Every time I set out on a walk I am reminded of my time in Iraq. The scenery is similar, the air is dry, and there is a ton of freakin' trash everywhere. I imagine that a bit of that has to do with the open spaces and the constant wind, but it gets to me every time I go outside. This isn't a ragged base in a war-torn country, this is California. Why is there so much trash?
So I had it in my head that I should start going for trash walks. Just my regular walks, but take a bag and pick up stuff along the way. I kept coming up with really lame excuses though.
"I don't have any trash bags."
"I don't have any gloves to reach into the bushes (thorny like hell)"
"I'm just going to wait until I can get one of those extendo-grip things so I don't have to dig in the ground and use my hands!"
But most of all,
"What if people laugh at me?"
This last one is the real reason it took me so damn long to get around to this. I keep to myself here, I don't talk much to the other Marines in class. I just don't feel like I fit well here. That's fine, really since I'm only here for a couple more months. I just can't seem to get it out of my head that I would be doing something considered degrading if I just went around and picked up trash out of ditches and fence-lines.
In the end I just got sick of ignoring it. So yesterday, I grabbed a trash bag, my music, and my sunglasses (to hide behind, lets be honest here) and walked to the commissary. I stayed on the path, and only grabbed things within about 5 feet of me on the way down, and nothing in the brush since I had no gloves. I still ended up with about half a bag full (10 gallon bag) by the time I made it to the store.
Now, I had too much to cart back with me along with the few things I was going to buy at the grocery, so I had to dump it in a trash bin rather than sort it for recycle.
So I had learned my lesson on that. The trip out is for scouting trash, and pick up is on the return. It seems the the only recycling bin is at my barracks, so it made sense to just bring it back there for sorting.
My second trip today was just for trash walking, I didn't have to be at the store or anything. Just a nice walk on a beautiful day. I ended up focusing on recyclable things as much as I could since I still didn't have gloves for bushes. But I walked ditches to get the majority of the trash and had to leave quite a bit behind.
My bag also started to bust, so lesson learned there too.
All in all it was a great experience and I'm really looking forward to next weekend. I think that I can sew myself a bag that shouldn't bust and I can reuse rather than using trash bags.
Positive impact, good exercise and fresh air. Really what more can you ask for?
