“Mexico has always been like that. Not new news.”
Before the era of prepackaged food, no place was like that. As recently as 20 years ago, Mexico had no littering problem because most people still ate fresh foods purchased at farmers markets rather than packaged food from supermarkets.
I was amazed at the trash! In the little town of San Felipe the little houses (shacks) all had neat little ocatillo fences and tidy swept yards. Many had fresh laundry drying on said ocatillo fence.
But outside of town. And I mean right on the first empty lots were piles of garbage. The constant wind blew it farther and farther into the surrounding desert. It was everywhere. Hanging on bushes, blowing across the roads and in piles and piles. Evidently the idea of a municiple dump or a place where everyone dumped was incomprehensable to the townsfolk.
I noticed the dried and scavaged corpse of some large animal. I was told that it was a very pretty little colt that had been wandering in the desert. People would do that is they coundn’t afford to feed an animal. Just turn it out to fend for its self. Well this little guy couldn’t make and became weaker and weaker. No one would do anything for it because when it grew up the original owner could come and take it back. So it was left to die by the side of the road. Disgusting.
One day 10 years later people were complaining bitterly about the poor fishing on the beaches. Why I asked. A local told me it was because of all the “greengos” who come down to fish on the beach. I guess that that was a much greater threat to the local fishery than the gill netters trolling up and down the coast 24/7 or the dynamite fishing. The dynamite fishing was illegal by then, but people still did it we were told because all the old greengoes and their fishing polls had caught all the fish (from the shore).
And Bush wants us to turn our country over to these people.
Before the era of prepackaged food, no place was like that. As recently as 20 years ago, Mexico had no littering problem because most people still ate fresh foods purchased at farmers markets rather than packaged food from supermarkets.Excellent post, monday. You have just explained so much of what is going on today. The world is in a flux as great as any since the opening of cross-Atlantic/Pacific trade routes by the Spanish and Portuguese. There's a tremendous clash of new technology with old perceptions, and it will be a long, long while for it to sort out.
To make it through this transition successfully, the U.S. must keep constant pressure on the rest of the world. If we don't lead, those who would interpret new things through old ways will.