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Someone explained to me once that if you are going to throw trash out the car window one should throw it on a neat and tidy looking lawn. (Translated from "fly 'em on da kine Japanese lawn no stay long".) It makes sense even if it is rude if you throw it out into a ditch nobody will ever pick it up, but if you toss it in the middle of a really nice lawn it will be picked up within hours.
(Hey! Don't shoot the messenger! That's just what they told me!)
Also a lot of folks who throw trash in the gulches learned it from their families who did this for generations. If we would just go back to using paper wrappings and having a lot less waste and all of it biodegradeable then that tradition would be a lot less of a problem.
"I like yard sales," he said. "All true survivalists like yard sales."
Kurt Wilson
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Hotcatz, good point, somthing is being done on the Honokaa side. I read where Tex's drive in(the name I remember), and a whole list of other food outlets up to kamuela, were initiating a program where they pledged to use only paper containers and wooden forks. Win-win, gives the outlet a green label, and at least reduces the trash. Plus 2 full drive through meals would all squeeze into a small bag, and not fill your car!
Gordon J Tilley
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Beachboy, the Guam natives have told me that the Micronesians are trashing their island, too, and leaving rusted old autos along the roads. They don't like them -- not one bit.
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My teacher friend told me they were having problems with the micros too, they went to the leadership and were told the fed mandated all US islands or incorporated islands, guam and hawaii, into their mandatory migration. They are not necessarily here by choice. We have been bouncing those people around since nuke testing began, and now it's hawaiis turn to watch em!
Gordon J Tilley
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The "mandatory" part is that the countries can't bar the immigrants. They can freely move and the move, on the part of Micronesians, is not mandatory. It is a part of the Free Association Act that the Micronesians wanted with the U.S. and its territories in order to
have a place for their increasing population to live and work. In Guam, the Micronesians come mostly to live -- live off welfare -- which is
pays much better in the U.S. It's much like the Blacks migrating
to the Northern states during the 50s & 60s. Those states paid out
welfare checks in much greater amounts than the Southern states. During
that time, Ted Kennedy commented that Massachusetts needed to bar
or limit all the migrants coming to their state to get bigger
welfare checks.
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this thread is becoming very racist
i wonder what some of you would do if another country destroyed where you lived by "testing" nukes? (as if after unnessarily dropping two on japan wasn't enough to prove what they could do)
we don't have any micronesions in our subdivision that i'm aware of and yet lots of trash from the locals including diapers and wipes(bring out the bats?)
aloha
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Kathy H...I so enjoyed your thoughts. Thank you. Garbage will be wherever humans are. I can't control anyone else...not gonna happen. So I'll just pick up the blowing bags and be respectful in my way. Tex does use paper...and they did use styrofoam until recently. It's all good. I would like to see those plastic bags get banned...that would be very good for the aina. Happy New Year.
Carrie
http://www.carrierojo.etsy.com
http://thedb.com/vintageandvelvet
"Freedom has a scent like the top of a newborn baby's head..." U2
So I guess the concept of "One persons trash, is anothers treasure" doesn't apply here?[:o)]
To answer Match's opening post...
I will say that there wasn't much "trash" generated before the arrival of Captain Cook.
Everything was made from natural things therefore easily disposed of.
-----------------
Coming home soon!
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Garbage is pretty much a western inovation.
In all fairness to the Micronesians, their culture used all natural resources and didn't discard much of anything. Their coconut husks were utilized for rope, everything else was composted.
I hope we can educate them to respect our "enlightened" system of consumerism. (Create as much waste as possible for maximum profit, and hope people can figure out how to deal with it.)
thanks Carolann!
despite my sniping at the Swiss, I appreciate the European approach to packaging. All the containers for milk and such, were of quickly biodegradable nature. No plastic spouts or rings. You take your own bag to the market, bakery, what have you.
I would do that more here, but the stores are suspicious of people bringing in their own bags; all they see is potential shoplifting. I'd like to see the plastic bags and plastic packaging go away, but really the whole USA would have to make the shift.
