Who do you think you are?
That’s the question I’d ask the thoughtless driver of the red sedan, driving north on Highway 101 last week.
It was during the evening commute home, and I was cruising through the darkness, trailing the taillights ahead of me as the radio chattered quietly in the background.
Suddenly, a tiny orange glow flips through air and bounces off the pavement, erupting in a shower of sparks.
What was it?
A cigarette butt, tossed cavalierly out the window by someone who apparently doesn’t know the difference between a public highway and their backyard patio.
I’ll ask again: Who do you think you are?
King of the castle, lord of the manor and czar of the land, privileged to abuse the countryside however you see fit?
I already have a short tolerance for smokers.
If it was up to me, smoking would be banned in every indoor and outdoor place that presents even the most remote chance for public use.
But this kind of behavior only makes a loathsome activity 10 times worse.
It’s one thing for you to make a personal choice to engage in a habit that will damage your health.
And it’s certainly isn’t good that the habit also pollutes our air and can damage the health of others nearby.
But what kind of gall does it take for you to chuck your burning litter out the window at 65 mph where at best it only adds to the highway trash and at worst sparks a wildfire?
This level of carelessness for the common good is simply staggering, and it’s not limited to smoker drivers.
We’ve also got smoker walkers who flick their butts on the sidewalk and smoker beach-goers to whom lying on the sand must be some sort of cigarette-disposing nirvana.
It may feel like you’re ensconced in the middle of a giant ashtray, but guess what? You’re not.
So to anyone who would casually discard the remains of their cigarettes anywhere they like, please stop.
If it means you need to Velcro an ash bag to your belt, do it.
If it means you need to — gasp! — not smoke until you get somewhere with a proper trash can, do it.
If it means you need to build pyramids of butts on your dashboard, do that.
We all need a sense of responsibility and stewardship for this land we share.
If you want to spoil property, make sure it’s yours, not ours.
What do you think? Share your thoughts here.
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7 comments
bobfromsanluis
February 18, 2012 at 12:38 am (UTC -7) Link to this comment
I could not agree with you more. I used to have a small business downtown next door to one of the numerous bars; the amount of cigarette butts on the ground day after day was amazing. One day I talked to a city worker who had the responsibility of picking up cigarette butts and he told me that the bar I was next to had the most butts of all the bars in town. Your column points out one common factor among almost every single smoker I have ever witnessed; once they are done polluting their lungs, embedding their clothes with rank smell, their skin and hair also stinking to high heaven, once they are done with that cigarette, they seem like they are holding a hot potato and have to drop that stinking butt as fast as possible, as far away from them as possible without regard to the fact that they are disposing of trash, garbage, waste (actually, toxic waste to be precise; cigarettes cause cancer, have toxic chemicals in them, hence, the cigarette butt is toxic waste). I know a few people who smoke, who try to be as responsible as possible with their habit, how the smoke drifts away from them so they try to be as considerate as possible, and I have witnessed a few of them actually disposing of the butts in the proper receptacles, but responsible smokers seem to be few and very far in between. Thank you for your observation here Joe.
Not A Smoker
February 21, 2012 at 9:17 am (UTC -7) Link to this comment
> We all need a sense of responsibility and stewardship for this land we share.
The last time I checked, automobiles are damaging the environment substantially more than smokers. So, it is odd that you have such strong feelings while driving your car – gasp! Perhaps, you drive some eco-friendly hybrid car that helps to alleviate your conscious of any wrong doing resulting in your naive and superior attitude.
Kenny Neal
February 21, 2012 at 10:26 am (UTC -7) Link to this comment
“JoeTopia”?!? What a pretentious jerk! Poster boy for the land of the free, as long as it’s YOUR idea of freedom. Just who the heck do you think you are?!?
Sorry there are fellow jerks of yours who happen to smoke and do not police up after themselves, that is because they are jerks, not because they are smokers. I always police my butts and stay downwind of non-smokers, etc. Yes smoking can and should be banned indoors, but don’t you dare think you have the right to tell me I can’t smoke anywhere outside! If you see a smoking jerk, take steps to have them cited for littering or punch THEM in the face, but stay the heck out of mine!
Arrogant, self centered morons like yourself is why there is a problem! These are the offspring of people with your attitudes, disillusioned and rebellious. People like you want to see me shot if I have a smoke in the downwind corner of Mitchell Park, never once giving a thought to the barbecues, fires warming the homes around it, cars that are endlessly passing on all four sides of the park and expanding outward grid by grid. Two major highways converging, a fossil fuel burning power plant, upwind of the park, ALL the crap from Japan… There has not been “clean air” since long before we were born Scooter, so don’t you dare try to sell that bilge as justification for infringing upon my rights!
This is not about health, this is about your lust for vengeance and blood, born from the idea that you are better than your neighbor and therefore YOUR will is all that matters and death to those who disagree. Childish. Trust me sport, without a fan in the bathroom, you stink and you ARE a real part of global warming just because you exist… YOU are contributing to the death of us all! Do your community and humanity at large a favor and take yourself out of the equation. You’ll get your picture in the paper for your good works to save the planet!
BobandBob
February 21, 2012 at 10:57 am (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Thanks for saying what most of us feel. Some of the most rudest people are smokers. They come in a close 1 ahead of bike riders. If you don’t care about yourself, that’s your business but for the sake of everyone around you, pick up your butts or wait till you get home to light up. The last thing I want to smell after a wonderful meal or movie or activity is some idiot puffing away. You reek, you smell, and you are rude, simply put. Good reddens!
I am a Smoker
February 21, 2012 at 1:52 pm (UTC -7) Link to this comment
I am a Smoker and even I am enraged over “Flicking a Butt out the window”, lit or otherwise! I get frustrated over finding cigarette butts on the beach, on the ground, anywhere other than an ashtray or garbage! WE should ALL be aware of where the butts land and take personal responsibility for proper disposal. I once even saw a police officer flick his butt out his window! He was parked, but still there is never an excuse to trash our environment. Its idiots like those who make the smokers come under attack. In the very least put the cig out and tuck the butt into the side of the pack until you find the proper place to dump it. We should ALL be living by a LEAVE NO TRACE policy. I just find no excuse for Trash out of place at all! Driving through the beautiful estuary, the pride of our county, I could see TRASH on the side of the road! I just could not imagine who would want to trash such a beautiful natural area? Until one day, I ended up behind a Recycling Truck, flying along South Bay Blvd, and low and behold TRASH was flying out of the back of his truck!! I called the Recycling Center only to be told, “We have no control over what flies out of our truck”!! Maybe MORE phone calls can fix the problem?
I for one, make it a point to pick up the butts, and NEVER EVER leave one out of place!!
There are ZERO excuses people! Smoke where no one has to smell it, and be responsible for your own trash!
Mary
February 21, 2012 at 4:24 pm (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Californians don’t have it so bad…Try living in the South where even some McD’s Playplaces have ashtrays on the tables!
slomobile
February 21, 2012 at 11:11 pm (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Forget about freedom, or the environment. Last I checked it’s still legal to drive a car. It is however super illegal to litter. So the bottom line is that it is crap to pretend you butt is not trash (i fully intend that in both ways it sounds). From personal experience, while riding a motorcyle (very fuel efficient way to travel @kenney neal) over madonna road overpass that a smoker decided to throw his butt out the window into my chest and subsequent lap. My wife was along the for the ride, and while a smoltering embed rest between my legs and 3 gallons of gas in a tank, i carefully slowed to the edge of the road to remove the unwanted burden from my lap. So how great is that? I could go on with jokers who drop burning butts right outside of business establishments as they enter, just for future customers to be discuster with, or business owners/employees to clean up.
Rant or not, joetopia has a point here, although smokers have the right to kill themselves early, and hopefully help social security last just a little longer because of their choice, it does not mean they can blantantly ignore the law and litter our streets, beaches and gutters multiple times each and everyday until they do!