A Green St. Patrick's Day

My experience was very similar to what has already been mentioned by my fellow bloggers. After a brief respite in New York, I returned to my hometown of Pittsburgh, PA to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. It has been a tradition for many years in my fair city to shut down the downtown area for the annual parade, the second-largest in the country behind New York, as some like to claim. Though for the most part the crowd remained civil, little effort was made to keep the streets and sidewalks clean of trash. The mess, of course, was unbelievable, as an assortment of cups, cans, bottles, and whatnot filled the area. I began to pick up what I could, sticking mainly to what I came upon on the path that I was walking. Contrary to popular belief, Pittsburgh is a genuinely clean and environmentally conscious town. There were plenty of garbage and recycling bins located on almost every block. As I began picking up some trash, others saw me and began to help. A close friend of mine was confused, and told me that there were people who were paid to do what I was doing. I told him that I saw nothing wrong with doing a little bit myself, and If others did the same, perhaps we could live in a cleaner world. This was not what he expected to hear, and this was disregarded as hippie nonsense. I attempted to expand the conversation to a discussion of the benefits of individual action and economic incentives, but this did not happen. I did however continue to pick up garbage, and though my friend didn't help me, he agreed that at another time and place, he would likely do the same.