It’s time to clean up our act — literally
As an up-and-coming cultural hub, we should prioritize litter maintenance
I brought my parents to Mezcal TNT for the first time in early spring. I was excited to share with them one of Hamilton’s hippest restaurants, but my excitement over our hot foodie scene was dampened when my mom commented on the amount of litter in the city.
To be honest, I hadn’t noticed how bad it was.
I grew up with the perspective that littering was a sin against nature. To this day, if I accidentally let a receipt slip from my fingers, I will chase it down and pocket it as though it were a hundred-dollar bill. I don’t litter, and I don’t appreciate when others do.
But it seems a futile endeavour, nagging those around me to dispose of their garbage properly. The problem is so rampant that without a greater effort toward public awareness, every small success is just buried in … well, another pile of garbage.
So, what’s the story here? How much of the issue is that we don’t notice the filth, and how much of it is that we just don’t care? When my mom noted the issue in Hamilton, I said, “It’s just part of city life, I guess.” But, this is a big, dirty copout. Urban city living does not necessitate poor waste disposal habits.
When we get out of the city, out to what we call nature — to rural farming land, or up north into cottage country — we suddenly notice litter as though it were a fast-ticking time bomb. The single beer can floating in the lake is an indicator of the imminent ruination of natural beauty.
It’s an indicator that we’ve brought our bad habits from the city to a place where they don’t belong. That behaviour is scorned in nature. We shake
Why don’t we treat our own streets with the same care that we show to the environment beyond them?
our heads and say a prayer for humanity.
What about our habitat right here in Hamilton? Why don’t we treat our own streets with the same care that we show to the environment beyond them? As an up-and-coming cultural hub, our city’s hygiene needs some attention. Just as nobody wants to cottage on a lake that resembles a drowned landfill, nobody wants to sidestep discarded coffee cups as they explore what’s otherwise shaping up to be a pretty classy destination for great restaurants and entertainment.
I don’t think I need to go into detail on the environmental repercussions of a society that turns a blind eye to garbage. I’m quite certain that everybody is familiar with those basics, and has been for decades. We need a new take on the issue, an incentive to start paying attention to the filth lining our streets, and to start doing something about it.
With all of the investment that is currently going toward making Hamilton a great place to live and play, something as basic as litter maintenance should be at the forefront of our beautification strategies. Without publicity, we will continue accepting garbage as a normal feature of city life.
What a shame to think that visitors to Hamilton are noticing that we can’t be bothered to contain our trash. I believe that, overall, Hamiltonians are proud of their city, but such a simple oversight conveys otherwise, and that just doesn’t jive with the image so many passionate and savvy individuals in fields like the arts, business, urban design and hospitality have been working to establish.
It’s time to clean up our act — literally.