Washington D.C, our nation’s capital, is filled with many political activist and representatives/senators. With elections drawing ever nearer, people have begun questioning our representatives/senators many political agendas. The impact that we as humans are having on the environment has lately become an increasingly sensitive topic, thanks to the awareness and concern that people like Robin Nagel and their work have raised. We the people what to know what our representatives/senators are doing about the many environmental problems we are faced with in today’s world, such as the impact trash plays on our communities and world. It is my supreme belief that our nation’s capitals, and its residents, need to focus first and foremost on the environment in their home town, before they can successfully addressing the nations concerns. If they can’t handle one cities trash problem, how can they address and solve a nations environmental concerns.
In the summer of 2008, I was fortunate enough to travel to Washington D.C. My expectations of D.C. were to be that of a high class city. When I arrived, I was able to see many sites such as the Lincoln memorial and the Washington Monument. As my stay extended, I began to see a very different and stunning side to Washington. The city was a dump! If that statement seems surprising, it’s because it is. Washington D.C. is a very shady place, in which there seems to be almost a complete lack of sanitary conditions. Granted, the many tourist destinations were kept in pristine order, the sanitation department just kept the things clean that were in sight to the many people visiting Washington. When Robin Nagel states “it’s cognitive in that exact way: that it is quite highly visible, and constant, and invisibilized”, It really made sense to me. The people of Washington know that they have a trash problem, but they just make it invisible and cover it up from the tourists. The tourist areas are cleaned well, to keep the trash problem invisible to the multitudes of tourists. It seems that the residents of D.C. have no respect for the environment; they can’t even be responsible for their own city. It makes me question the environmental agendas of our state representatives and senators, who live most of the year in Washington D.C. Those representatives and senators must drive by the grim of Washington every day. While just walking down a side street, I was amazed to see people just carelessly toss their trash out the window of their car and into the ditch. When I also saw the many overflowing garbage cans, I was in complete shock. We don’t even have that problem in Montana, a state with that probably has just as many people in it as the city of Washington D.C. When Robin mentions a Buddhist saying about housework, saying “it’s invisible labor because you see it only when it’s not done,” I thought immediately that the housework in D.C. is not being done very thoroughly.
I left Washington D.C. with a new sense of what beauty Montana really has; we have an amazing environment in which to live. In Montana, the environment is a major part of our communities and our state. While we may be comparable to the Washington community in the aspect that we view our trash as out of sight, out of mind, our perspective is nowhere near that of the D.C. community. I know that many communities in Montana, including mine, do many trash clean up days. On these days, the people of the community clean up trash in town, and along the local highway; all in the pursuit of keeping Montana and the community looking its best. The garbage in Montana communities is collected and deposited in areas that are economical, environmentally friendly, and away from the city. Our sanitation department in my opinion is second to none. There is never an overflowing garbage can, and the garbage is always emptied on trash day, no matter what the elements. When Robin’s states, “New York City couldn’t be what we are if sanitation wasn’t out there every day doing the job pretty well”, I think about where Montana would be without the dedicated men and women who are probably the greatest asset to our state. They keep Montana’s countryside and towns green and clean. We as Montanans are truly blessed to live in the Big Sky state, and have such great sanitary services. I plan on thanking my garbage man the next time I see him, and you should do the same.
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