Homage to Lady Bird: She didn’t like litter either

The Way I See It
Homage to Lady Bird: She didn’t like litter either

My small dog used up three poop sacks the other day, a personal best. Why would I cite such a gross achievement in an homage to our departed former First Lady? Because she would be proud.

Point is, I took the sacks off of my Houston Chronicle, supplemented them with some CVS bags, and off Moby and I went for a slow jog around the gravel sidewalk that encircles the graceful Rice University campus.

When he needed to do his duty, I gathered it up, knotted the bag and deposited it in the nearest garbage receptacle. I did my civic duty. So do a lot of other people. 

THRANE

Problem is, some folks don’t. Check out the shrill signs on Rice’s stately old football stadium, complete with exclamation points: Stadium closed because of abuse!! 

How do you abuse a football stadium, a citadel built to withstand the ravages of rough and tumble games, not to mention time? By not reclaiming your dog droppings and your own droppings, like water bottles and other litter.  Folks, let’s gather them up and put them where they belong — in the nearest garbage can. If you spot a bad actor, act yourself: Tell them to pick up their castoffs.

Because a few people are too self-absorbed to be neat, everyone has lost access to the stadium for strolls and workouts. 

The good news is that Rice folks are discussing the problem and hope to find a way to reopen the stadium to the public. But that won’t solve the larger problem.

Walk around the stadium’s perimeter: Be ready for an unsightly eyeful of more water bottles, detritus from fast-food meals, broken umbrellas and other garbage – often dropped within an arm’s length of a garbage can, no doubt in the expectation that someone else will pick that refuse up. 

Check out the aforementioned sidewalk around Rice – more litter. Check out the bus stops – people drop their used Metro passes within inches of the garbage cans there.

The Rice campus is a haven of beauty and tranquility in the heart of Houston. Its soft sidewalk and amenities are there to be enjoyed. If litterers don’t ruin it. 

Lady Bird Johnson stood for flowers and natural beauty. Let this ode to her life’s work be an elegy to slobs.   

Linda Thrane
Vice President for Public Affairs

— “The Way I See It” is a special guest column written by faculty, staff and students at the invitation of the Rice News.