How to teach our youth why they must keep WV clean!!! (Beverly: appliances, neighborhood)

[Chriscross309]

The more and more I look at West Virginia, the more and more I realize that we live in the most wonderful place on the planet! Our air is clean, our mountains green, and even our people are the most helpful and kind! But the more I look at West Virginia, the more I see trash along the roads, junk in peoples yards, and old cars and trucks littering the sides of hills and river banks! I hate to see this, and would do anything to change it!!!

I live in a neighborhood where for the most part the people keep their yards nice and cut, and only a few junk up there property! Although most are fine, the few that junk up the place make the neighborhood less attractive. But then again my neighborhood is Beverly Hills in comparison with some very rural areas in WV!

Why do people trash their yards, state, and even their way of life?

From what I understand poverty is blamed for this, but It cannot be any longer! There is no excuse for it, and how can we teach the community that it is wrong and distasteful!!!

your opinions?

[ArcticPhoenix]

For most, it's simply ignorance.. they don't realize that dumping your old cars, appliances, etc. into creeks or in the woods has an impact on the environment... and I'd say for a significant portion of those who are ignorant, it would likely make little difference...

I think if the fines were tougher and if the laws were more strictly enforced, that would help. If you look at Oregon, for example, you can be fined UP TO $6,250 or up to a year imprisonment. If WV took a more aggressive approach to littering, they could really bring in more tourism and make WV an even better place.

However, the culture also has to change... it's so sparsely populated in WV, that most people don't consider their actions have a repercussion to the environment.. and for the most part, they don't have a significant impact on the environment.

On top of aggressive fines, I would like to see more education spent and more environmentally friendly programs out there to help curb the trash. For some, they don't have the money to take old appliances, etc. to the dump, so it would be nice if there were more facilities where you could take your garbage for little or no cost. If WV built a waste-to-energy plant, for example, they could make garbage drop-off free and use the energy to supply power to WV residents. That would create some pollution of its own, but it would be better than letting old washers & dryers sit on the side of a creek for hundreds of years.

WV is a beautiful state.. I spent the first 20 years of my life there... and I've always thought it was so sad that people ruined it by trashing the environment. WV could have so much more going for it, if the residents were better educated and people began to care about their home.

[pknopp]

Nobody is dumping cars into the creeks. I have no idea what you are talking about. There was a time that old cars would be used to stop creek erosion because that's what was available to them but nobody is dumping cars into creeks.

Some of the stuff isn't "junk" in peoples yards. It goes back to a time that you didn't just throw stuff out. You may need a part later and no use throwing something out that you may be able to use parts off of later.

It doesn't cost money to get rid of this sort stuff. Scrap prices are pretty high right now. You get paid for taking your old appliances and cars to a recycler. Put an old washer out to the curb, it won't last an hour.

[Chriscross309]

But for the most part the people who do leave "junk" in their yards do it for no reason. And normally it is stuff that is not re-used!

And if you haven't seen junked up cars on hillsides, then I'd invite you to some rural locations here in WV!

[ButtercupMcToots]

Beautiful in places yes. But our air isn't clean and a lot of mountains are gone. Check out these charts.
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