This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Health & Fitness

Scavenging the Watershed of Chattahoochee

Gwinnett Clean and Beautiful litter picking drive along the watershed of Chattahoochee and much more on urban legend, disgust, and human interaction with the environment. Is there a solution?

Not sure why, every time there is an affair with trash or litter, I imagine myself as a little girl holding hands tightly and foreboding with a group of friends on the street singing “Ring-a-ring-a-roses.”  Yesterday on May 12, I got the same feeling while scavenging in District 1 of Peachtree Corners with a group of 19 neighborhood friends. This was definitely not a Bombay slum experience or a Kenya flying toilet experience. Ours was a well-organized, civilized: gloves, tongs and orange vests experience with a cooler full of chilled bottle water. Making the affair even more exciting, we had our pocket also full of posies − a free lunch gift voucher from Atlanta Bread Cafe. But, hush! Hush! We did not all tumble down.

It was a cool, pleasant day with a slight drizzle. We went on a litter picking drive. This scouring and traversing along the upper banks of the Chattahoochee River watershed was part of an initiative under Gwinnett Clean and Beautiful 2012 program organized by the United Peachtree Corners Civic Association. Nineteen volunteers gathered to support this community event and were dispersed in groups along the segment of Jones Mill Spur and Holcomb Bridge Road.  We did not have flying and falling plastic bags. Litter was not segregated. Lots of cigarette butts, plastic bottles, food and candy wrappers, checks and bills, broken toys, condoms, rings, binders, plastic cups, vehicle tire pieces, bangles, earring, shoe, piece of clothing! We collected heaps of trash!

It was quite apparent that this section of Peachtree Corners required attention in improving the community and the environment. The visual pollution alongside the road was noticeable. However, there was no way the volunteers could touch the lower reaches of the watershed and along the creek.  If we had attempted, we could have then all tumbled down.  From the surface of the road, the elevation drops off at a slope inclining towards the lower bend of the watershed. There is no access to the lower reaches of the embankment from the road.  Much of the trash in this lower area is camouflaged by the tall trees interacting with the water body. The human interaction with the environment is reflected here and in a negative manner.

Find out what's happening in Peachtree Cornerswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

What can the community leaders of this area do to support the neighborhood litter improvement program?  If ‘clean and beautiful’ and be ‘nice inside and outside’ is not quite working in getting the message of the 3Rs – reduce, reuse and recycle waste, then, there is this theory called ‘disgust’ in changing the behavior of the people and the community. It also sounds disgusting.

Perhaps my recollection of the childhood game is conjured out of some European history lesson of 14th century when the rise of waste contributed to the bubonic plague. Then there were the black rats carrying fleas, mites and ticks, slimy thick black sewer mixed with drinking water, landscape covered with thick film of ash and black coal soot, blood sucking parasites and vectors of plague. This gives me goose-bumps. I have always failed to understand the rationale of the urban legend that connects the nursery rhyme sung by innocent children, Ring-a-ring-a-roses with the bubonic plague. Perhaps this connection is reflective of the human interaction with the environment. It could also highlight the evolving theory of using 'disgust' as a strategy in changing people’s behavior patterns.  Or perhaps, it is a verbal reminder meant to rationalize negative human behavior.  

Find out what's happening in Peachtree Cornerswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The three Rs – reduce, reuse and recycle is not always effective in changing users and consumers behavior in waste and litter management.  The way the ‘disgust’ theory works is that bad behavior is shamed to the ultimate limit, to where the person that is shamed eventually starts developing a positive deviating behavior pattern.

Having said this, I do not like the disgust theory. It could work, but I would rather prefer to stay with the Clean and Beautiful! It is a good and well organized program.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?

More from Peachtree Corners