Of garbage and the such

In an article on Raise the Hammer entitled 'Garbage Collection Decision Is A Missed Opportunity To Engage Citizens', Adrian Duyzer makes some great points. Points that got me thinking. 

Most of my life I’ve been apolitical. I was never drawn to the process, never drawn to politicians, period. (Granted, part of this is attributable to a strong abhorrence to what Living Colour referred to in their song ‘Cult of Personality’. I have little time for celebrity, for the fawning, for the passive obeisance, for what amounts to the lowering of self in order to facilitate the elevation of the celebrity. But clearly, that’s a diatribe for another time. LOL)

Even though my general awareness is so much broader and deeper than it was when I was ‘younger’, even though I’m mightily intrigued by governance and everything its good execution entails, I’m still apolitical. Because I really don’t believe in ‘politics’. I find myself flinching, even mentally gagging when having to wade through the North American political landscape. In the hierarchy of governance, local, provincial/state and federal, my only tolerance seems to be for the first; my attitude towards the latter pair can be summed up in a quote I offered up recently:

"Don't confuse 'politics' with governance. One is a hybrid of sports, entertainment, the gossip mill and a schoolyard sandbox, while the other concerns how the quality of our lives is constructed. Most involved in the former are seemingly incapable of contributing to the latter."

What I’m saying shouldn't be seen as a blanket affirmation of faith in local governance; it’s not like I believe any given local Council necessarily reveals the best of the best in human nature, that this is where are most exemplary talent is, that there is nothing but good to be found amongst Councillors and Councils. But I do have more faith in non-party governance. In direct service being performed, with no party filter in place. At least there’s a chance of everything not turning into the massively grotesque game we’ve come to accept as politics. 

During the last municipal election, I allowed myself my first up-close spectating of how things unfold locally. As much as I was turned off by how some candidates regarded the process they were endeavouring to be a part of (far too cavalier, far too arrogant, far too self-serving for my sensibilities), I was turned off all the more by the consistent attitudes that so many people had about elected politicians in general. Best seen in how so many believed with a bewildering fervent energy that those who had been in office should be voted out, that virtually anyone new was a better choice. (This could be seen by CHML’s Scott Thompson exhorting listeners to ‘Vote them ALL out! Get rid of ALL incumbents!’)

For me, though the examination of how we got here, how such deeply-rooted cynicism became the norm would be time well-spent, what really matters is how to better move forward as residents, as voters, as constituents. Because there ain’t no magical cache of newcomers waiting in the wings to provide salvation. 

Recently a comment was posted on a Salon.com article, the final portion of which to me contained a wealth of insight:

The world has gotten increasingly complex over the past fifty years. The scientific/political/educational/ economic literacy of the population hasn't kept up."

I believe the Salon quote also inspires a variation on its theme: that just as the average person has not ‘kept up’, I don’t believe that our societal structure has kept up with what this Information Age can deliver in a moiety of the time that used to be required for dissemination and penetration. Because if knowledge is in fact power, then what’s available at any given moment is of a degree of power previously unimaginable…and we are, to my estimation, incapable, unqualified, and perhaps disinclined to wield it. 

What’s this got to do with garbage?

As Adrian Druyzer’s article suggested, the recent consideration afforded biweekly pickup was a wasted opportunity for civic engagement. But as true as that declaration was, what’s all the more true is that in acknowledging it, we've ceded power. 

A decision was made by Council purportedly based on fear of residents’ anger at having further services ‘cut’, and we collectively shrug. 

Look; I want the most qualified people looking after the welfare of our city. But in casting an election vote, I don’t want it to be assumed that I’m OK with the attitude ‘See ya in four years! Do what you think is best, and we’ll review your performance during the next election!’ Frankly, I think that’s part of what’s wrong with the local governance status quo; a lack of engagement on the part of the citizenry. 

So don’t you think that if what we want to do is create a greener, more environmentally responsible culture here in this Amalgamated City of Hamilton, then waiting for our Councillors…who rightly or wrongly decided that the risk of appearing to be cutting back on services that have been paid for by taxpayers is too great, the potential blow-back too potentially calamitous to even consider, given the possible repurcussions…waiting for these elected officials to take the lead is folly?

If we want to create the best city possible, then we’re the ones who need to be acting. Not those we vote in every four years, the very people that so many of us have no faith in, the ones that so many wish to place term limits on. (By the way, I think I’ve revised my feelings about term limits. Done a one-eighty. I’m for them, now. A term limit of one term, thankyouverymuch. Again, the topic of another diatribe, another time.)

If we want to create a culture of greater environmental responsibility, then to my way of thinking, this is up to us. It shouldn’t come down to a new policy as mandated by Council. It shouldn’t come down to new bylaws. Its potential shouldn’t have anything to do with either legislation or the people we pay to fashion that legislation. 

Don’t you think we already have people in this community who are the right ones to be spearheading these kinds of initiatives? Don’t you think that some of these are the bright-and-shining-stars who ran unsuccessfully in last autumn’s election? I don’t believe I need to name names; anyone who’s aware of what’s happening on a grassroots level knows who these people are, and these people themselves don’t need to be pointed out in order to validate their innate sense of purpose, either individually, or en masse. 

Hamiltonians should be contributing less to landfills. We should be composting. We should be showing more responsibility where our waste is concerned. Impacting our environment less, wherever possible. And this may very well include once-every-two-weeks garbage pickup. 

‘Life throws so many things our way we have no control over. It behooves us to look after those things that are within our remit.’

So how about we not wait for a Councillor or two or three to decide that the initiative is sufficiently important to get the ball rolling? That it’s worth the potential risk of career suicide?

How about this time ‘round, we make this decision for ourselves, and we simply start effecting change curbside?