The accumulation of dirt in the streets can be seen as leaves falling off the trees. Some of the garbage is not even intentional: paper flows in the wind; wrappings do drop by mistake; birds pick up trash from one location and dispose of it elsewhere… But human-made neglect tends to encourage more neglect and even harm.
In Malcolm Gladwell’s book: Tipping Point, he discusses the process. I’m sure there is plenty of other research pointing to the same conclusion: human-made neglect threatens society to the point of criminal harm. Malcolm Gladwell is a long-distance runner, apart from a well-known author. However marginal this detail is in the context of urban living, it is for me a useful reminder of my own fitness aspirations.
After a long break, I started doing a few short runs, then back to my routine five. Part of that routine is a cool-down and stretch walk in the Norquay Park paths around the playground and basketball court. This is where I saw a pair of nail scissors apart from the typical disposable cups and discarded food wrappings.
I live in a relatively quiet suburb in Vancouver, BC. The sharp object in public space urged me to act immediately. Occasionally in the past, I returned to the park a little later to do a quick clean-up. I’m not a routine volunteering clean-up guy, but it just feels OK to do this every now and then.
Giora and Irit, my wife’s parents live in a Kibbutz called Ein Hashofet. Giora’s image popped into my head while doing this morning’s clean-up. In July of this year, I was with my wife and daughter on a family visit to Israel. The Kibbutz is a communally-based settlement that has been around since the early twentieth century. In my childhood, my mom had a cousin in another Kibbutz called Beit Hashita. Visits to the Kibbutz always felt like an escape through a time tunnel to a small and friendly space. I lived mostly in cities like Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Israel is a tiny country, and I never had a problem getting in touch with strangers within the anonymity of the urban setting. The Kibbutz of today is gradually transforming into a variety of communities that are not too dissimilar to urban sprawl. However remote an agrarian settlement of the past is, it is always a quick drive from an urban center. Ein Hashofet, my in-laws’ Kibbutz, is maybe fifteen minutes away from the nearest city.
Giora goes for a walk every morning. When we stay with them, I always enjoy joining him. The fresh air, the morning quiet and the activity are all great as part of my time off. I told Giora (fondly) that if he were in the city, he would probably be known as that strange old guy who collects everyone else’s garbage. One of the realities of human settlement, no matter where you are, is that very few people bother to clean after others. It just doesn’t work this way.
If anything, when the mess grows out of control, people form volunteering groups that gather to do something. One name that is in use these days is Clean Up Party. Some people form Non-Profit groups and some just become neighborhood activists.
On Earth Day, there is a worldwide event calling for people to gather as a unit (https://bit.ly/3PrCZmq). That’s not a bad idea. My intrigue is that on a personal level, one finds themselves facing immediate barriers to immediate action, namely picking up after others on their own. It’s just unrealistic. You can spend your whole life doing that and it would never end. You can face mockery from your own family and friends. You DO need to take care of other stuff.
Giora knows that. And he keeps picking up whatever he manages on his morning walks. When I joined him, I even brought a bag from home to facilitate our garbage collection. I anticipated we will run across more together than when he’s on his own. Giora told me that he is planning on pushing forward the idea of volunteers that will take turns, doing clean-up rounds.
As our society grows, we form systems that are made to serve our common needs. Those needs continue to grow as the systems supporting them mature and then become outdated. How we deal with these changes determines much of our quality of living. The smaller the community, the easier it is to spot the challenges and address them. But even in a small community, most of the difficulties rise from the people involved. Not so much because of anyone’s fault. More thanks to our various points of view and interests. In consultations, the differences might end up in conflict or be resolved for the benefit of all. But it all takes time.
Until that time comes, you will probably see Giora picking up a bottle here and a lost wrapping there.
Thank you Giora and all of the other undocumented clean-up activists.
Design is a Matter of Life 