Having recently relocated from the mountains of Colorado to the ocean at Malibu, one of the most remarkable things I have noticed is the incredible amount of roadside trash. I would wager that there is more litter along PCH in the burg of Malibu than there is along all of the highways and byways of the city of Colorado Springs. Even the Interstates in Denver look pristine in comparison to the Malibu mess. Although some of the sections of PCH are ‘adopted’ for litter control, I have yet to witness any systematic clean-ups. Some areas have not been picked up during the several months that we have lived here; e.g. there is a bag of trash near Geoffrey’s (easily identifiable by its gingham contents spewing forth) that has been there for weeks. There are other examples too numerous to list.
What’s up? If Malibu can pay its administrators such handsome salaries, how about sufficient funding for litter control and enforcement of the anti-litter law? Maybe we should emulate Texas’ anti-litter campaign –“Don’t Mess with Malibu”– which should strike fear in the litter-culprits! More seriously, I would invite the politicos to get out of their offices, the glitterati to get out of their limos, the stupendously rich to come out from behind their walls, and the remaining nine Malibuites to get out and join me in adopting a small portion of roadway to keep clean. One hour a week would make an enormous difference. On Sunday afternoon, I filled one garbage bag with paper and plastic, and didn’t move more than 20 feet! It seems as though stewardship of the earth is an unfamiliar concept to many Californians–let’s learn it, live it and model it for future generations.
Douglas Swartzendruber