WHAT IS GARBAGE?

Aug 18, 2007 by Naomi.

Cleaning up after a coyote tore through a garbage sack is no picnic. A disgusting mess of soft drink cartons and snack food containers. Garbage is not always messy - just depends on what constitutes the leftovers. That is what garbage is after all. I like to clean up the bits of leftover peas or corn or ham after a filling dinner. Should those few tablespoonfuls be considered garbage? I do not like to think so. Health care folks warn that over eating puts an extra burden on the digestive system and ultimately the heart. But should one think of the eater as the garbage can? Maybe that is the correct description.

So to prevent the manufacture of my fat cells I will refrain from becoming a garbage can?

OK so I should stop cleaning up leftovers at the table.

Truly, cleaning up ravaged garbage outdoors has some essence of romance. Imagine the ecstasy of nature’s critters licking candy wrappers and sugary soft drink boxes. I know at least one coyote comes through my Refuge on a regular basis because I see the footprints in the sand and the scat along the trail. This was its land long before it became human domain.

A raccoon may have been responsible for the overturned can. The can is a small one set out by a hand washing station by portable toilets but paper towels do not beckon sniffers. Snack refuse had more scent than innocent paper towels wiped by human hands. Can we blame wild critters for not resisting a sweet treat? - raccoons, mink, skunk or weasels? I thought perhaps they would climb inside the can and ravage the food stuff while there, not tip it over and strew the wrappers around. I blame a wily rangy coyote for the tipping. How am I to know? I just clean up.

And like *Frederick S. Perls, M.D, Ph.D, says: “Don’t push the river, just let it flow.”

* In and Out the Garbage Pail, 1969, a fun book with drawings and not a page number in sight!

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