First, I am not submitting this letter with the intention of it being published. I am wanting to enlist the power of a local voice that can affect change.
I have been a resident of Southwest Colorado for a number of years and I am seeing a change that I didn’t expect to see. We – the residents of this corner of the world – seem to be complacent with, and certainly are complicit in, the increased level of trash that is despoiling our environment.
Wherever I drive I see untold amounts of paper, plastic, glass, and so much more polluting our world. I find myself picking up litter every time I am out, whether I am on a hike, walking across a parking lot, strolling the river trail or biking in Test Tracks. And the shoulders of our local roads are abysmally despoiled. Are the organizations that had taken it upon themselves to mitigate this contamination no longer in operation? Or has it always been civic responsibility and pride that kept the trash minimized?
I am trying to clean up, because if it isn’t me, then who? Please tell me I am being hypersensitive and that things really aren’t so bad. But if it really is an issue, can you, The Herald, do as your name suggests and start a call to action?
Maybe, in light of all that is happening in this world, this is minor, but if we don’t take care of the small stuff, the big stuff becomes acceptable.
Jeff Misener
Bayfield
