Countryside folks are dramatic about litter

[Thehonestybox]

I've always lived in big northern industrial cities, but recently my freelance work has meant I've been working a lot in very rural countryside (peak district, moors & Cumbria). At first I was sympathetic everytime a local said something about the litter being a blight, or outsiders climbing hills in flip flops, or people not closing sheep gates, etc etc.

But recently I've just thought - why am I sympathising?!

Us city livers see litter literally EVERYWHERE. I wouldn't dream of leaving my door unlocked at night and antisocial behavior is through the roof. And yet the other day I was working in a rural village and the person I was talking to spotted (with terminator level of vision) a Walkers crisp packet about half a mile away on a hill and I think I literally saw her pulse race through her neck as she said "and THIS is what I'm talking about!! ".

AIBU to wonder why countryside people feel like they should be immune to other people's selfishness?

If I was in Leeds centre and had an aneurysm over an empty packet of Nik Naks I think my colleagues would suggest I take a holiday.

(I suppose I'm referring to fairly wealthy people here, either farmers with land ownership or ex-city early retirees. TBF anyone 'working class' I've met in the countryside has been fairly welcoming to outsiders)

littering is wrong anywhere

it’s dangerous to livestock and wildlife and causes monetary loss to farmers

it attracts rats in cities

it looks awful in both places

(part of my job is to be a community liaison on conservation projects)
😂😂😂

Is it, aye

That's obviously horrendous but I don't know what that has to do with people in rural areas being against littering?

They're two totally different problems!

Some of us live in the countryside, don’t have land, can’t dream of retiring anytime soon and don’t have much money.

Your move next….

This is an incredibly weird thread

You can say that again. Something beginning with ‘T’?

At least in a city, there's likely to be services.

What I really don't understand is people come to the seaside or countryside for the views, clean & nice surroundings. They then drop litter. It's very nearly nappy season here at the seaside. People drop them next to the car on the beach...

Some locals drop litter too but they didn't specifically travel to the location for its beauty...

It's just weird.

Hit the nail on the head! Yes, it all stems from jealousy. I'm wholeheartedly willing to admit that I am upset and jealous that I have to work for tiny amounts of money to listen to rich people's problems about how hard their life is and then they get bored of I say anything about my mine, which feels a lot worse (and that's why I mentioned class in my OP).

You do realise that there's a hell of a lot of poverty in Cumbria? Rural (and isolated urban) poverty is a real problem.

Enlighten me as to what begins with a T?

I assume you're aware that there is LOADS of rural poverty in this country, right?

You're just being a goady fucker, though, let's be fair.

Oh @Thehonestybox - I’ve now read all your posts, should have done that before posting so I’m feeling bad about my flippant g&t with a view, sorry💐. It sounds like you’ve had enough of the council tower block - if you work rurally is there an option to move further out? I don’t know what it’s like up Leeds way but we have lovely council properties in the surrounding villages (well, built in 80s & 90s, decent gardens & views, solar panels and good local schools) - can you look into what other options may be available to you?

Do you think the police give a shit about litter either?

I live in the ground floor of a tower block. I have sat next to a prostitute who had been raped in the car park while she sobbed and begged me not to call the police. I've sat with a man who had been kicked in the head and stomach until unconscious while I waited for a ambulance. Literally on my street.

And then have the police say "well, it's sad but to be fair it is a high crime area".

But you are angry about that because country dwellers dislike litter?
WTF has one got to do with the other?

If you dislike prostitution, violence, theft & littering in Leeds - start campaigning.
Unless you think Leeds' problems are gonna get fixed by your moaning about country people's dislike of litter?

So you think that the reason it’s important not to drop litter in the countryside is because it’s expensive to live there, despite the evidence you’ve been offered already on this thread?

The answer is to bring kids up better in town and country so that they realise it’s anti social to drop litter ANYWHERE. If we make littering as socially unacceptable as smoking indoors or drink driving, then we can make the environment everywhere nicer to live in.

Why you are trying to set this up as a class or wealth based thing I have no idea - it’s just a false premise. Lots of places in the country are cheap to live in because they’re in the arse end of nowhere and you can’t get anywhere from them. You’ll pay more for a tiny flat in a littery part of London or some other city centres than you will in a litter-free very rural bit of Northumberland or somewhere like that. So where your shoulder chip about this issue has come from is a mystery.

You have got a massive chip on your shoulder !
Please make sure it goes in a litter bin

Absolutely I bloody do! I suppose I should delete the thread and write a new OP! my job is supporting educational culture projects for disgracefully disadvantaged working class rural communities (in terms of funding). But what I find when we get to the rural places is that fairly wealthy people run the show, own all the land and complain that 'outsiders' don't respect their land and they don't want them. Whereas the working class young people are crying out for opportunities that aren't just 'working for the landowners'

You're still not making an iota of sense.
Is it time for your lie-down?

Some of my family still live in rural Wales. None of them well off. They hate the litter dropping. It’s been particularly bad the last 2 summers.

It's unlikely to kill animals in Leeds city centre. That's why.

the person I was talking to spotted (with terminator level of vision) a Walkers crisp packet about half a mile away on a hill

That didn't happen, did it?

There's a country road I drive on a lot & there's never any litter on it. I only realised this recently, when there was an event in a nearby town which drew in people from out of the area & - BINGO! - coffee shop debris appeared on the road. Seeing it made me aware how unusual it is.

If country people get upset about it, it's because we keep the place nice & other people don't respect it.

So it sounds like it is your job to listen to them (and if it isn’t, don’t - change the subject). It isn’t their job to listen to you, if they are members of the public, so obviously they aren’t interested in hearing about how shit your life is during what is supposed to be a community consultation (or whatever this scenario is).

Do GPs get pissed of because patients insist on talking about their own health problems during appointments and never ask after the doctor’s health? Nope.

just because some folk can afford to live there and the rest of us can't?

This is the real point of your thread.

Isn't this victim blaming if something goes wrong? I would have enormous sympathy for someone who had almost zero experience of the countryside who got into trouble - how would they know flop flops won't work...?

You peaked too soon with this one, I think.

What's poverty got to do with anything? Littering is inexcusable full stop. If there isn't a bin, hold onto your crisp packet until you see one.

I'm from Leeds and am working class. I am zero tolerance of all litter whether it's the McDonalds bag thrown from a car on the Leeds Outer Ring Road or a crisp packet on a Cumbrian hillside.

I'd like to see what reasons the whatabouteries come up with to explain why some people 'have' to drop litter?