Can You Believe the Junk Out there?



www.dennismook.com

While on our recent road trip through 19 states here in the U.S., I repeatedly observed massive amounts of junk and abandoned automobiles everywhere.  I am not exaggerating when I say everywhere.  It didn't matter if we went through a large city, small town, the rural countryside or even the sparsely populated dessert of the southwest.  There was junk everywhere.  You can't help but notice it.  You all know what I mean.  You have seen it.  Next time you go out for a ride and you are not the one driving, just look around as you pass through the countryside, city or town.  You will be surprised when you really take notice of just how much there is.

There is every type of article, piece of junk, thrown away possession you could imagine.  Oh!  Wood also!  Yes, in some yards there are trees that have been cut decades ago that are still lying in the yard.  Not knocked down by wind or broken off, but cut down.  Unbelievable.

Vance and I had conversations on this topic.  I started classifying people by their junk.  There are the "everything I have ever touched and brought home to my house I have put in my yard" group which was the dominant group.  Then there is the "every car I have ever owned, ridden in, looked at or thought about is now in my yard" crowd.  We have the "rust" crowd in which the entire property takes on the dark orange iron oxide hue.  We also have the "what is it?" crowd in which you really can't figure out what the stuff is anymore since it either has been disassembled or has fallen apart.  You could probably come up with a few more categories, especially if you now observe as you ride.

I suspect that if the U.S. went on a massive push to clean up this enormous amount of junk around our country, we could save billions of dollars in manufacturing just by recycling what we have lying around.

Better yet, instead of the IRS going after non-profits or the EPA using drones to spy on farmers, why don't they focus their energy on getting owners to clean up their properties?  That would be something really useful to the American public and make a difference in our environment!  That's the ticket!  Then again, anything the government does usually isn't done very well.  Any incentive for private industry to tackle this?  You tell me.

Enjoy!

Thanks for looking.
Dennis Mook