Home > Blogs > Norma Toering Broker for Palos Verdes and Beach Cities > Palos Verdes Homes Blog by Norma Toering 310-493-8333

What's Wrong With This Picture? Pay It Forward

By Norma Toering Broker for Palos Verdes and Beach Cities

Real Estate Broker/Owner with Charlemagne International Properties BRE# 01147470

March 20, 2011 03:33 AM

It is no secret I like to walk and hike along the Pacific Ocean bluffs on the Palos Verdes Peninsula. We are fortunate to have abundant open space with miles of hiking trails and unspoiled landscape to please the senses and soothe the soul. You don't have to tell me, I'm fortunate, I realize how lucky I am to live where I can enjoy immense natural beauty on a daily basis.

I am not alone. The trails, especially on weekends, are filled with a plethora of people out strolling on the hiking paths. I'm a big advocate of physical activity, but I am not a fan of what a few people elect to leave behind. Okay, I'm a bit of fanatic about litter. If my children so much as dropped a gum wrapper on the sidewalk I asked them to pick it up and dispose of it in the nearest trash receptacle. If they objected, they then were subjected to the "what if" visual picture I painted. What if everyone dropped their litter on the sidewalk...well, they quickly scooped up the dropped wrapper and began looking for a trash can.

I picked up the fast food drink container in the photo and deposited it in the trash can for whomever left it by the trail. Yes, it was your responsibility, not mine. But come on, didn't your mother (or dad) ever tell you what to do with your trash? Please! Put trash in its place.

Norma Toering & Team RE/MAX Palos Verdes Realty
(310) 493-8333 / Office Phone: (310) 831-0800

PalosVerdesLifestyle - Nominated by Relocation.com as one of the top ten Los Angeles area real estate blogs. Chosen by MovingCost.com as one of the best Los Angeles realty blogs. Ranked by Technorati in the top 1% of all blogs. As seen in the Daily Breeze newspaper.

South Bay Los Angeles cities I sell real estate, property, houses and homes in: Palos Verdes Estates, Rolling Hills, Rolling Hills Estates, Rancho Palos Verdes, San Pedro, Long Beach, Torrance, Lomita, Redondo Beach, Hermosa Beach and Manhattan Beach. Information is deemed reliable but not guaranteed.

Find Norma on: Facebook - Twitter - LinkedIn - Email Norma

Homes For Sale Palos Verdes - Palos Verdes Houses
Palos Verdes Homes with Stables - PV Estates Blog
Colorado River CA Land - View Estates in Palos Verdes
Palos Verdes Coastal Homes - Rancho Palos Verdes Home Search
Photos of Palos Verdes - Palos Verdes Videos
Palos Verdes Luxury Homes - Hermosa Beach Homes

Comments (22)
Subscribe to Comments Comment

Show All Comments

Sort:

Norma Toering Broker for Palos Verdes and Beach Cities

Charlemagne International Properties - Rancho Palos Verdes, CA

Palos Verdes Luxury Homes in L.A.

Malcolm - We're of similar minds on the litter issue. I've told complete strangers there is a trash can just down the trail...sometimes they tell me thanks, sometimes they tell me something else...

Mar 20, 2011 04:08 AM

Norma Toering Broker for Palos Verdes and Beach Cities

Charlemagne International Properties - Rancho Palos Verdes, CA

Palos Verdes Luxury Homes in L.A.

Jim - Cool idea to mark the doing of a good deed. I have an old quarter my mother found when we were out walking years ago--sounds like the perfect coin to carry in my pocket.

Mar 20, 2011 04:10 AM

Mona Gersky

MoonDancer Realty, Dillsboro,NC - Sylva, NC

GRI,IMSD-Taking the mystery out of real estate.

Litter makes me crazy. How about driving on a beautiful day through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park...loving the views and watching the driver ahead of you chuck a freaking cigarette out the window?

I also like the idea of marking a good deed. Thanks for reminding me there are more people who despise litter than there are people who litter. Litter only should be referred to when cute puppies or kittens are involved.

Mar 20, 2011 04:40 AM

Michael Jacobs

Pasadena, CA

Pasadena And Southern California 818.516.4393

Hi Norma --- a great gesture on multiple levels -- too often people say "not mine" and move on. I'm glad you ask the "what if" question as well as leading by example.

Mar 20, 2011 04:48 AM

Peg Barcelo

Fluff My House! Home Staging Inc. 250.486.6369 - Summerland, BC

The FlufftasticStager from Summerland, BC

Norma, Pet peeve of mine too. I did that just the other day, some food container in the middle of the sidewalk and everyone stepping around it, so I just picked it up and put it in the garbage a few feet away. How hard is that?

Mar 20, 2011 04:57 AM

Margaret Goss

@Properties - Winnetka, IL

Chicago's North Shore & Winnetka Real Estate

We have a great running/walking/biking path along the commuter train line here that I always use. My pet peeve is plastic bags - I have often had both hands full of garbage as I exercise - week after week after week. Every now and then another person will see me and thank me - most look at me like I'm nuts.

Mar 20, 2011 05:09 AM

Norma Toering Broker for Palos Verdes and Beach Cities

Charlemagne International Properties - Rancho Palos Verdes, CA

Palos Verdes Luxury Homes in L.A.

Mona - I say people who litter are "lower life forms of humanity" and unfortunately cleaning up after them is left to the rest of us.

Mar 20, 2011 05:15 AM

Norma Toering Broker for Palos Verdes and Beach Cities

Charlemagne International Properties - Rancho Palos Verdes, CA

Palos Verdes Luxury Homes in L.A.

Michael - Thank you, and although I don't want to spend too much of my time on litter detail, it only takes a moment to deposit trash in the can.

Mar 20, 2011 05:17 AM

Norma Toering Broker for Palos Verdes and Beach Cities

Charlemagne International Properties - Rancho Palos Verdes, CA

Palos Verdes Luxury Homes in L.A.

Peg - Fines are being doled out for jaywalking and I'm hoping littering is next on the revenue-raising agenda of local officials.

Mar 20, 2011 05:18 AM

Norma Toering Broker for Palos Verdes and Beach Cities

Charlemagne International Properties - Rancho Palos Verdes, CA

Palos Verdes Luxury Homes in L.A.

Margaret - I'll bet you're known as the plastic bag women in your hood...those plastic bags drive me crazy too. A flying bag hit my windshield on the freeway--I hate to think what would have happened if it stuck to my wiper blade.

Mar 20, 2011 05:22 AM

Judy Klem

Transition Stage LLC - Shelton, CT

Home Staging, Senior Move Management, Fairfield/New Haven counties

Hi Norma - Well, last night was Saturday night. So, apparently this means it's OK to throw beer cans and plastic cups out of your car window. Like you, finding people's litter really gets me annoyed. And then I pick it up and put it into the trash can...

Mar 20, 2011 05:33 AM

Rob D. Shepherd

RETIRED - Florence, OR

RETIRED

I only time I liked litter is when I was a kid picking up bottles along the road to make some money.

Mar 20, 2011 05:40 AM

Norma Toering Broker for Palos Verdes and Beach Cities

Charlemagne International Properties - Rancho Palos Verdes, CA

Palos Verdes Luxury Homes in L.A.

Rob - I never picked up bottles along the road, but I did volunteer to return bottles for elderly neighbors and they always let me keep the change.

Mar 20, 2011 06:52 AM

Bob "RealMan" Timm

Ward County Notary Services - Minot, ND

Owner of Ward Co Notary Services retired RE Broker

We are cut from the same cloth Norma. When I see someone throw a cigarette butt out the window I want to pick it up and throw it back in their car... lit.

Mar 20, 2011 06:55 AM

Norma Toering Broker for Palos Verdes and Beach Cities

Charlemagne International Properties - Rancho Palos Verdes, CA

Palos Verdes Luxury Homes in L.A.

Judy - Saturday night, music turned up and the beer cans flying out the car window--what a snapshot of American life! It's all good except the trashing of public streets and walkways.

Mar 20, 2011 06:56 AM

Norma Toering Broker for Palos Verdes and Beach Cities

Charlemagne International Properties - Rancho Palos Verdes, CA

Palos Verdes Luxury Homes in L.A.

Bob - I have the same wicked thought....but untold fires begin with the simple act of tossing a cigarette butt out an open window.

Mar 20, 2011 07:00 AM

Torgie Madison

Quicksilver Real Estate Solutions, LLC - Portland, OR

Websites and Contact Management

I picked up a lit cigarette off the street just this past week. This kind of thing drives me crazy!!!

Mar 20, 2011 07:03 AM

JoAnn Moore

The Mortgage Market of Delaware - Georgetown, DE

Home Loans in Delaware

I am certainly in agreement. I don't know why people feel it is perfectly alright for them to drop trash and even throw trash out their car windows. There are plenty of trash cans at gas stations, convenience stores and in their own garages and homes that they can dispose of the trash properly. Roadsides look so ugly with so much litter lying around. We shouldn't have to have people and groups sign up for "Adopt a Highway" because there shouldn't be trash there to pick up. It makes you think that maybe these people drop and throw trash around in their own homes.

Mar 20, 2011 08:15 AM

Sidney Kutchuk - Realty Works Temecula Kutchuk - Realty Works Temecula

Realty Works Temecula - Temecula, CA

Realty Works Temecula

Norma: Strange how people leave their stuff everywhere. It's a big problem everywhere!

Mar 20, 2011 10:31 AM

Gary Woltal

Keller Williams Realty - Flower Mound, TX

Assoc. Broker Realtor SFR Dallas Ft. Worth

Norma I never understand people who litter, like the world is their garbage can or something. They toss stuff out the windows all the time too. Reflects poor upbringing is my guess.

Mar 20, 2011 11:08 AM