Show me your trash and I will tell you who you are

This post echoes what Linda wrote about.

During our first field trip last Sunday in Pat Hurley neighborhood, Deb suggested that together (she, Robin and I) we collected garbage on our way. We did it on one side of the Rio Grande and on our way back to the car. These are some of the things we picked up: flyers portraying the neighborhood as a haven for walkers. On one of them, we could read read: "To find new things, take the path you too yesterday. Gary Snyder, The Practice of the Wild”. We also picked up plastic bags, several empty cans of beer, the soda cartons, broken glass, a plastic rope, an empty bottle of Canadian whisky, empty bottles water, three unused trash bags (just beside the river), a rotting sausage in a plastic bag, and the list is not exhaustive. But we also saw a laundry basket and an empty bucket of detergent that we left in place because we thought they might be useful to some people.
The first observation is that the majority of this waste comes from food industry. But there are plenty of packages of alcoholic beverages. Does this mean that those who take refuge in nature to consume alcohol are under aged young people who want to escape the law? Or are they the people who withdraw from society to meditate and seek a shelter both in nature and alcohol?
Even if we have only met three boys (occasional fishermen) during our stay in the region, the fact remains that it is a part of the city that is frequented by various people: hikers, walkers, picnickers, fishermen, people tired of the city.
Robin was wondering why there were no trash cans in the area and we discussed this issue among others: why do men easily dispose of their waste in nature? And an attempt to answer is that the source is the duality between nature and culture. The city is synonymous with civilization, while nature is the reign of anarchy, a lawless world. On the other hand, in nature, one is away from any human gaze. But one wonders if our civility stops when there are no eyes to overwhelm us?
At the end of this reflection, I am left with more questions than answers. It is difficult to establish the profile of those who litter nature. It is more difficult to elaborate on the reasons of their actions. What seems obvious is that this unhealthy interaction results from our conception of the world around us: a world alien to us.