It's obnoxious to me that people litter and spit on the sidewalk, in the subway, and in other public places. This morning I was nearly spattered by some dude's phlegm and spittle because he was standing in the doorway of the train (also annoying) and attempting to spit between the train and the platform. On my way home I saw this sign ironically lying on the floor of the car and thought it was fitting. Not only does litter cause fires which delay trips, but as far as I understand it, litter also clogs drains, which in NYC causes floods in the subway and disables the system, as we learned this summer.
There's really no excuse for this. There are plenty of garbage bins in the subway system and on the streets of New York. You don't need to throw stuff on the tracks and we shouldn't see trash and gum on the sidewalks either, but we do. I realize it's a free country, but the tragedy of the commons prevails I guess. If it's easier (and free) to let someone else clean up your mess, then you will.
I choose to self-regulate and mitigate my negative externalities if I can help it. At the risk of sounding preachy, I think you should too. Do you think we could come up with a cap-and-trade market for litter? I would make so much money.
Monday, December 17, 2007
Fire the Litter!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
I am impressed by the sudden frequency of your blog posts. The litter sign lying on the subway car floor isn't the only irony. Whoever printed and distributed the signs automatically created more future waste, whether or not the signs end up on the floor. Couldn't they have put it up in the car next to the Spanish dentist signs?
It was presumably originally in the same placement where you would see a map--an internal advertisement. So it wasn't just a random sign really, but I get your point. They also don't really seem to police it. They just put up the lame signs that probably make people want to litter more just to defy such a dumb sign.
Post a Comment