in campgrounds
and on trails). It must cost us taxpayers
a lot of unnecessary money.
Human waste and associated trash are a
significant part of this problem too. For
example, on the Rubicon Trail in one summer
period, 35,000 trail users generated 70,000
pounds of human waste. This is an enormous
sanitation issue that we are dealing with.
You can help. You can pack it out.
It’s that simple.
Whatever you do, please take the time to pack
out your trash and waste. This includes
human waste as well as trash. There are
ways to do it. Please visit my web site
for more ideas and links to places where you can
learn more about trail sanitation (www.delalbright.com/rubicon_sanitation.htm).
Del Albright, internationally published
columnist, State Environmental Affairs
Coordinator for CA4WDC and BlueRibbon
Ambassador, has authored volumes over the last
20 years on land use, outdoor recreation, and
access. Visit Del’s web site at http://www.delalbright.com.
There I was, lying in
the cupboard, minding my own business like any good napkin, when
this paper plate starts coming on to me. Oh, she was cute
all right, all decked out in flowers and looking good. But
like any single male napkin, I played hard to get and not
interested.
She kept chatting away, being all flirty, and finally I started to
like the way things were shaping up. Hey, you never know,
she might be the one.
She kept telling me that we should get together and go on a date.
You know how paper plates can be. Pretty soon my resistance
waned and I gave in to a date. We decided to give it a shot
and I thought that this might just work out great.
Then, old what’s-his-face decided to take us on a picnic out in
the woods. He loaded us up in his old truck and off we went.
Next thing I know
I’m on this picnic table with a bunch of other paper products
and old what’s-his-face has a bunch of his friends gathered
around eating greasy chicken. But my date is nowhere to be
found. I don’t see her anywhere. Now I figured I’ve been
stood up. You know how paper plates can be. |