This is why we don't have nice things.

WTF is wrong with people. A nice day in the boat enjoying the nature and water shouldn't include piles of beer cans and bottles. I'm not a nature freak. I'm not and environmental goody two shoes but this crap pisses me off. They hauled the crap in, how berkeleying hard is it to haul it back out. Pitching trash overboard and all over the shore should require immediate castration and flogging.

This was take after we had already picked up a most of it.

We ran out of trash bags after filling 4 of them and still didn't get it all. I hope the people that do this kind of stuff get exactly what they deserve.

The really sad part? The next time we go back it will probably be trashed again.

Flogging might be too nice for them. Worthless bastards.

Set up a game camera so you can see who is doing it, find out where they live, and dump it in their yards.

sadly as a sailor, I see this kind of stuff all the time.

I was just reading an article written by a guy who sailed/paddled from Miami to Long Key. Along the way he found that Molasses Key completely trashed by boating campers and was told by the park rangers that camping on some of the sites on Long Key were closed because people were trashing the place and uprooting rare plants to drop generators and wide Screen TVs

Trash on Molasses Key

When I used to 'wheel, most of us would have an empty trash bag tied to our spare tires. They were only empty for a few hours though. And that didn't include the garbage we created. And yup, next time you go there it'll be just as bad.

I hate when people don't respect Mother Nature. They forget that she's a bitch and will come around two fold and bite you right in the ass one way or another.

We'll get a new planet one of these days, I'm sure this will all be fine.

Heck, I get pissed of at trash in the parking lot of he grocery store, don't get me started about trashing mother nature.

People start pollution, people can stop it

I used to spend a lot of time white-water kayaking on the Ottawa River. Lots of day paddlers, rafting companies and the like. And you know what? People took care of it. If someone saw a piece of trash, they'd pick it up. It always impressed me.

The fact that anyone there was in very close contact with the water and you didn't have the cargo capacity for booze probably had something to do with it. But there are still places that are kept nice...

last weekend I went kayaking with a friend from high school. He said that he was impressed that I picked up trash while I was out. I explained to him that all the kayakers I know do it, and that the only place on the peace river that are not full of trash are the places the fishermen don't hang out at.

Seriously, you'd think that people who fish for a hobby would care about the river, but around here that is not true.

The RAGS miata club adopted the last two miles of The Dragon on the Tennessee side. We do a trash pickup 4 times a year and the amount of trash that we pull out is just amazing. Yeah the locals are the worst(a complete swing set???) but the beer cans, water bottles and snuff cans that come from the bikers and 4wheelers will depress you. Just what are they thinking when they claim to love that section of roadway and then use it as their trashcan.

JoeyM wrote: Seriously, you'd think that people who fish for a hobby would care about the river, but around here that is not true.

I'll make a sweeping generalization here, but from what I've seen from my rural kin, "fishing" is really just a socially acceptable word for going out in a boat and getting plastered with your friends. If you can't see straight, how can you be expected to care about the things around you?

Exactly why I quit fishing the local 45 acre lake in a 200 acre county park 10 minutes from home. Boat ramp, bait shop, handicap access, state stocked and a co-op fund stocking some hearty lunkers... used to be beautiful scenery, nice family park.

Porta-johns and picnic tables were lit on fire and pushed into the lake. I'd fill two large garbage bags/ week just from my fav spot, there was plenty more. Got to the point it's embarrassing to take family or friends there. I'll gladly drive 30 plus miles to the dam/ river on the mountain. There's still slobs there but the river kinda self-cleanses.

They say you meet the nicest people fishin'... well, not in my county.

Toyman01 wrote: .... I'm not a nature freak. I'm not and environmental goody two shoes...

Are you sure? you are talking about flogging litterbugs You don't have to be a crazy hippy to care a little about the world you live at, don't feel guilty.

One thing I have noticed lately about the trash around. You can always tell you are in the "hood" when the streets are covered in malt liquor bottles and Mcdonalds bags. And you can always tell you are in a tourist fishing town because the shores are always covered in beer cans and candy wrappers.

Keith Tanner wrote: The fact that anyone there was in very close contact with the water and you didn't have the cargo capacity for booze probably had something to do with it. But there are still places that are kept nice...

I kayak the N GA mtns all the time, I always throw empty cans in my kayak behind me and empty it out when we stop in town on the way out.

Booze/Kayaks - I can do both!

Literally just today I was thinking "I should start a thread on GRM about this". Today I saw somebody throw a cigarette butt out the window, and this always pisses me off. Like the state of Ohio if your berkeleying ashtray or something.

I want to write to my assemblyman and ask that he sponsor a bill that would make it legal to rear-end of pit maneuver a vehicle that you witnessed the occupant throw trash out of. Dicks.

I yell at people who throw butts here in central florida. We are still in a friggin drought! Trash bugs me as well but I don't get ou much... I say setup a camera, or call the wildlife commission?

JoeyM wrote: Seriously, you'd think that people who fish for a hobby would care about the river, but around here that is not true.

They fish from the bridges here. The county put out trashcans and empty them regularly, but the bridges are still covered in dried seaweed, dead fish, and trash because people are too lazy to walk 10 feet to deposit their trash in the can.

Makes you wonder what their homes are like

It is a lack of respect. Lack of respect for other people, and a lack of respect for the very rock that sustains us. We may be doomed.

One of the places we stopped has a rope swing. Should have been a great place for the kids to play. Too bad the bank was literally paved with beer bottle caps and there was a pile of bottle that was 6' in diameter. At that point I already had 100 pounds of trash in the boat and was just out of room. It's a crying shame.

mad_machine wrote: People start pollution, people can stop it

This commercial played all the time when I was a kid. Maybe they need to start playing it again. We spend billions to clean up the atmosphere. Too bad we can't teach the idiots can't pick up their trash.

mad_machine wrote: Makes you wonder what their homes are like

Lotta people aren't allowed to slob at home so they get their inner pig on outside. Same w/ language.

mad_machine wrote:

JoeyM wrote: Seriously, you'd think that people who fish for a hobby would care about the river, but around here that is not true.

They fish from the bridges here. The county put out trashcans and empty them regularly, but the bridges are still covered in dried seaweed, dead fish, and trash because people are too lazy to walk 10 feet to deposit their trash in the can. Makes you wonder what their homes are like

same thing here. as soon as you get upstream from the bridge the trash level drops

People think that picking up is someone else's problem. In most of NYC there are trash cans on every corner, yet people will drop their garbage right where they are, often with in reach of a nice empty can. These are the same people that whine that the city doesn't do enough to keep the streets, parks, ect clean as though the trash were a naturally occurrence like snow. Between the street sweepers, various BIDs and other groups there are people cleaning almost all the time and in many areas they can't keep up.

Similar reason as to why I am hesitant to redo the lines at the local basketball court. I bitched about the trash and keeping it tidy, as a tradeoff for doing it out of pocket. Those that play up there that are in the 18-30 age group are doing that, but the little bastard age group 8-17 is just trashing the place for fun. I will probably still paint the lines out of pocket for the older crowd, but it will be with the stipulation that anybody not using the trash can will be disallowed to play.