Booga wrote:Sadly it seems a lot of people want to have their fun but take no responsibility for their actions. This can be seen in incidents like this, bags of dog mess left everywhere around my village, litter in town centres etc etc.
Part of it might be down to education as I've met first time bothy users who have presumed there's a bin they can leave their rubbish in just like everywhere else, and the concept of needing to "have a campfire" has been ingrained into us from childhood story books to going to music festivals to romantic instagram photos etc etc. I've seen plenty of articles suggesting the outdoors as a great free thing to do with just a small bit about responsible behaviour tacked on the end, and people will only take in the info they want from it.
But I suspect there are a lot of people who just don't care and think they can get away with things like this because there's nobody around to see them do it.
If the whole "Think of others and follow the country code" message doesn't reach some people then maybe we need to also push a message that appeals to these people's egos, how to be a "real outdoorsman", "don't act like a spoilt child who's mum still tidies up after them" etc etc. I particularly liked that sign I saw that said "If we all love Scotland then who's leaving all the litter?".
Pretty much spot on there, Booga.
I also think there are some who are so used to dropping any bit of litter, be it a sweet wrapped or a food tray from the local takeaway, they don't even think about the action.
I do think that education is lacking, though I would hope parents would school their children into not dropping litter, but I wonder how many children et a chance to have some time in the outdoor education, now. Many years ago when I was teaching we took some pupils away every year for a week at residential centre which I think might have helped a better understanding. I don't know how often that, or something similar, happens now.
Dave