Montana's a WORST state in American State Litter Scorecard (Big Sky: vehicle registration, how much)

[stevewonder]

Montana's a national Worst state (rated 11th from bottom--tied with WORST states North Dakota and Texas) for public spaces cleanliness and overall less than national average statewide litter eradication in the 2011 American State Litter Scorecard.

The Big Sky State scored poorly on having too many motor vehicle fatalities each year from unremoved debris (some being roadkill and/or timbers-rocks) for its population and total vehicle registration size. MT also fared poorly on Environmental Responsibility of the Elected Governor and for having above national average Public Corruption Convictions. Montana also lacks a statewide anti-litter prevention slogan that the vast majority of U.S. already has in place.

See this for further details and information
http://www.slideshare.net/stevewonde...-scores-charts

[mexdez]

really?
Any updates for 2010 records?

[GLS]

Originally Posted by stevewonder

Montana's a national Worst state (rated 11th from bottom--tied with WORST states North Dakota and Texas) for public spaces cleanliness and overall less than national average statewide litter eradication in the 2011 American State Litter Scorecard.

The Big Sky State scored poorly on having too many motor vehicle fatalities each year from unremoved debris (some being roadkill and/or timbers-rocks) for its population and total vehicle registration size. MT also fared poorly on Environmental Responsibility of the Elected Governor and for having above national average Public Corruption Convictions. Montana also lacks a statewide anti-litter prevention slogan that the vast majority of U.S. already has in place.

See this for further details and information
(newest) 2011 American State Litter Scorecard: Data, Scores, Charts

Personally, I have found none of these assertions to be true in my local area in the Mission Valley. Public spaces are kept clean out of local pride. While we have had some motor vehicle fatalities on highway 93, it is more commonly when a driver hits a live animal, (i.e. bear) crossing the road, NOT because we don't "pick up the debris" afterward.

In addition, maybe Montana has "above average Public Corruption Convictions, because when the crooks are caught in Montana, they are convicted, instead of being put on "administrative leave" and paid.

Finally, again just speaking for my local area, most people have more respect for the land than to throw trash out of their car window. For the occasional drunk or moron who does this, we are more likely to pick up the litter and shake our head in disgust. We don't just drive past it, daydreaming about what our "anti-litter prevention slogan" should be.

[bongo403]

I agree with GLS on this - I've always thought Montana does well in this area. Sure, there are some exceptions, but for the most part I think Montanans take pride in their state and keeping it clean.

I actually find some of the criteria for this ranking sort of silly - like the litter control slogan. Seriously?

I have also never considered putting litter and road kill into the same category. Litter is caused by purposeful (or at least negligent) behaviors of self-centered idiots. Road kill is a fact of life in rural areas like ours. I don't find myself driving down the highway cursing the jerk who left his dead skunk in the road.

[Threerun]

They didn't include my old state of WV, and Montana is no where near as bad as the litter along the main and secondary roads in West Virginia. I won't even mention the hollers in WV.
There is absolutely no comparison, none, nada, zip..

This report is flawed if they assert 'the worst states are...' and yet they don't report on some that are the undisputed heavyweight winners for absolute garbage everywhere.

[Reziac]

Aside from that site appears to be one of those aggregators that exist solely to inflate ad hit numbers, the cited criteria revolve around how much LEGISLATION a given state has, not about how much actual litter it has. Seems to me that if a state has a lot of legislation regarding litter, that's probably because it has a lot of litterers. Conversely, if average folks already pick up after themselves, there's no need for laws and wasting money enforcing 'em.

I'm reminded of this old joke:

An Army guy and a Navy guy both go into the bathroom and use the urinal. Afterward, the Army guy washes his hands but the Navy guy doesn't.

The Army guy says, "Don't they teach you Navy guys to be clean?"

The Navy guy replies, "In the Navy, they teach us not to pee on our hands."

.

[roadfamily6now]

Weird, I always thought MT was pretty clean. I guess those "surveyors" have been to Sacramento.

Or Alaska in the spring for that matter, eewww!

[Timberwolf232]

I call BS on the OP.. Montana is a very respectful state, and if you look at our income statistics, working people are very frugal and recycle and reuse more than metro areas for sure...

[oldtrader]

Lets break down that statement about why Montana is so bad.


The Big Sky State scored poorly on having too many motor vehicle fatalities each year from unremoved debris (some being roadkill and/or timbers-rocks) for its population and total vehicle registration size.



Of course Montana by number of population and vehicles, will have more wrecks due to roadkill, and/or timber-rocks sliding onto the road than a state like New York where millions of people (the majority of the population) live in NYC and there are no road kills (except pedestrians) and no rocks and timber falling into the road naturally in those big city areas. Montana is a sparsely populated rural state.

MT also fared poorly on Environmental Responsibility of the Elected Governor and for having above national average Public Corruption Convictions.

Montana prosecutes anyone that is corrupt in government. We do not have the machine politics where a small bunch of people run the government year after year, covering up the messes, and protecting one another.

Montana also lacks a statewide anti-litter prevention slogan that the vast majority of U.S. already has in place.


Instead of having a useless slogan, with litter everywhere as in many states, we keep the state clean. Why would anyone need a slogan, if it is not needed. A slogan that no one pays attention to, is worthless.

[Reziac]

Oldtrader, you nailed it on all counts.