I walked past what was once likely a planter bed filled with lovely flowers or maybe a tree. I presume it was something nice because someone installed a plaque that began “In loving memory of.”

Instead of flowers, a tree, or anything lovely or nice, the bed was filled with garbage. I’ve passed it before and seen it filled with garbage.

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It’s nice to think that environmental problems haven’t hit us yet, since then we’ll act. What more sign do you need than that were desecrating our ancestors? Can you imagine what our ancestors from before plastic would have thought of how we honor our loved ones? I can’t imagine them finding filling a space dedicated to love and memory of loved ones with garbage.

We don’t have any other place for it that isn’t already filled. People who start picking up litter because of me tell me they didn’t realize how much garbage there was. They information reached their eyes, but they didn’t let it reach their consciousness.

I’d rather not live in a world with this much garbage, but since I do, I’d rather be aware of it than not. I figure you would too.

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EDIT: The day after I posted that picture, I saw this desecration of a memorial for a loved one, also in a sidewalk square. Actually, I should have stood a foot or two back because just to the right was a big plastic wrapper for a carton of bottled water.

Sadly, I expect I’ll find myself adding more pictures to this post, as I am with pictures of Fiji water bottles and discarded e-bikes. Although none of these tragedies likely measure up in in-your-face killing-for-no-benefit loss of Christmas pagan trees.

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EDIT: I passed by the spot again. Should I be surprised the desecration continues?

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EDIT: July 2025. More garbage desecrating a memorial, this time from police:

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July 2025, yet more garbage desecrating memorials. Welcome to our culture, where we go beyond just accepting toxic garbage. We fill up so much space with it, we can’t keep it from our holy places. We all know our arteries and veins pump plastic, forever chemicals, etc. They cross the placenta, violating the principle of consent of the governed.

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Edit, September 2025: I think this patch below is the one from the first picture above but with the plaque removed. I’m not exactly sure, but pretty sure. It has that stone in the bottom right. If I’m right, we keep making garbage while taking down signs of the sacred. I don’t just mean the people involved with this tragedy. I mean all of us.

Here’s a memorial with a rat trap filled with poison, the smooth grey “rock” on the left:

• ← You’re lying to yourself if you believe we can ramp up wind and solar to replace fossil fuels and stop using them
• When they say “transition fuel,” they mean “more polluting and depleting,” not less pollution or depletion →