wow. what a post.
it's very easy to send pictures to the news. to write an article for a blog. to start two threads on message boards. it's a lot harder to re-educate a nation of people who are used to being cleaned up after. rich people have maids that clean their houses, schoolkids have a woman who cleans the schoolyard, even offices have cleaning people who take care of the mess.
the government has just re-configured the amount of hours that high school seniors need to complete of community service. before they had to serve 50 hours in any government office. Now, they need to serve 30 in an office (or whatever) and 30 in a reforestation project. small step, but a step in the right direction.
in santiago there is a foundation doing "trash re-education" in barrio nuevo (no, not pueblo nuevo, barrio nuevo) where they are actually entering people's houses and teaching them about waste and waste disposal. they are raising money to pay the trash collection. and offering rewards for the cleanest streets.
universidad ISA here in santiago is also doing trash and recycling education for school kids. they're even doing water testing and teaching the kids about contamination. for free.
so, if we're really concerned, shouldn't we stop writing and start acting? what does it cost to teach people? nothing. i know it's not easy, but complaining or generalizing isn't going to help anyone.
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