Where Do We Begin?
In my previous Editor’s Comments, I focused principally on infrastructure and action aspects of water efficiency, as well I should, seeing as it is in these arenas we will (or won’t) achieve success. In the process of this discussion I also explained our purposeful use of the word efficiency in the title rather than the more familiar term, conservation.
Of course we’re talking about conservation, along with all the considerations and activities we’ve come to associate with it, but to my mind, efficiency begins earlier and goes further, carrying with it the connotations of principle and reward above and beyond those of the less inclusive aspects of procedure and limitation. Also it gives us the opportunity to address some underlying themes that might be less obvious within the confines of conservation than efficiency.
It Begins With Us
The picture here is of the September 2006 cover of one of our sister publications, Stormwater (www.stormh2o.com), showing in bold relief what I consider to be the most serious threat to the success of our efforts: the weakened state of self-restraint in the actions of a large part of the public.
As pointed out earlier this year by Harvey Gershman—a leading solid-waste authority—in his Guest Editorial for another of our publications, MSW Management (www.forester.net/mw_0511_guest_editor.html), “The presence of litter is a bellwether for quality of life in a community.” So just how much litter is discarded on our nation’s roads, a significant portion finding its way into various receiving waters?
Gershman references the State of Washington 2004 litter survey estimating that 6,758 tons of litter were discarded on the state’s roads and interchanges. “Using Washington State’s 2004 population estimate of 6,167,800,” he points out, “puts per capita litter generation at about 2.19 pounds/year.
“If that same generation rate applied across the nation, 318,638 tons of litter would be found on our nation’s roads,” he concludes.
Disgraceful? You bet, but more than that it’s a national calamity that lies at the very heart of what we have to overcome if we are to obtain the public backing we will need to achieve our objectives.
It isn’t the amount—we can deal with materials just as we can deal with crumbling infrastructure—but attitudes and engrained behaviors are a different matter.
While for some such behavior is born of ignorance, for others it is a conscious and purposeful way of life—“I do it because I can”—the same motive underlying the rising tide of vandalism coursing through communities throughout the country. Either way, it is inexcusable, because of not only the costs involved in remediation, but what it says about the value of self-restraint and personal responsibility, the foundation on which our society rests.
What Can We Do?
Set good examples? Educate? Punish the offenders? Do we just continue to devote more and more resources to mask the fact that much of our society doesn’t know and/or doesn’t care what the consequences of such behavior are?
These are among the various horns of the dilemma on which we’re perched, and as unsatisfactory as they are to meeting the challenge, we have no choice but to proceed with each, mindful that the task is little different than in dealing with the sadly neglected systems on the infrastructure side of the equation.
Author's Bio: Forester Media Group Editor
November-December 2006
Where Do We Begin?
In my previous Editor’s Comments, I focused principally on infrastructure and action aspects of water efficiency, as well I should, seeing as it is in these arenas we will (or won’t) achieve success. In the process of this discussion I also explained our purposeful use of the word
efficiency in the title rather than the more familiar term,
conservation.
Of course we’re talking about conservation, along with all the considerations and activities we’ve come to associate with it, but to my mind, efficiency begins earlier and goes further, carrying with it the connotations of principle and reward above and beyond those of the less inclusive aspects of procedure and limitation. Also it gives us the opportunity to address some underlying themes that might be less obvious within the confines of conservation than efficiency.
It Begins With Us
The picture here is of the September 2006 cover of one of our sister publications, Stormwater (www.stormh2o.com), showing in bold relief what I consider to be the most serious threat to the success of our efforts: the weakened state of self-restraint in the actions of a large part of the public.
As pointed out earlier this year by Harvey Gershman—a leading solid-waste authority—in his Guest Editorial for another of our publications, MSW Management (www.forester.net/mw_0511_guest_editor.html), “The presence of litter is a bellwether for quality of life in a community.” So just how much litter is discarded on our nation’s roads, a significant portion finding its way into various receiving waters?
Gershman references the State of Washington 2004 litter survey estimating that 6,758 tons of litter were discarded on the state’s roads and interchanges. “Using Washington State’s 2004 population estimate of 6,167,800,” he points out, “puts per capita litter generation at about 2.19 pounds/year.
“If that same generation rate applied across the nation, 318,638 tons of litter would be found on our nation’s roads,” he concludes.
Disgraceful? You bet, but more than that it’s a national calamity that lies at the very heart of what we have to overcome if we are to obtain the public backing we will need to achieve our objectives.
It isn’t the amount—we can deal with materials just as we can deal with crumbling infrastructure—but attitudes and engrained behaviors are a different matter.
While for some such behavior is born of ignorance, for others it is a conscious and purposeful way of life—“I do it because I can”—the same motive underlying the rising tide of vandalism coursing through communities throughout the country. Either way, it is inexcusable, because of not only the costs involved in remediation, but what it says about the value of self-restraint and personal responsibility, the foundation on which our society rests.
What Can We Do?
Set good examples? Educate? Punish the offenders? Do we just continue to devote more and more resources to mask the fact that much of our society doesn’t know and/or doesn’t care what the consequences of such behavior are?
These are among the various horns of the dilemma on which we’re perched, and as unsatisfactory as they are to meeting the challenge, we have no choice but to proceed with each, mindful that the task is little different than in dealing with the sadly neglected systems on the infrastructure side of the equation.