litter at your feet
° Trash in historical sites ° The World As Your Ashtray
Hawaii
I admit it . . . I absolutely do not understand people who think it is just fine to throw their beer cans, soda bottles and cigarette butts on the ground or overboard. Who ARE these people? No one you know, I hope.
During a tour around Kilauea, an exceptional ranger explained the flora, fauna and the volcanoes to a group of around 20 people. He talked about the environmental sensitivity of each to foreign plants, birds, and even Mongoose . . . which, ironically, were brought in years ago from Indonesia to help kill Hawaii's burgeoning rat population which were brought in my ship. No one, though, bothered to check the habits of these two creatures: mongoose hunt during the day; rats hunt at night. They never even cross paths. So both are still swelling their ranks and killing endangered species.
After this educational talk, on the return walk, two women lit up. I actually thought smoking in National Parks was now banned . . . and, in any case, there were no ashtrays anywhere, so it was obvious where the "ladies" would throw their carcinogenic butts—on the ground to be washed away by rains into the precious water that we are all so concerned about. Because we were roughly 13,000 feet up, this meant that their butts would be likely washed into fresh water before they made their way to the ocean.
Again, the toxins in 100 cigarette butts will kill an adult human. And, again, you want to know where cancer is coming from? Think about it. You are drinking toxic waters. You are eating the fish swimming and feeding in those toxic waters.
As nicely as possible, I explained to the two smokers that I didn't think they were allowed to smoke in a National Park, suggested they might want to ask the ranger, and asked where they were planning on putting the butts once they were done. They looked confused, which seems natural to me 'cause I think smokers ARE confused about what they are doing.
As I walked on, I heard one whine to her husband, "Well, what am I going to do with it?" I'm sure they put them out on the ground and left them there.
Back at the visitor's center, I mentioned this to the ranger, asking if it was, in fact, illegal to smoke in National Parks. He didn't seem to think so and explained that they pick up the butts. He also offered that tossed cans and bottles make up quite a bit of their litter. And he explained . . . as if it were just fine . . . that they, the rangers, pick up litter. Meaning, of course, that our taxpayer dollars that pay his salary are being used to pick up after slovenly people.
So, back to banning filters, back to banning all smoking in National Parks, which ARE paid for through taxpayer dollars. Back to serious fines for littering⁸this would be a great revenue stream in our stressed cities.
Back to educating people . . . somehow!
During the same trip, we saw endangered Hawk Bill sea turtles on one of Hawaii's striking black-sand beaches.
And we saw young boys and girls kicking at the rare creatures and throwing sand on one (next to the little girl in the photo left). What is the matter with people? Do we "really" think we are above all? Apparently. I yelled at the children. Their parents did nothing. As I started to walk away, one of the children decided to throw his boogie board on top of one of the turtles. Before he could, I headed back in that direction yelling; one of the parents finally moved slowly. I asked someone in the park shop about this and he said that is is an ongoing problem, the children do not understand, they do see them "all the time," and the University of Hawaii was trying to do something about this. Soon, I hope.
When I mentioned this later to someone, he tried to explain it away as "they see turtles all the time and don't think they are rare or endangered." Sounds like Sarah Palin to me . . . she, who hunted Polar Bears in Alaska and doesn't consider them endangered, meaning, I suppose, that she saw five or six at one time once so it must be just fine to kill them.
We see people, including children, all the time. We are not officially on anyone's endangered list yet, so does this mean we can throw stuff at/on them and kick at them 'cause they aren't endangered? Where does respect for life start?
Reading departure signs in some big airport