Alexander Leach, Editor-In-Chief
Though I’ve been negligent in posting it, I love to find old garbage and wrecks in the woods.
Growing up in the 90s on an old out-of-use farm means you’re surrounded by old, unused buildings, many of which are in states of decay. My father warned me away from the old stable, which hasn’t seen any use since I was alive, for fear of it falling in on me – and fall in it did, due to the ever-heavy mantle of snow we get out in Laurentian Valley. We’ve since come to bond in exploring old ruins, but I’m getting off topic.
That said, I am less than happy when I find someone’s Tim Horton’s cups along the side of the road to Cobden, or their Subway wrappers, or – as some residents and Councillors evidently have – entire bags of garbage. Living along the longest stretch of highway in Canada has some rather annoying downsides.
“Personal Responsibility” is a statement I’m rather sick of hearing, because it always comes in response to some legitimate complaint about how difficult the world is currently. Having no money due to the poor wages afforded to anyone without a lifetime of highly-specific experience, or being unable to afford housing due to ever-increasing property values. What’s worse is when I hear it in regards to pollution and the environment.
A lot of talk of plastic waste and recycling gets put on individuals when the real problems are far larger and out of our hands. Fossil fuel consumption and processing is one of the leading polluters in the world, causing drastic weather changes, and the Amazon is still on fire (yep, still). Yet apparently we’re blamed for using plastic straws or cups, nevermind the companies were the one who provided them in the first place.
And yet, there are levels of personal responsibility that are an actual issue. Using a paper straw may not make a huge difference to the overall carbon landslide we’re under, but throwing them out your window as you pass Cobden is certainly directly contributing to you ruining a local area. But preaching to the choir here; people drive through Cobden from all over Canada, and they probably don’t think too much of the small village on their way to Ottawa.
Council has addressed the issue with dumping and littering in the area, and it’s been an on-off problem for the region for years. But I think it’s about to get much, much worse, with many new residents and visitors coming in here from the cities to escape the COVID restrictions with the wide-open spaces, and the plans for development leading to all these new homes coming up.
More travelers that aren’t invested in the area are more likely to contain jerks who decide the Mayor Moore’s lawn is their personal dumpster, which I’m sure he’s likely none to pleased about as it is, and really, the only solution is to be vigilant. Reporting and discouraging this kind of behaviour in our backyards is sadly, our responsibility, since clearly the visitors won’t.
That’s what it, unfortunately, comes down to. Corporations aren’t going to stop burning oil even though we get snow in April now and blazing summers, and random motorists who consider Muskrat Lake a nice garbage can aren’t going to stop throwing their coffee cups out of their cars. So it falls to the people who live there to watch for them, punish and prevent them from their callous littering, and keep our region clean.
At least the visitors can be charged and given back their trashy ‘gifts’.
