Our Lack of Social Responsibility
On a neighbourhood walk today my thoughts drifted to my Japan trip last autumn. One of the things I noticed in Japan was that it is a very clean country. Many have heard this. There are a couple of examples that sprang to mind this morning as I walked in this part of the University of British Columbia and noticed all the junk that was piled in corners, nooks and crannies of the paths we took. The campus looked dirty. Cups on the ground, bits of paper, cigarette buts. The paved paths are covered with dirt, leaves, mud, etc.
Contrast to Japan.
Everyday I would see people cleaning. One example was on my second to last day, in Koyasan. I was leaving the town and was the sole person on the platform of the rail station. The place was already spotless. There was an employee of the train company, an older man, cleaning the station. Picking up the odd leaf on the ground, wiping down the benches, checking the garbage cans.
Another example. On of the paths that lead to Meiji-jingu, a Shinto shrine in Tokyo. The paths are covered in pebble stones are overhung by many trees. It was the fall and so the trees were losing their leaves. There was a man, slowly but surely sweeping all the leaves towards the centre of the path to collect them. The path was again very well kept.
So now I think about UBC and other parts of Vancouver (and all of North America and most of Europe for that matter). Why is it that was are so accepting of garbage on our streets? We seem to expect others to pick it up. Because of our penchant for short-term thinking we seem unwilling to invest in having someone keep the cities clean. It would be too expensive we think.
Well...I think to all the people who would likely want a job and would go for such a job. We would have no problems keeping our cities clean if our society wanted to spend the money (invest) in itself. Studies also show that people become prouder of their cities and more interested in keeping them clean when they live in a clean city. You don't want to be the idiot that is singled out for throwing garbage on the street.
We North Americans and Europeans just don't seem to want to do it for some reason. Why is that? Until we start caring about our public spaces and respecting property we can continue walking in our garbage.
Comments