Donestock Store

A major factor in any effort to keep our local environment clean and enhance recycling and other noble initiatives is that so many of the habits we learn as children in America carry on when we become adults. When I see someone throw trash on the street, despite the fact that there is a trash bin on almost every corner, I can only conclude that people who do this merely lacked the proper education taught by school and home which would have ground clean living into their minds, before they became adults and it was too late for them. So, in that sense, we all have failed when an adult litters. Yet, there is still time for each new generation of children to be reminded of their duty to keep a clean community. That is why we need to, at every turn, find small ways each day to teach these important, valuable lessons on environmental conservation, recycling and preventing waste. One interesting thing I have taken notice of in the past few months is how few people carry with them a handkerchief. As I live in Japan, each person, young or old, always has their handy handkerchief, and not just for blowing their nose in. From wiping sweat off brows on a hot summer day, to drying off hands after using a public toilet, that little handkerchief does much more when put to full use. I remember a time when I was a child that people in our country used to carry handkerchiefs with them, a cultural habit that has, for all intents and purposes, disappeared. Particularly when one thinks about those public toilet facilities, we see paper towels strewn across the floor, on the sinks, overflowing from the garbage containers, creating this little space of environmental filth. If we can start to teach our kids to always have a handkerchief at the ready, they can learn a simple environmental lesson. As a City Council Member, I will work with the Department of Education and private schools to make it a requirement for parents to give their children a handkerchief as part of the items they must have with them at school. Through this, we will also be able to reach out to parents, who might have forgotten how their parents or grandparents used to have their handkerchiefs on them. I also will work together with out local businesses such as bars, cafes and restaurants and public institutions to request they install hot-air hand dryers in their toilet facilities rather than pile heaps of paper towels for people to dry their hands with, teaming up withe the local Chambers of Commerce to get the message out far and wide. In this small step, we can drastically reduce paper waste and provide a life lesson that can have positive impact as we move forward to find those daily methods to keep our community clean.