Subscriber Comments for
Ciggy Butts

Comments in order of when they were received | (reverse order)

BECKY	2008-09-12 08:27 AM
Thank you! I'm printing it and putting it in my store window (old town Goleta). I spend 20-30 minutes/week cleaning up sidewalks and gutters in front of my store from other people's trash. A huge amount of it is cig butts. I've put up "it all flows to the ocean" signs. I've put out a cig butt receptacle (which was stolen). I've spoken to some of the worst offenders. The assault is relentless, and it's disgusting. Pick up after yourself! I learned that in kindergarten. Did these slobs miss that lesson?
COMMENT 14538	2008-09-12 08:28 AM
Thank you for writing and posting this. The belief that cigarette butts don't qualify as litter boggles my mind. When did that become acceptable practice?? I've started calling out the people that do this.
COMMENT 14545	2008-09-12 09:06 AM
"What makes smokers think that their pleasure-giving habit (we're talking relatively short-term) immunizes them from the responsibility of cleaning up after themselves?" They don't think that, these are just lazy and dirty people who happen to smoke. If they didn't throw a butt down on the ground, they'd throw down a plastic grocery bag or empty beer bottle. Smokers I know don't throw their butts down. Let's not stereotype.
COMMENT 14547	2008-09-12 09:18 AM
hey-I smoke,and I'm a gardener, and I never throw butts on the ground. Let alone the fire hazard. On the other hand, If anyone spits in my yard, they're gone. What makes it ok to spit on the street? Baseball players?
COMMENT 14567	2008-09-12 11:15 AM
Hey folks - read for detail. I'm in no way implying that all smokers are guilty. I'm just calling out the ones who toss their butts and cause the blight. Let's keep the conversation going (and civil)
COMMENT 14569	2008-09-12 11:26 AM
Right on brother. On a walk from Turnpike to 154 3 or 4 years ago, in the spirit of Ed's interminable propensity for counting, I decided to count butts which lie directly in the path of my walk, before my feet if you will. In the narrow, approx. 2 ft wide swath in the one mile, there were over 400, if I recall correctly. Disgusting. That said, penetrating the nicotine induced self involved, focus tunnel euphoria that smokers inhabit after a fix is next to impossible, and stimulating their awareness about this issue unlikely. Sadly, I am afraid the only solution will be to pursue legal action the originators of this waste, once again, class action against the cigarette producers. Naive perhaps, but maybe the threat of this could get them to improve their product to deal with this?
COMMENT 14571	2008-09-12 11:55 AM
just curious, what's the best way to dispose of butts? Trash, aka landfill?
COMMENT 14574	2008-09-12 12:38 PM
Yes, trash/landfill is better than thrown on the ground to end up in the ocean via storm drains... I suppose cigarette manufacturers could be prevailed on to create biodegradable filters. Or would that cut into their profits too much? That would still not solve the issue of the toxins which concentrate in the filter after a cigarette is smoked...
COMMENT 14577	2008-09-12 12:45 PM
We can't put batteries or paint in a landfill, they get recycled or disposed of as hazardous waste, right? Can we do the same for cig butts? How about a smoker gets a penny for every returned butt for recycling like a soda can?
BONNER	2008-09-12 03:14 PM
Camel and Marlborough butts are tossed all over our neighborhood, the typical start-up cigarettes for teens. but what's even more annoying is the dog poop not picked up, even though we installed four (that's 4) doggie stations in our relatively small community. Much is done under darkness so what does that say about knowing you are not being responsible! C'mon! dog walkers, be good citizens too!
COMMENT 14587	2008-09-12 06:14 PM
Hear Hear!! Hooray for Billy Goodnick and this article! And Bonner's comment too. I have a HUGE problem with people who don't clean up after themselves and their dogs. I also hate it when smokers throw the still lit butts out the window at night, it always freaks me out for a second. Unfortunately this article is probably like preaching to the choir. The offenders might not ever see this. But thanks anyway!
COMMENT 14587	2008-09-12 06:14 PM
... I meant throw their still lit butts out of their CAR window...
HATTIE	2008-09-12 07:23 PM
the san diego chapter of surfriders created a successful campaign against cig butt littering. they even had a toll-free "hold on to your butt" hotline to report "butt flickers". we should have something like that. http://www.surfridersd.org/hotyb.php
COMMENT 14595	2008-09-13 09:45 AM
Add this to the litany of sins that people commit on a daily basis that fall into the "weren't you ever taught any better?" category: talking during movies and concerts, not using turn signals, not picking up your dog doo, yakking on cellphones anywhere anytime, etc etc etc. It's enough to make you a misanthropic hermit, I'll tell ya what! ;-) I'm serious about the annoyances... I'm just trying to learn to get over my righteous indignation sometimes because I suspect I'm never going to correct the behavior of the Bulgarians.
COMMENT 14599	2008-09-13 12:55 PM
I feel ur pain on the ciggy issue dude. I was traumatized as a young military man when a person in authority ordered me to police up the parade grounds prior to an official ceremony. He ordered me to pick up the butts by hand and put them in my pocket and then ordered the rest of my squad to grab a seat and watch!!! Needless to say I HATE cigs now (oh, him too). Basically what this comes down to is some peoples lack of consideration for others. We've all been held hostage and subjected to the inapropriate cell phone call. And many other disgusting situations. Who was it that said "people are stupid"?
COMMENT 14602	2008-09-13 05:47 PM
Right on to all comments given! It's all of these "annoyances" that add up to a wasteful, careless society. Butts aside, the smell of the nasty buggers alone is bad enough. Just walk down State Street (for example), at any given time of the day, and rather than the scent of flowers or local restaurants preparing meals being in the air, we get blasted with the horrific smell of cigs! Not to mention the unbearably disgusting habit of guys spitting (no, gobbing!) on sidewalks (where we were just about to step no less ~ really, how did this EVER become acceptable behavior?), dog poo, movie yakkers, cell phone yakkers (yellers rather), pedestrians not waiting for walk lights to change, drivers not waiting for red lights to change, or worse, running yellow and/or red lights, and one of my favorite pet peeves, people who don't move out of the way on a sidewalk! People would rather walk into you than divert from their direct path. What's up with that? Are people zoned in on being the only one who matters that there is no common courtesy anymore? Thankfully (or not) Santa Barbara does not have the distinction of being the only place in the world to offer up rude behavior on every corner. This is a global issue and it's getting progressively worse with each generation! Maybe it's time to start handing out tickets to people who litter (including noise pollution you yakkers) or spit on the ground??!!

19% of comments on this page were made by Edhat Community Members.

EDHAT COMMENTS POLICY