Litter Blitz

This Friday a few girls from my department and I decided to participate in a litter blitz down the main street that runs past our campus. When I signed up for this, I had originally imagined cleaning an area up of trash and then calling it a day. What I didn't imagine was being dropped off by the shuttle two miles from campus in 103 degree weather and watching the shuttle drive away as we started our trek back. I felt like I should have been wearing an orange vest. When you are speeding along, you don't really realize how much trash there actually is on the side of the roads. Lids, bags, packing peanuts, cigarettes. Why has it become socially acceptable to throw cigarette buts out of the window? Did I miss some sort of notice of biodegradability? Or condiment packets? Who puts ketchup on fries and chucks the packet out the window? Just throw it on the car floor like the rest of us. It was worst under trees and bushes where papers and cups had probably hidden for months. The dead bird I should have probably left alone and the black metal object that burnt off my top layer of skin was one of those hindsights as well. When we made it back and dropped off our bags at the dumpster, every part of me was covered in sweat. As I took off my gloves, water just ran out from the pools that had collected in the fingertips of the oversize fingers. My hands were pruny, as if I had spent 5 hours in the bath or I suppose, 1 hour covered in sweat. Thank goodness for a fitness center with showers. The best part was Laura who kept mentioning that she felt deceived by the activity's description as she hovered in each shaded spot along the way. I just told her to get her limping gazelle butt going because I wasn't going to carry her when she passed out. We all know I would have but I wasn't going to offer it up...it was freaking hot. It was a worthwhile effort but I think that the biggest lesson learned was to check the 7 day forecast before you go signing up for things. Why would you want to volunteer for something that doesn't involve comfort...