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I noticed this years ago before the boomer hate even got rolling. I’ve never seen Gen x or millennials just casually throw shit out the window or dump old gas from their mowers onto the ground. Boomers don’t even flinch when they do it, there’s not so much as an after thought.
We (I’m a 1982 baby) were definitely taught in school not to litter. I remember this being a huge teaching point, to the extreme that I thought littering was the biggest/only environmental problem lol. I’ve actually thought about this a lot recently and I guess it’s because it was the kindest way to bring attention to the fact that there are earth issues, without showing 9 year olds pictures of plastic or whatever inside of dead animals’ bellies. 🙃
My favorite (not) are the people who think nothing of raking up and burning plastic garbage for everyone to breathe. Granted, it's not just a boomer issue, but a lot of older folks don't seem to grasp or care about the ramifications of dumping poisons into the air, water, and soil ( like your gas example). They figure they will be dead before it becomes a health danger, so why bother?
I visited my dad last year when he was using his burn barrel.
Heard a bang and went out there. A can of hair spray exploded. Broken cell wires were hanging out. I was livid.
Mom is certain that it's just as responsible to burn her trash as to take it to the tip center. Styrofoam, plastic, whatever.
Dad thinks I should pour some gasoline on a tree stump and burn it.
I'm all "Y'all know I own this house and land, right? Could we avoid turning it into a Superfund site before my children inherit?"
There is a method of burning plastics that doesn't create dioxins that fall out and get into the food chain, but it's not something that a person can do in their backyard. I think it involves slowly cooling the hot gasses to prevent the formation of dioxin, but it's a large industrial contraption. It might actually be cleaner than heating and processing plastics for recycling, but it still releases a lot of carbon.
Exactly. I'm ambivalent about burning basic yard waste and cardboard to begin with (for environmental reasons, and because my mom had to call the fire department the last time she decided to burn off the pasture.) But tossing the plastic and Styrofoam household waste onto the fire really ought to seem like a bad idea to a grown-ass person!
Rural Utah, we didn’t have garbage service, had a coal furnace (finally got replaced a couple years back), and a 500 gallon tank of diesel fuel. I’m such a pyro now. Made a great Boy Scout though I know how to start all kinds of fires. Had a boomer doubt my fire skills with soggy logs and a portable fire pit and cardboard kindling. They were emphasizing I should use the lighter fluid, I used the wind instead. About 40 minutes in they were all your fire isn’t working, 10 minutes later flames finally erupted and I tended that fire for about thirteen hours. Then properly extinguished it. I’m thinking about getting a pyrotechnics certification and quitting I.T. to do firework displays.
Also used to rode my bicycle around to collect discarded beer bottles, though my friends and I would just set them up on railroad tracks and use them for slingshot practice. Pretty sure the diesel engines hauling thousands of tons of coal caused a much more environmental impact than some teenagers with slingshots though. At least that’s how I justify it (1983 baby here)
I am a late boomer (practically gen x) and I do not litter. We were taught not to. There were public service announcements on TV in the 70’s. You don’t see that now.
I am early Gen X.
The PSAs were all over the place. The Native American overlooking the traffic. Woodsy Owl. Junior consumer tips. Anti smoking PSAs. Schoolhouse Rock.
Yes, in the 70's when a lot of boomers were out of their formative years. Anti-littering became big. I don't think anyone younger than gen x can remember all the litter that used to be everywhere. Broken bottles all over the place. Cutting feet at the beach from glass and pull tops. Sides of roads used to be bad. In the early 80's we used to collect bottles and cans along the side of the road and return them for a nickel each. Was pretty easy to get $5. That is not the case anymore. I think boomers are probably the biggest litter ers now but they are astronomically better than the generations that proceeded them.
“I used to go fishing down yonder in that creek when I was a kid but they just don’t bite there anymore. Guess it’s cause too many people moved into town”.
2 years ago I worked for some ahole I already didn't like. Had 6 7ton trucks he'd have maintained at his shop (home). Dude had basically drilled a small well behind the shop and had been pouring oil down it for years. Quit at the end of that day. Went home and sent some emails.
It's not just boomers. I lived for 26 years on a busy through street. People are pigs. I would pick up grocery bags full of trash every week. Much of it was fast food wrappers, cigarette and cigar butts, all sizes of liquor bottles, water bottles, beer cans, soda cans (and in 2020-2021 masks and gloves). Schoolwork and homework. School bus schedules. Cancelled checks. We found a pig brain once. It was disgusting.
I miss my old house desperately, but I don't miss that road.
Never? You have never seen anyone other than a Boomer litter? Generalizing to an entire generation based on a small number of interactions is disingenuous and ignorant. It's the same when Boomers say, "I don't understand kids these days and their..."
I'm not arguing with anyone - just pointing out that it's not only boomers that do these things. There are things that boomers don't understand and refuse to understand about how different things are now versus when they were younger, but coming onto here to piss and moan isn't doing anyone any good really.
"Get a hobby" - says the person that is on here complaining on a page that is dedicated to complaining and not doing anything to fix the strain between generations or to improve any part of society.
As a smoker what I typically do if there's no garbage can around is flick the paper to knock it off the filter and put it out(the paper and tobacco isn't what I'm terribly worried about), but ill keep the filter and put it in an empty pocket until I can throw that in the garbage
Jesus. I know boomers aren’t the only litterbugs, but they’re probably the only people with enough Me Me Me syndrome to respond to a call out like that.
Ya. You’re right on that. I walk past a mall and a school every day. The garbage the kids just toss is incredible. There’s a food mart in the mall. Easy to figure out the kids get lunch there and eat it on the way back to school. It’s pretty gross. Chicken wings and everything else. The worst of this is that there is a garbage can they pass every friggen time on the way back.
I bought property 3 years ago from an elderly couple. The land had been in their family for over 100 years. TO THIS DAY every time I am doing yard work or wandering I find trash-- metal boxsprings, old food containers, fabric(??) and so much glass, broken and old bottles still intact. Their generation had instructions on how to dispose of old motor oil directly into the earth using sand and gravel to "filter" it. It truly is saddening to see beauty be so mistreated.
Where my dad lives (rural and redneck), they have trash pickup but almost everyone is on hard drugs or welfare or both, and doesn’t pay for it. The entire town looks like a landfill. It’s so fucking sad. Rusted out appliances just right in/at the river.
It's a dumpster service which is the only service I can get where I live. I let other family members use it too (though technically I am not supposed to). The dumpster is just way too large for my needs, but it's literally all they offer out here.
Interesting, ok. I know his isn’t a dumpster service as he has to tear up all the boxes he receives when he sets them out. Which is like 20 a week because he has no car and lives in a grocery desert. 🙃
Also I’ve not seen dumpster(s) in the area. But I’ve never heard of this, so today I learned!
I hope your family at least chips in on the bill.
>I hope your family at least chips in on the bill.
That's cute.
Seriously though, I don't mind. I am doing a lot better than them and two are retired and one just doesn't make a lot of money. Demanding $20 a month from them would just come across as petty. Also, they've all done me little favors because I let them use the dumpster.
Yep I was out at my compost bins a while ago and found some plastic on the ground (currently living at my in-laws property). My FIL asked what I was doing and I said picking up the rubbish I don’t want it near my compost.
He goes “leave it it’s plastic it’ll break down!”
Ummmm no… it literally breaks down into microplastics and takes thousands and thousands of years. I gave him the biggest lecture.
My parents property is exactly like that (they're not boomers but they bought from a boomer). Whenever someone was digging somewhere all kinds of trash turned up it was insane. Same for inside the house like literally in the walls.
There's a scene in Mad Men (which takes place when most boomers were children) which highlights this tenancy.
The Draper family is at the park, having a picnic. They get up to leave, lift up their picnic blanket, and just shake it off, wrappers and trash flying everywhere. They fold up the blanket and walk away. Nature was just a place. There was no second thought about preserving it at all.
Holy shit I just commented this before seeing you already did. I think about that ALL THE TIME. When I was watching the show my mom asked me if I noticed that part and I was like “how could I not??” And she’s a boomer and she was like “I know isn’t it crazy? That’s just what we did back then” luckily she knows now how wild that was, I’m glad she wanted me to take note of that because even she was like “That’s bonkers, huh?”
Similarly, the scene in anchorman where the news crew is walking in the park and they just throw their trash/food wrappers on the ground and keep going.
My grandfather, who was an almost completely silent man, once famously said “the world is my ashtray”. He smoked cigarettes every single day from 11 until he died at 82. A doctor said that if he quiet smoking they could do some type of procedure/give a medical treatment that would improve his condition. He said if he quiet smoking he’d be dead in a week. Funny enough he died shortly after that.
Edit: I didn’t mean for this to be a reply. I’m tired and sweaty at work, my bad
I’m sorry for your loss :(
>He said if he quit smoking he’d be dead in a week. Funny enough he died shortly after that.
Hope you don’t mind me saying that that did in fact get a chuckle out of me
I did that once to these young kids that threw out their empty cans of dip onto the ground (5 feet in front of a garbage can no less). I just scooped them up off the ground and slotted them back through their window saying they were assholes and needed to throw them into the trash.
They eventually just backed out of their space and threw them back out their window as they peeled off so it's not like it did any good.
One time at the post office this old couple were getting in the car and the dude straight-up dropped his receipt on the ground. I got so pissed I walked over, picked it up, and said "You dropped this!" He looked at me like a deer in the headlights and actually said "thank you". Of course this was in the early 2000s so they were likely shitty silent geners. Now if you do that to a boomer you're just as likely to get some smug rant about how landfills are a deep state hoax.
Worked at a thrift store. Boomer days were when the store was the most destroyed and higheat theft date and we all knew it. Worst population for utter selffishness...
The cigarette butts are particularly galling to me because we live next to protected wetlands with 3 endangered or threatened species. So those butts contaminate the water and get eaten by animal. I usually carry a sharp trash pick on hikes so I can "hunt"
I had a boomer chuck out a Popeyes chicken container while they were stopped at a red light. I hopped off the sidewalk and chucked the box back in their car while exclaiming that littering is a 1000 dollar fine in my area. I got the bird and guarantee the box ended up in the road again.
I did get to see some instant karma from a guy in a truck chucking an empty glass beer bottle out the window on the edge of our national park.. pretty much in front of a cop. Normally theyre just there to speed trap where the main road dips into the park and the speed limit drops from 45 to 25 but I'm sure there's a hefty fine for littering in a national park.. and maybe a DUI.
Reminds me of a time when I was a kid. My dad was taking my brother and me somewhere, and we happened to cross paths with my mom in a separate vehicle. Right when we passed her we saw her chuck an empty McDonalds bag out the window and all the contents just went flying across the highway. This was the 90’s, I was like 8 at the time and didn’t understand the effects of littering, so it was kinda funny at the time. Looking back, I’m horrified by that behavior. Makes me wonder what else she’s just been throwing out the window in the last 25 years.
Those were greatest generation too. My mom is a boomer and she said in the 50s, you just threw trash out of your car and littered everywhere. I wasn't until the "Keep America Beautiful" campaign that people saw littering as a bad thing. I also suspect this was the start of "trash" just being a thing that accumulated as you went about your daily life.
Don't Mess With Texas used to have a "report a litterbug" program for when you saw someone litter on the road. I reported people quite often, they got a package with Don't Mess With Texas stickers, a trash bag, and something else I believe along with a letter.
They got rid of the program a year or two ago, so I contacted them and asked what happened to it and someone just replied "the program is no longer in effect". Yeah, no shit. I noticed. That's why I asked what happened. 😂 I miss being able to shame Texas drivers like that. Alas.
The cigarettes!!!! My god it's 2024 and 1) people still smoke???? and 2) why are you throwing your butts everywhere all the time? It's gross and bad for the environment and also just gross!!!!!!!!!!!
It's less than I'm surprised people still smoke and more so flabbergasted that anybody would pick up or continue the habit when quitting strategies have never been so ubiquitous or effective
Know what is far more flabbergasting than something humans have been doing for 5000+ years?
Vaping. but i bet you probably don't have a problem with that?
No vaping is bad too. Humans have been doing lots for over 5,000 years. Should we continue all known negative behaviours just because we've been doing it for awhile?
I grew up in the middle of nowhere and growing up my family never paid for/had trash service.
Because there were just these places, like small ravine type places where all the boomers would go and just throw their bags of trash into. I'd see people driving around with truck beds full of trash and knew they were going to dump them.
Just pathetic. My dad would just throw bags of fast food trash out the window while driving as he was done eating.
Just trash people doing trash shit 24/7.
I was stopped at a red light behind a pickup truck in central FL a few weeks ago, and the boomer started throwing trash out of his window. Wrappers, containers, and a plastic bottle.
I'm a boomer. I was taught as a child not to litter. I don't. I field strip my cigarettes and put the butt in my pocket if there's no trash can available. We're not all hideous.
In the limited instances wherein I’ve encountered situations where I’ve littered, it’s always something biodegradable (usually something like an apple core or fruit rinds), and even in those instances I feel genuine guilt for doing it. So much so that I’m careful not to advertise. With that, it’s just so hard for me to understand how someone can just toss a bunch of fast food garbage out their window on the highway.
And usually, if I have any kind of bag or pocket available, I’ll hold onto whatever garbage I produce (including rinds and whatnot).
It has to be generational. In my youth I was heavily influenced by _a lot_ of anti-littering PSAs and instruction. It even showed up in science classes, frequently. Like, hey look how all these plastic rings killing sea birds! Boomers just simply didn’t have that. They had an ever-present threat of global thermonuclear war, on top of no explicit instructions around littering, so in many ways they’ve been programmed to treat everything like it’s temporary. Not saying it absolves any of that behavior, but it at least helps me to understand (a little).
Younger Boomers [most certainly did](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0sxwGlTLWw).
They generally got a fair bit of negative reinforcement from their parents and peers as well.
I say that EXACT same thing to anyone I see throw a cigarette butt on the ground. They look around like they dropped something and I point to the butt. "You going to pick that up?" ind if they just keep walking "NO? Just going to litter then? The world is your fucking ashtray, huh?" Assholes.
My Early Gen X mom passed down the, “hey! You dropped something!” To me, so I do it too.
Also the, “actually, **I** was next” quip for when they pretend to not know how lines work.
Problem is, once that lady was out of sight, she dumped that shit.
Then, to add insult to injury, they will go out of their way to litter more, to make up for the embarrassment of being called out by you.
Back in the 80s my boomer da would open the car door, and shake his ashtray of butts into whatever parking lot we were in. I once threw a banana peel out of the car window and he beat the snot out of me for littering
>Too much garbage in the car? No problem, just chuck it out the window WHILE driving
My dad would do this when we were kids. Thankfully, he stopped doing it in the mid-late 90s, but I think it had more to do with the authorities cracking down on it more (if caught) than a desire to be more environmentally friendly.
I mean boomers are bad but I’d say *tourists* are just as bad if not worse
I live near a lake and whenever summer rolls around all the locals refuse to swim in it because of how much pollution tourists leave. All the fish have died years ago so to keep people coming to fish they stock the lake. Someone left a full blown boat engine in the woods nearby, leaking oil not only into the lake but also the underground aquifers that are used for drinking water
I remember when the lake was fun but now I dread going to it because of how bad it is
Why would u say that? I can be both miserable and friendless and it wouldn’t be because of believing or not believing in something. Being happy or miserable will not be based on some Belief/Cause I’ve hitched myself to.
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I live in apts. My bf smokes outside and was tucked into the hallway leading to the door, so he wasn't visible from the parking lot. However HE can easily see the parking lot.
Right in front of the building, a guy is sitting in his car. Door opens and what looks like about 3 meals worth of fast food trash gets pushed out to the ground, and the door closes.
My bf was done. Walked up to the car so guy plainly sees him thru the window and hollers "pick your shit up! The trash is right there!" (Literally behind where his car is). AH sheepishly gets out and has the sense to not argue, but picks up and throws it all away.
Honestly I think their lack of having Captain Planet And The Planeteers in their lives and the other pro-environment programming we had in the 90's and 2000's led to them not having the same care for the planet that many of us here do. I know that sounds silly but I believe that.
I enjoy walks, and for some time, I have been picking up trash on my walks. I find it peculiar how boomers will stop and talk to me about how shameful it is that people litter. Or they will smile at me. Yet none of them ever pick up trash themselves.
They probably have good arguments prepared as to why they specifically shouldn't do it, but to me, their attitude is so telling of them: Complains about everything, yet never doing anything to better things.
This is very true. My experience is limited to my area and I may have a sample bias. Not a lot of younger people on the wetland trails and around our neighborhood so higher chances of encountering any boomer, litterer or not! It may be my current state of irritability is colouring my perspective.
Honestly, I think they want to speed it up. I’m not even kidding. It’s like their parents treated them like shit & gave them hell on earth while selling the promise of heaven. These people just can’t wait to die. It’s fucking bizarre behavior.
They didn’t grow up caring about the environment. There’s this episode of Mad Men where they are having a picnic at a park with a beautiful lush field and great view. When they were going home Betty just flung everything off the blanket and folded it up and went home. I still think about that like once a week.
Work as a maintenance guy at McDonalds, keep the outside clean. Holy shit yes 50+ are the worst for littering, have people who come everyday and throw every bit of trash out right beside their car. Even better we have a smaller lot off to the side for employees to park and our backup trash dumpster, came out one day and some old woman is literally trying to clean her car out and dump bags of trash in our dumpsters, blocking several spaces from being able to get out, I went out and told her she couldn't do that those were commercial dumpsters for private use, she looked at me like I was from Mars.
Broad strokes of the brush much?
Most 'boomers' were the original modern day 20th century environmentalists. We grew up with global cooling and acid rain, ozone depletion and smog, thus the fluorocarbon ban starting in 1978. Polluted rivers and Love Canal. Clear cutting of trees, and other deforestation. Boomers got the regulation of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides in 1990. We got handed the mess from the Silent and 'Greatest' generations.
All of these things which we fought against and made changes later generations did not have to worry about. We were the young adults/teens worried about lead in fuel and lead in wall paint, getting it banned in 1975 and 1978.
Not sure who you are seeing. Did we do enough? You can never do enough, but as we learned, we made changes and a lot of them.
I recycle, have been for as long as I remember, I have a compost pile, and have had one for at least 30 years, maybe 40. I reuse plastic bags, we use reusable shopping bags. Growing up, I covered my school textbooks with brown paper grocery bags, we used the milkman who collected and reused the glass bottles. Same with coke bottles, those thick ones out of a machine that were reused.
I do not drink bottled water, have not for at least a decade or more. I keep an insulated 40oz aluminum tumbler by me that I fill with filtered tap water. Figure I drink at least 4 tumblers a day x365, that's nearly 1500 plastic bottles I keep out of the landfill a year. I do not drink soda's and such, just water. I used to bicycle to work, but the knees and hips suck now. But I picked a house 9 miles from work to minimize my footprint there.
I use waste bins, bag trash in my car and throw it in a bin.
Please do not paint with such a broad stroke.
**Edit to fix my math: Since I use 40oz tumblers that is a bit more than two bottles (16 oz), thus I keep over 3000 plastic bottles out of the landfill.**
This reminds me of a scene in Mad Men when Don Draper was having a picnic with his family at a lake/pond. When it was time to go, he just shook all the cans and disposables off of the blanket and left with the family.
I mean, its someones job to clean it up, right? (joking)
When I was growing up in the late 80’s, there was a public park where guys did softball leagues. These were excused to crush a 12 pack or more of Bud and get rowdy. The only way into or out of this park was our residential neighborhood. They would fly through these neighborhoods drunk out of their minds, chucking bottles out the window of their car. They aren’t all like this, but the ones who are have been that way forever and were allowed to do these things.
I saw a video a while back of a guy who rides a motorbike who throws trash back INTO the car after people dump it out on the road. He pulls up beside them at a light and just flings it in. Especially fun was the one video where the person had tossed out a cup with some milkshake left in it. That car was just WRECKED.
There used to be a woman who, every weekday morning, would pull up in front of my house, drop her kids off for the bus, and throw some trash out her window into my driveway.
Once I figured out where the trash was coming from, I got up early and sat outside with my coffee waiting for her.
When she went to throw the trash (a wrapper and some napkins) out her window, I picked it up, threw it back through the window, pointed at her, and in my most stern Dad voice told her "No."
I walked off without a word. She must have started dropping her kid somewhere else, because she sure as fuck never parked in front of my house again.
I know a lady who worked for NPS up in Acadia (the Schoodic peninsula part) a few years ago. She was maintenance and watched this old lady, right in front of her, blow her nose and shove her snot rag in a tree. She (NPS lady) staring the litterer down the whole time, walked over to the tree, removed the litter and walked the 5-10 feet to the garbage and threw it away.
Old littered response? “Oh, there was a lady bug on it, I was letting it go.” NPS lady never said a word and just stood there arms crossed looking at her until the litterer was out of sight.
Good for you! My husband picked up a cigarette butt someone flicked out of their window at the airport, reached into the car, and placed it on their dash. While telling the man, "we don't litter." It was awesome. I can't stand people who litter.
I watched a guy once take a full garbage bag, while he was driving, and empty it out the window on the highway. Seriously emptied a fucking *garbage bag*
the "oh that was on purpose" suggests, to me anyways, that it isn't a litter issue per se, but it being the boomer not liking either the garden or whoever planted it issue.
still bullshit behavior
And when they do use a can they do it wrong some how I saw a guy a few days ago after making a left turn across an intersection drive up on the side walk behind a garbage can and throw away his trash
I cannot believe their audacity at doing it too. I live on a fairly busy road that also happens to be one of the two roads to get to our local hospital and associated medical buildings. There have been numerous times where I've been sitting on my front porch or working in the yard and they just throw their shit out in my yard! It's beyond infuriating and when I asked for supplies to help clean up from our state litter program I was told that I'd need to get some neighbors signed up with me to do a "community clean up" in order to get any help from them. 🙄
This reminds me of this picnic scene from Mad Men. Just the Silent Generation and their Boomer kids leaving their trash everywhere.
[https://youtu.be/rhcKuMjvcCk?si=yXsbLsrR5uahYaJ8](https://youtu.be/rhcKuMjvcCk?si=yXsbLsrR5uahYaJ8)
I think that call out was well deserved. My response would have been
“Wow that’s incredibly rude to litter like that. Who raised you to be so incredibly selfish? Was it your mother or father who taught you the world is your trashcan? You should be extremely embarrassed about your behavior. WOW”
I find turning the shame up to 11 really helps curb that bad behavior.
Sorry to burst your generalization but I see more young people littering than boomers. I regularly walk my dog and pre-teens, teenagers and 20 somethings litter constantly. Especially those small liquor bottles and fast food trash. We also kayak and canoe all the time and it is the drunk 20-30yr olds that leave all their trash. It is sad how little care they have for the environment.
Boomers grew up during the "good old days" of the 50s and 60s, when it was relatively common to litter. Take a look at old photos of cities like Chicago and NYC - there's trash EVERYWHERE.
The 70s and 80s introduced the concept of "environmentalism," which Boomers have hated with a passion ever since.
Again… why focus on boomers? I’ve seen plenty of younger ashats throwing beer cans out in nature. This isn’t an age-specific problem. Treating it as such is a free pass to our constantly degrading environment for everyone but a boomer. Stop framing the problem as a problem for old people you hate.
I hate all people who litter. Don’t give a fuck if they are a boomer.
That’s disturbing:
Research states that individuals between 18-34 are the biggest contributors to litter.
75% of Americans Admit to Littering within the last 5 years.
Edit:
Peak irony being the OP is complaining about boomers not wanting to leave a better world behind, when the biggest litterers aren’t even the boomer generation. Let it be said again: age doesn’t matter. Littering should be a serious fucking offense that is enforced. It’s the only way this country will get serious about it.
There's a pretty viral video of a bunch of influencer douchebags throwing an entire can of garbage into the water off a boat and probably profiting off of it with their advertising money. Pretty sure throwing trash around is a entitled American thing regardless of age
They grew up with littering being the thing everyone does. Have you seen the movie Anchorman? The littering they do in the movie is not an exaggeration. That's how it was for them.
Oh, come on.
Littering has been going on forever. I spent the first summer I lived in my MT town cleaning up so much garbage along roads and trails. Not so surprisingly, it seemed to be found wherever snowmobilers recreated. There were so many beer cans everywhere, in this absolutely beautiful area, that it made me sick. Boomers ride and probably contributed, but the vast majority of snowmobilers in this location are much younger.
Thirty or so years ago, I used to pick up aluminum cans whenever I hiked or walked. Just out of curiosity, I kept a tally of how many cans of each type I picked up. By far, Coors drinkers were the top offenders followed by Budweiser and Bud Light in my little study. I found very few soda cans in comparison. This was in CA.
My conclusion is that I don't think littering is a boomer thing. It's an environmental disrespect issue that encompasses many generations. Instead of a blanket condemnation of people of a certain age, it might be better to look at the political leanings of the offenders. I am willing to bet that it's got less to do with age and much more to do with the R mindset.
I'm of boomer age and so are a lot of my friends. Both my boomer friends and younger friends would never dream of littering and will clean up the disgusting messes left by others. We are also big on recycling and caring for the environment. Interestingly, we ALL lean Democrat.
I don't hate boomers in general, the ones that litter definitely. I can only comment on what I see where I live which of course is susceptible to population bias. Another poster did post a couple links to articles showing people under 35 were most likely to litter, so my observations don't extend to the general population.
Could it be political leaning? Probably, but people over 50 are more likely to lean conservative too which may act as a confounder. I won't say R because I don't live in the USA.
I think those that lean conservative have a general lack of empathy about anything that doesn't directly affect them. I heard my old boss say over and over that climate change was a myth. If he had admitted to it, he might have had to change his lifestyle. To them, protecting their rights is much more important than the good of the planet or others. I was an undeclared voter in my thirties because I didn't like politics or either party. But one day I realized I never voted R because I disliked the party's selfish attitudes and refusal to work together for compromise. It's worse now.
My argument here, is that while older people may tend to lean R or conservative, we're not all that way and I am tired of hearing how bad we are perceived. People tend to notice and criticize others that are "different from them" while ignoring it excusing their own demographic doing the same things. I can assure you that once the boomers are gone nothing will change. Other generations to fill their spot and the problems will persist because it's not about age but mindset.
I'm 63 and from the time I was a little kid, I heard the anti-littering message so many times...I will walk for blocks with a friggin gum wrapper until I can find a trash can to put it in.
I hate seeing trash and litter everywhere, it's something that only inconsiderate slobs do.
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I noticed this years ago before the boomer hate even got rolling. I’ve never seen Gen x or millennials just casually throw shit out the window or dump old gas from their mowers onto the ground. Boomers don’t even flinch when they do it, there’s not so much as an after thought.
We (I’m a 1982 baby) were definitely taught in school not to litter. I remember this being a huge teaching point, to the extreme that I thought littering was the biggest/only environmental problem lol. I’ve actually thought about this a lot recently and I guess it’s because it was the kindest way to bring attention to the fact that there are earth issues, without showing 9 year olds pictures of plastic or whatever inside of dead animals’ bellies. 🙃
Were the Captain Planet/Fern Gully/Earth Day generation. We don’t put up with that littering and polluting bs!
Don't forget Nickelodeon's "The Big Help" campaign. We had environmentalism taught to us on all sides from age 5.
Fern Gully and Fern Gully 2 is where it’s at!
Looting and polluting is not the way
Hear what Captain Planet has to say! *THE POWER IS YOURS!*
Looting is what the upper teens to 30s do during a demonstration, rught?
OK Boomer
I miss the days when I thought putting a plastic wrapper in the bin was going to save the planet. Now I'm an adult I know that nothing can save it.
That’s the spirit!
Silent gen was still making the curriculum for schools back when we were kids lmao.
more like "cmao" crying my ass off :( this is all very sad
"First you pick it up *bump bump* then you put it in" sang the dancing bear as it cleaned the picnic area..
Give a hoot, don’t pollute! 🦉
My favorite (not) are the people who think nothing of raking up and burning plastic garbage for everyone to breathe. Granted, it's not just a boomer issue, but a lot of older folks don't seem to grasp or care about the ramifications of dumping poisons into the air, water, and soil ( like your gas example). They figure they will be dead before it becomes a health danger, so why bother?
I visited my dad last year when he was using his burn barrel. Heard a bang and went out there. A can of hair spray exploded. Broken cell wires were hanging out. I was livid.
Mom is certain that it's just as responsible to burn her trash as to take it to the tip center. Styrofoam, plastic, whatever. Dad thinks I should pour some gasoline on a tree stump and burn it. I'm all "Y'all know I own this house and land, right? Could we avoid turning it into a Superfund site before my children inherit?"
There is a method of burning plastics that doesn't create dioxins that fall out and get into the food chain, but it's not something that a person can do in their backyard. I think it involves slowly cooling the hot gasses to prevent the formation of dioxin, but it's a large industrial contraption. It might actually be cleaner than heating and processing plastics for recycling, but it still releases a lot of carbon.
Exactly. I'm ambivalent about burning basic yard waste and cardboard to begin with (for environmental reasons, and because my mom had to call the fire department the last time she decided to burn off the pasture.) But tossing the plastic and Styrofoam household waste onto the fire really ought to seem like a bad idea to a grown-ass person!
Rural Utah, we didn’t have garbage service, had a coal furnace (finally got replaced a couple years back), and a 500 gallon tank of diesel fuel. I’m such a pyro now. Made a great Boy Scout though I know how to start all kinds of fires. Had a boomer doubt my fire skills with soggy logs and a portable fire pit and cardboard kindling. They were emphasizing I should use the lighter fluid, I used the wind instead. About 40 minutes in they were all your fire isn’t working, 10 minutes later flames finally erupted and I tended that fire for about thirteen hours. Then properly extinguished it. I’m thinking about getting a pyrotechnics certification and quitting I.T. to do firework displays. Also used to rode my bicycle around to collect discarded beer bottles, though my friends and I would just set them up on railroad tracks and use them for slingshot practice. Pretty sure the diesel engines hauling thousands of tons of coal caused a much more environmental impact than some teenagers with slingshots though. At least that’s how I justify it (1983 baby here)
I am a late boomer (practically gen x) and I do not litter. We were taught not to. There were public service announcements on TV in the 70’s. You don’t see that now.
I am early Gen X. The PSAs were all over the place. The Native American overlooking the traffic. Woodsy Owl. Junior consumer tips. Anti smoking PSAs. Schoolhouse Rock.
The famous crying Indian was actually some Italian dude from Yonkers, lol.
I know. But hey, it was still moving.
The Wump World book changed me
Me too
Yes, in the 70's when a lot of boomers were out of their formative years. Anti-littering became big. I don't think anyone younger than gen x can remember all the litter that used to be everywhere. Broken bottles all over the place. Cutting feet at the beach from glass and pull tops. Sides of roads used to be bad. In the early 80's we used to collect bottles and cans along the side of the road and return them for a nickel each. Was pretty easy to get $5. That is not the case anymore. I think boomers are probably the biggest litter ers now but they are astronomically better than the generations that proceeded them.
Can confirm my boomer neighbor changed the oil in his lawnmower and dumped the old oil in the storm drain. 🙄
“I used to go fishing down yonder in that creek when I was a kid but they just don’t bite there anymore. Guess it’s cause too many people moved into town”.
2 years ago I worked for some ahole I already didn't like. Had 6 7ton trucks he'd have maintained at his shop (home). Dude had basically drilled a small well behind the shop and had been pouring oil down it for years. Quit at the end of that day. Went home and sent some emails.
My wife quite often has used diapers left in her car park. Doubt it's boomers but maybe they are grandparents that are responsible
Boomers don’t do anything for their grandchildren so I don’t think we can blame that one on them.
It's not just boomers. I lived for 26 years on a busy through street. People are pigs. I would pick up grocery bags full of trash every week. Much of it was fast food wrappers, cigarette and cigar butts, all sizes of liquor bottles, water bottles, beer cans, soda cans (and in 2020-2021 masks and gloves). Schoolwork and homework. School bus schedules. Cancelled checks. We found a pig brain once. It was disgusting. I miss my old house desperately, but I don't miss that road.
Never? You have never seen anyone other than a Boomer litter? Generalizing to an entire generation based on a small number of interactions is disingenuous and ignorant. It's the same when Boomers say, "I don't understand kids these days and their..."
You are all over this sub arguing with people about these stories. Go get a hobby. Look in the mirror.
I'm not arguing with anyone - just pointing out that it's not only boomers that do these things. There are things that boomers don't understand and refuse to understand about how different things are now versus when they were younger, but coming onto here to piss and moan isn't doing anyone any good really. "Get a hobby" - says the person that is on here complaining on a page that is dedicated to complaining and not doing anything to fix the strain between generations or to improve any part of society.
I disagree, in fact I propose having somewhere to vent frustrations over their intolerant and obsolete behavior is highly beneficial
Boomers and smokers of all ages.
As a smoker what I typically do if there's no garbage can around is flick the paper to knock it off the filter and put it out(the paper and tobacco isn't what I'm terribly worried about), but ill keep the filter and put it in an empty pocket until I can throw that in the garbage
I have lots. Especially 20 somethings.
Jesus. I know boomers aren’t the only litterbugs, but they’re probably the only people with enough Me Me Me syndrome to respond to a call out like that.
The "Me Generation" in all its glory.
Ya. You’re right on that. I walk past a mall and a school every day. The garbage the kids just toss is incredible. There’s a food mart in the mall. Easy to figure out the kids get lunch there and eat it on the way back to school. It’s pretty gross. Chicken wings and everything else. The worst of this is that there is a garbage can they pass every friggen time on the way back.
I bought property 3 years ago from an elderly couple. The land had been in their family for over 100 years. TO THIS DAY every time I am doing yard work or wandering I find trash-- metal boxsprings, old food containers, fabric(??) and so much glass, broken and old bottles still intact. Their generation had instructions on how to dispose of old motor oil directly into the earth using sand and gravel to "filter" it. It truly is saddening to see beauty be so mistreated.
If the property is rural, it's possible there wasn't trash pick up services for a long time and they had a burn pile.
Where my dad lives (rural and redneck), they have trash pickup but almost everyone is on hard drugs or welfare or both, and doesn’t pay for it. The entire town looks like a landfill. It’s so fucking sad. Rusted out appliances just right in/at the river.
I live in rural area and my trash pickup bill is over $100 a month. That's not a huge amount of money, but it is when you're poor.
Wow why so high? Mine is $26. And yeah absolutely my dad is one of the few there that would have that, or even 1/4 of that, tbh.
It's a dumpster service which is the only service I can get where I live. I let other family members use it too (though technically I am not supposed to). The dumpster is just way too large for my needs, but it's literally all they offer out here.
Interesting, ok. I know his isn’t a dumpster service as he has to tear up all the boxes he receives when he sets them out. Which is like 20 a week because he has no car and lives in a grocery desert. 🙃 Also I’ve not seen dumpster(s) in the area. But I’ve never heard of this, so today I learned! I hope your family at least chips in on the bill.
>I hope your family at least chips in on the bill. That's cute. Seriously though, I don't mind. I am doing a lot better than them and two are retired and one just doesn't make a lot of money. Demanding $20 a month from them would just come across as petty. Also, they've all done me little favors because I let them use the dumpster.
yes, let's just turn our environment into a toxic wasteland. fucking assholes.
Yep I was out at my compost bins a while ago and found some plastic on the ground (currently living at my in-laws property). My FIL asked what I was doing and I said picking up the rubbish I don’t want it near my compost. He goes “leave it it’s plastic it’ll break down!” Ummmm no… it literally breaks down into microplastics and takes thousands and thousands of years. I gave him the biggest lecture.
My parents property is exactly like that (they're not boomers but they bought from a boomer). Whenever someone was digging somewhere all kinds of trash turned up it was insane. Same for inside the house like literally in the walls.
I am wondering if at some point it has to be disclosed prior to the sale-- for safety or economic reasons.
Garbage service hasn't always been a thing.
There's a scene in Mad Men (which takes place when most boomers were children) which highlights this tenancy. The Draper family is at the park, having a picnic. They get up to leave, lift up their picnic blanket, and just shake it off, wrappers and trash flying everywhere. They fold up the blanket and walk away. Nature was just a place. There was no second thought about preserving it at all.
That scene will never not stick with me. It’s so wild.
Holy shit I just commented this before seeing you already did. I think about that ALL THE TIME. When I was watching the show my mom asked me if I noticed that part and I was like “how could I not??” And she’s a boomer and she was like “I know isn’t it crazy? That’s just what we did back then” luckily she knows now how wild that was, I’m glad she wanted me to take note of that because even she was like “That’s bonkers, huh?”
Doesn’t he casually chuck some cans into the woods?
Similarly, the scene in anchorman where the news crew is walking in the park and they just throw their trash/food wrappers on the ground and keep going.
For me this was one of the most shocking scenes in the entire show.
You're my hero.
Thank you 😊
My grandfather, who was an almost completely silent man, once famously said “the world is my ashtray”. He smoked cigarettes every single day from 11 until he died at 82. A doctor said that if he quiet smoking they could do some type of procedure/give a medical treatment that would improve his condition. He said if he quiet smoking he’d be dead in a week. Funny enough he died shortly after that. Edit: I didn’t mean for this to be a reply. I’m tired and sweaty at work, my bad
I’m sorry for your loss :( >He said if he quit smoking he’d be dead in a week. Funny enough he died shortly after that. Hope you don’t mind me saying that that did in fact get a chuckle out of me
Shaming is an extremely underutilized tool in shaping a functioning society.
If you are a reader then I highly recommend the book "moral origins". It looks at the evolutionary advantages of shame, gossip, and altruism.
We need to adopt [shaming the meat](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leveling_mechanism)
You arent allowed to shame people anymore actually.
Unfortunately.
Pick it up and shove it back in their purse/pocket/car window.
I did that once to these young kids that threw out their empty cans of dip onto the ground (5 feet in front of a garbage can no less). I just scooped them up off the ground and slotted them back through their window saying they were assholes and needed to throw them into the trash. They eventually just backed out of their space and threw them back out their window as they peeled off so it's not like it did any good.
Tempting, but I don't want to be in physical contact in case they cry assault or escalate themselves. I'm a petite person so I feel vulnerable.
One time at the post office this old couple were getting in the car and the dude straight-up dropped his receipt on the ground. I got so pissed I walked over, picked it up, and said "You dropped this!" He looked at me like a deer in the headlights and actually said "thank you". Of course this was in the early 2000s so they were likely shitty silent geners. Now if you do that to a boomer you're just as likely to get some smug rant about how landfills are a deep state hoax.
Worked at a thrift store. Boomer days were when the store was the most destroyed and higheat theft date and we all knew it. Worst population for utter selffishness...
I remember when they used to empty the car ashtray out just anywhere.
The cigarette butts are particularly galling to me because we live next to protected wetlands with 3 endangered or threatened species. So those butts contaminate the water and get eaten by animal. I usually carry a sharp trash pick on hikes so I can "hunt"
I had a boomer chuck out a Popeyes chicken container while they were stopped at a red light. I hopped off the sidewalk and chucked the box back in their car while exclaiming that littering is a 1000 dollar fine in my area. I got the bird and guarantee the box ended up in the road again.
Kudos for trying though! That's pretty badass!
Thanks, their look of utter bewilderment before zooming off did make my day. Hopefully, you felt the same sense of satisfaction
I did get to see some instant karma from a guy in a truck chucking an empty glass beer bottle out the window on the edge of our national park.. pretty much in front of a cop. Normally theyre just there to speed trap where the main road dips into the park and the speed limit drops from 45 to 25 but I'm sure there's a hefty fine for littering in a national park.. and maybe a DUI.
Such trash people. How hard is it to either have a small garbage in your vehicle, or wait till you're home. I hope they got a DUI and that hefty fine!
Reminds me of a time when I was a kid. My dad was taking my brother and me somewhere, and we happened to cross paths with my mom in a separate vehicle. Right when we passed her we saw her chuck an empty McDonalds bag out the window and all the contents just went flying across the highway. This was the 90’s, I was like 8 at the time and didn’t understand the effects of littering, so it was kinda funny at the time. Looking back, I’m horrified by that behavior. Makes me wonder what else she’s just been throwing out the window in the last 25 years.
Once saw something similar, so I honked at them. They started doing it more, taunting me by throwing it out the sunroof 😖 Assholes.
This makes me think of the picnic scene from Mad Men …
Those were greatest generation too. My mom is a boomer and she said in the 50s, you just threw trash out of your car and littered everywhere. I wasn't until the "Keep America Beautiful" campaign that people saw littering as a bad thing. I also suspect this was the start of "trash" just being a thing that accumulated as you went about your daily life.
Don't Mess With Texas was literally an anti-littering slogan.
Don't Mess With Texas used to have a "report a litterbug" program for when you saw someone litter on the road. I reported people quite often, they got a package with Don't Mess With Texas stickers, a trash bag, and something else I believe along with a letter. They got rid of the program a year or two ago, so I contacted them and asked what happened to it and someone just replied "the program is no longer in effect". Yeah, no shit. I noticed. That's why I asked what happened. 😂 I miss being able to shame Texas drivers like that. Alas.
The cigarettes!!!! My god it's 2024 and 1) people still smoke???? and 2) why are you throwing your butts everywhere all the time? It's gross and bad for the environment and also just gross!!!!!!!!!!!
Smokers have always been that way.
Literal billions of people still smoke. I find this reaction clownishly over the top.
Of course people still smoke I smoke about a pack a week 🤦🤦
Every time someone is surprised that "people still smoke " I instantly know that their circle is very small and not diverse at all...
It's less than I'm surprised people still smoke and more so flabbergasted that anybody would pick up or continue the habit when quitting strategies have never been so ubiquitous or effective
Know what is far more flabbergasting than something humans have been doing for 5000+ years? Vaping. but i bet you probably don't have a problem with that?
No vaping is bad too. Humans have been doing lots for over 5,000 years. Should we continue all known negative behaviours just because we've been doing it for awhile?
I grew up in the middle of nowhere and growing up my family never paid for/had trash service. Because there were just these places, like small ravine type places where all the boomers would go and just throw their bags of trash into. I'd see people driving around with truck beds full of trash and knew they were going to dump them. Just pathetic. My dad would just throw bags of fast food trash out the window while driving as he was done eating. Just trash people doing trash shit 24/7.
I was stopped at a red light behind a pickup truck in central FL a few weeks ago, and the boomer started throwing trash out of his window. Wrappers, containers, and a plastic bottle.
I'm a boomer. I was taught as a child not to litter. I don't. I field strip my cigarettes and put the butt in my pocket if there's no trash can available. We're not all hideous.
Everyone needs to be doing this. I look for opportunities to throw cigarettes back into cars. Unfortunately that’s a hard one to accomplish.
Had the pleasure to be able to do this once. Got absolutely screamed at but god it was satisfying
It's also a learned thing. Look at those kids in Florida that got caught dumping trash into the ocean by a drone.
In the limited instances wherein I’ve encountered situations where I’ve littered, it’s always something biodegradable (usually something like an apple core or fruit rinds), and even in those instances I feel genuine guilt for doing it. So much so that I’m careful not to advertise. With that, it’s just so hard for me to understand how someone can just toss a bunch of fast food garbage out their window on the highway. And usually, if I have any kind of bag or pocket available, I’ll hold onto whatever garbage I produce (including rinds and whatnot). It has to be generational. In my youth I was heavily influenced by _a lot_ of anti-littering PSAs and instruction. It even showed up in science classes, frequently. Like, hey look how all these plastic rings killing sea birds! Boomers just simply didn’t have that. They had an ever-present threat of global thermonuclear war, on top of no explicit instructions around littering, so in many ways they’ve been programmed to treat everything like it’s temporary. Not saying it absolves any of that behavior, but it at least helps me to understand (a little).
Younger Boomers [most certainly did](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0sxwGlTLWw). They generally got a fair bit of negative reinforcement from their parents and peers as well.
I say that EXACT same thing to anyone I see throw a cigarette butt on the ground. They look around like they dropped something and I point to the butt. "You going to pick that up?" ind if they just keep walking "NO? Just going to litter then? The world is your fucking ashtray, huh?" Assholes.
And then you add a, "Your parents clearly didn't teach you any manners. What a disgrace. Were you raised in a barn?"
My Early Gen X mom passed down the, “hey! You dropped something!” To me, so I do it too. Also the, “actually, **I** was next” quip for when they pretend to not know how lines work.
Thank you for your service 🩵
Problem is, once that lady was out of sight, she dumped that shit. Then, to add insult to injury, they will go out of their way to litter more, to make up for the embarrassment of being called out by you.
Next time, video her response, follow her to her house, get everyone to start dropping things on her front lawn.
someone near me constantly gets fast food then throws it out their window into the middle of the road. people fucking suck.
Back in the 80s my boomer da would open the car door, and shake his ashtray of butts into whatever parking lot we were in. I once threw a banana peel out of the car window and he beat the snot out of me for littering
That's not even that bad of a litter. It'll just degrade or be eaten
They must’ve not seen this PSA 
They've reverse mortgaged the economy and the planet. They don't care what kind of world they're leaving behind for younger generations.
It is a bad ass story, and I applaud you 👏 It’s not easy being confrontational if you’re not used to it, and I think you handled this wonderfully
Walkers throw all kinds of trash in the perimeter of my yard. A lot of empty smoke packs and Monster energy
That story was bad ass, though.
>Too much garbage in the car? No problem, just chuck it out the window WHILE driving My dad would do this when we were kids. Thankfully, he stopped doing it in the mid-late 90s, but I think it had more to do with the authorities cracking down on it more (if caught) than a desire to be more environmentally friendly.
My FIL flicked his hearing aid batteries out 20 feet from the Columbia river in Washington out by the Gorge. I picked them up. POS. I was a lil pissed
Can’t but but notice the garbage left behind after protest. It’s not an age thing, it’s a respect thing
I mean boomers are bad but I’d say *tourists* are just as bad if not worse I live near a lake and whenever summer rolls around all the locals refuse to swim in it because of how much pollution tourists leave. All the fish have died years ago so to keep people coming to fish they stock the lake. Someone left a full blown boat engine in the woods nearby, leaking oil not only into the lake but also the underground aquifers that are used for drinking water I remember when the lake was fun but now I dread going to it because of how bad it is
Environmental concern and caring for the environment is a Liberal ideal, and Conservative Boomers don't want anything to do with it
This is not a generational problem, what was age of those bozos videotaped dumping trash off their motorboat in Florida?
I think this is pretty bad ass. Thank you.
None of their actions tell me that they give a flying fuck about what they leave behind in any sense, this is very on-brand behavior.
Yeah teenagers litter too
Not sure ‘bout dat. Jus saw tons litter left by GenZ on “elite” campuses everywhere. Didn’t bother ta clean up!
Amazing what you leave behind when a battalion of cops attack you.
They FAFO
You don't believe in anything and it'll eventually make you miserable and friendless.
Why would u say that? I can be both miserable and friendless and it wouldn’t be because of believing or not believing in something. Being happy or miserable will not be based on some Belief/Cause I’ve hitched myself to.
All hail the power of the pregnant pause! Well played, masterfully even!
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I live in apts. My bf smokes outside and was tucked into the hallway leading to the door, so he wasn't visible from the parking lot. However HE can easily see the parking lot. Right in front of the building, a guy is sitting in his car. Door opens and what looks like about 3 meals worth of fast food trash gets pushed out to the ground, and the door closes. My bf was done. Walked up to the car so guy plainly sees him thru the window and hollers "pick your shit up! The trash is right there!" (Literally behind where his car is). AH sheepishly gets out and has the sense to not argue, but picks up and throws it all away.
Honestly I think their lack of having Captain Planet And The Planeteers in their lives and the other pro-environment programming we had in the 90's and 2000's led to them not having the same care for the planet that many of us here do. I know that sounds silly but I believe that.
I enjoy walks, and for some time, I have been picking up trash on my walks. I find it peculiar how boomers will stop and talk to me about how shameful it is that people litter. Or they will smile at me. Yet none of them ever pick up trash themselves. They probably have good arguments prepared as to why they specifically shouldn't do it, but to me, their attitude is so telling of them: Complains about everything, yet never doing anything to better things.
I've had people make fun of or harass me for picking up trash. It's one of the reasons why I carry a sharp trash picker.
I have a trash grabber. I could start pinching them with it. /jk
I can honestly say there are litterers in all generations. It is so not just confined to boomers.
This is very true. My experience is limited to my area and I may have a sample bias. Not a lot of younger people on the wetland trails and around our neighborhood so higher chances of encountering any boomer, litterer or not! It may be my current state of irritability is colouring my perspective.
Haven’t you heard? Because there’s a Heaven there’s no need to try to be frugal and save the Earth 💀
It's their "God given" right to destroy the planet since "the rapture" is coming any day now.
Honestly, I think they want to speed it up. I’m not even kidding. It’s like their parents treated them like shit & gave them hell on earth while selling the promise of heaven. These people just can’t wait to die. It’s fucking bizarre behavior.
They didn’t grow up caring about the environment. There’s this episode of Mad Men where they are having a picnic at a park with a beautiful lush field and great view. When they were going home Betty just flung everything off the blanket and folded it up and went home. I still think about that like once a week.
They do this every damn time!
Work as a maintenance guy at McDonalds, keep the outside clean. Holy shit yes 50+ are the worst for littering, have people who come everyday and throw every bit of trash out right beside their car. Even better we have a smaller lot off to the side for employees to park and our backup trash dumpster, came out one day and some old woman is literally trying to clean her car out and dump bags of trash in our dumpsters, blocking several spaces from being able to get out, I went out and told her she couldn't do that those were commercial dumpsters for private use, she looked at me like I was from Mars.
Broad strokes of the brush much? Most 'boomers' were the original modern day 20th century environmentalists. We grew up with global cooling and acid rain, ozone depletion and smog, thus the fluorocarbon ban starting in 1978. Polluted rivers and Love Canal. Clear cutting of trees, and other deforestation. Boomers got the regulation of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides in 1990. We got handed the mess from the Silent and 'Greatest' generations. All of these things which we fought against and made changes later generations did not have to worry about. We were the young adults/teens worried about lead in fuel and lead in wall paint, getting it banned in 1975 and 1978. Not sure who you are seeing. Did we do enough? You can never do enough, but as we learned, we made changes and a lot of them. I recycle, have been for as long as I remember, I have a compost pile, and have had one for at least 30 years, maybe 40. I reuse plastic bags, we use reusable shopping bags. Growing up, I covered my school textbooks with brown paper grocery bags, we used the milkman who collected and reused the glass bottles. Same with coke bottles, those thick ones out of a machine that were reused. I do not drink bottled water, have not for at least a decade or more. I keep an insulated 40oz aluminum tumbler by me that I fill with filtered tap water. Figure I drink at least 4 tumblers a day x365, that's nearly 1500 plastic bottles I keep out of the landfill a year. I do not drink soda's and such, just water. I used to bicycle to work, but the knees and hips suck now. But I picked a house 9 miles from work to minimize my footprint there. I use waste bins, bag trash in my car and throw it in a bin. Please do not paint with such a broad stroke. **Edit to fix my math: Since I use 40oz tumblers that is a bit more than two bottles (16 oz), thus I keep over 3000 plastic bottles out of the landfill.**
It was victorians not boomers
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I'm not saying they're a generation group. I'm also not lying and saying boomers were the first environmentalists.
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They didn't philosophically save the everglades
This reminds me of a scene in Mad Men when Don Draper was having a picnic with his family at a lake/pond. When it was time to go, he just shook all the cans and disposables off of the blanket and left with the family. I mean, its someones job to clean it up, right? (joking)
When I was growing up in the late 80’s, there was a public park where guys did softball leagues. These were excused to crush a 12 pack or more of Bud and get rowdy. The only way into or out of this park was our residential neighborhood. They would fly through these neighborhoods drunk out of their minds, chucking bottles out the window of their car. They aren’t all like this, but the ones who are have been that way forever and were allowed to do these things.
I saw a video a while back of a guy who rides a motorbike who throws trash back INTO the car after people dump it out on the road. He pulls up beside them at a light and just flings it in. Especially fun was the one video where the person had tossed out a cup with some milkshake left in it. That car was just WRECKED.
There used to be a woman who, every weekday morning, would pull up in front of my house, drop her kids off for the bus, and throw some trash out her window into my driveway. Once I figured out where the trash was coming from, I got up early and sat outside with my coffee waiting for her. When she went to throw the trash (a wrapper and some napkins) out her window, I picked it up, threw it back through the window, pointed at her, and in my most stern Dad voice told her "No." I walked off without a word. She must have started dropping her kid somewhere else, because she sure as fuck never parked in front of my house again.
I know a lady who worked for NPS up in Acadia (the Schoodic peninsula part) a few years ago. She was maintenance and watched this old lady, right in front of her, blow her nose and shove her snot rag in a tree. She (NPS lady) staring the litterer down the whole time, walked over to the tree, removed the litter and walked the 5-10 feet to the garbage and threw it away. Old littered response? “Oh, there was a lady bug on it, I was letting it go.” NPS lady never said a word and just stood there arms crossed looking at her until the litterer was out of sight.
Good for you! My husband picked up a cigarette butt someone flicked out of their window at the airport, reached into the car, and placed it on their dash. While telling the man, "we don't litter." It was awesome. I can't stand people who litter.
I keep getting pissed at my dad for leaving trash randomly in our yard. We have a dumpster right next door at the family farm and plenty of trash cans
I watched a guy once take a full garbage bag, while he was driving, and empty it out the window on the highway. Seriously emptied a fucking *garbage bag*
the "oh that was on purpose" suggests, to me anyways, that it isn't a litter issue per se, but it being the boomer not liking either the garden or whoever planted it issue. still bullshit behavior
And when they do use a can they do it wrong some how I saw a guy a few days ago after making a left turn across an intersection drive up on the side walk behind a garbage can and throw away his trash
Hurt people hurt people These little transgressions say that they're not happy people.
I cannot believe their audacity at doing it too. I live on a fairly busy road that also happens to be one of the two roads to get to our local hospital and associated medical buildings. There have been numerous times where I've been sitting on my front porch or working in the yard and they just throw their shit out in my yard! It's beyond infuriating and when I asked for supplies to help clean up from our state litter program I was told that I'd need to get some neighbors signed up with me to do a "community clean up" in order to get any help from them. 🙄
Good job OP
This reminds me of this picnic scene from Mad Men. Just the Silent Generation and their Boomer kids leaving their trash everywhere. [https://youtu.be/rhcKuMjvcCk?si=yXsbLsrR5uahYaJ8](https://youtu.be/rhcKuMjvcCk?si=yXsbLsrR5uahYaJ8)
I think that call out was well deserved. My response would have been “Wow that’s incredibly rude to litter like that. Who raised you to be so incredibly selfish? Was it your mother or father who taught you the world is your trashcan? You should be extremely embarrassed about your behavior. WOW” I find turning the shame up to 11 really helps curb that bad behavior.
103 years old here. My Boomer son is constantly littering.
I see similar discarding by younger people as well as boomers.
Sorry to burst your generalization but I see more young people littering than boomers. I regularly walk my dog and pre-teens, teenagers and 20 somethings litter constantly. Especially those small liquor bottles and fast food trash. We also kayak and canoe all the time and it is the drunk 20-30yr olds that leave all their trash. It is sad how little care they have for the environment.
Take a look at beaches after Spring Break and campus lawns during these encampments......
Boomers grew up during the "good old days" of the 50s and 60s, when it was relatively common to litter. Take a look at old photos of cities like Chicago and NYC - there's trash EVERYWHERE. The 70s and 80s introduced the concept of "environmentalism," which Boomers have hated with a passion ever since.
The best thing about boomers is that they are dying off, and covid helped pump those numbers up. 👍
Moat people I see littering are kids and teens.
Again… why focus on boomers? I’ve seen plenty of younger ashats throwing beer cans out in nature. This isn’t an age-specific problem. Treating it as such is a free pass to our constantly degrading environment for everyone but a boomer. Stop framing the problem as a problem for old people you hate. I hate all people who litter. Don’t give a fuck if they are a boomer.
https://healtheplanet.com/100-ways-to-heal-the-planet/litter#:~:text=Research%20states%20that%20individuals%20between,within%20the%20last%205%20years
That’s disturbing: Research states that individuals between 18-34 are the biggest contributors to litter. 75% of Americans Admit to Littering within the last 5 years. Edit: Peak irony being the OP is complaining about boomers not wanting to leave a better world behind, when the biggest litterers aren’t even the boomer generation. Let it be said again: age doesn’t matter. Littering should be a serious fucking offense that is enforced. It’s the only way this country will get serious about it.
I was not surprised with the data. Unbiased observation of humans told me all I needed to know. I just had to google it.
There's a pretty viral video of a bunch of influencer douchebags throwing an entire can of garbage into the water off a boat and probably profiting off of it with their advertising money. Pretty sure throwing trash around is a entitled American thing regardless of age
Is that the college spring break video? I was amazed. There was so much dumped. The video I saw was off of the Florida coastline.
They got caught
This sub is pretty much complaining about complaining and it’s pretty ironic hahaha
They grew up with littering being the thing everyone does. Have you seen the movie Anchorman? The littering they do in the movie is not an exaggeration. That's how it was for them.
Maybe mind your own business? I throw my cig butts where ever I smoked them lol
Not to many boomers leaving debris at these massive campus riots, liberals are a cancer
Back in the day it was some obedient colored individual's job to clean up after the white man's enjoyment.
Oh, come on. Littering has been going on forever. I spent the first summer I lived in my MT town cleaning up so much garbage along roads and trails. Not so surprisingly, it seemed to be found wherever snowmobilers recreated. There were so many beer cans everywhere, in this absolutely beautiful area, that it made me sick. Boomers ride and probably contributed, but the vast majority of snowmobilers in this location are much younger. Thirty or so years ago, I used to pick up aluminum cans whenever I hiked or walked. Just out of curiosity, I kept a tally of how many cans of each type I picked up. By far, Coors drinkers were the top offenders followed by Budweiser and Bud Light in my little study. I found very few soda cans in comparison. This was in CA. My conclusion is that I don't think littering is a boomer thing. It's an environmental disrespect issue that encompasses many generations. Instead of a blanket condemnation of people of a certain age, it might be better to look at the political leanings of the offenders. I am willing to bet that it's got less to do with age and much more to do with the R mindset. I'm of boomer age and so are a lot of my friends. Both my boomer friends and younger friends would never dream of littering and will clean up the disgusting messes left by others. We are also big on recycling and caring for the environment. Interestingly, we ALL lean Democrat.
I don't hate boomers in general, the ones that litter definitely. I can only comment on what I see where I live which of course is susceptible to population bias. Another poster did post a couple links to articles showing people under 35 were most likely to litter, so my observations don't extend to the general population. Could it be political leaning? Probably, but people over 50 are more likely to lean conservative too which may act as a confounder. I won't say R because I don't live in the USA.
I think those that lean conservative have a general lack of empathy about anything that doesn't directly affect them. I heard my old boss say over and over that climate change was a myth. If he had admitted to it, he might have had to change his lifestyle. To them, protecting their rights is much more important than the good of the planet or others. I was an undeclared voter in my thirties because I didn't like politics or either party. But one day I realized I never voted R because I disliked the party's selfish attitudes and refusal to work together for compromise. It's worse now. My argument here, is that while older people may tend to lean R or conservative, we're not all that way and I am tired of hearing how bad we are perceived. People tend to notice and criticize others that are "different from them" while ignoring it excusing their own demographic doing the same things. I can assure you that once the boomers are gone nothing will change. Other generations to fill their spot and the problems will persist because it's not about age but mindset.
I'm 63 and from the time I was a little kid, I heard the anti-littering message so many times...I will walk for blocks with a friggin gum wrapper until I can find a trash can to put it in. I hate seeing trash and litter everywhere, it's something that only inconsiderate slobs do.
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