Litter

The litter problem in Southern California seems to keep getting worse. But I've discovered an easy way for the "good guys," who do not litter, to help make up for all the cretins who do. Every day, on my early morning walk, I take along a brown paper grocery bag. I make it a point to pick up some of the miscellaneous trash I come across while getting my daily exercise. Of course, I avoid the really messy stuff in the interests of personal hygiene. But it's amazing how many unsightly cans, wrappers and bottles you can pick up with little or no extra effort.

The theme all season long has been "Rise," as in lob the ball high in the air and watch Blake Griffin slam it home. As in rise behind Chris Paul and lift a franchise. Only the team jumped the gun a little and passed out red T-shirts for Game 4 that read, "Risen. " It's Monday afternoon, a few hours before Game 4 for the Clippers and I'm on the telephone with C.J. Paul . Anyone who goes by their initials has to be a good guy. C.J. is Chris Paul's big brother by two years, his business manager and his best friend.

A recent letter recited the fact that many persons who act in anguish when there is an oil spill that affects our environment are the same ones who throw litter from their autos and leave garbage on our beaches. The sea has a way of tossing the litter back, thus penalizing mankind with, at times, expensive cleanups. Our public authorities should move in the same direction: assessing heavy fines for even the most moderate acts of littering--whether the acts occur on land or sea. The penalties should be widely publicized and the cost of the program derived from fines assessed the violators.

Southland residents, tens of thousands of them without electricity, braced for a second onslaught of cold and freakishly powerful winds late Thursday, having barely had time to assess the fallen trees and shredded rooftops left by the previous night's barrage. "Nobody in our department has ever seen such widespread damage. Nobody," said Jon Kirk Mukri, general manager of the Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks, talking of scores of city parks so littered with broken branches and teetering trees that they were considered a threat to public safety.

I was out for a walk this weekend and encountered someone picking up trash. I asked which organization he represents. None. Community service? No. He has extra time, likes his walks and got sick of the trash. I was reminded of a Nov. 7 letter on litter: Don't complain -- do something about it! Wendy D. Henderson Chatsworth

As a cigarette smoker, I want to commend David Lazarus for his article ("Fuming over cigarette butt litter," Nov. 30) regarding self-centered smokers who litter their butts wherever they feel like it. In public places, I make it a point to extinguish my cigarette and discard the butt in a trash can. The same applies to my automobile; my butts are never thrown out onto the highway. We smokers owe society cleanliness and courtesy. Aside from a hefty fine, a good punishment would be mandatory weekend litter cleanup in our parks and sidewalks for three months.

I am writing in response to your article (July 11) " 'Litter-Free Zone' Declared in Newport Beach." I think it is really great how everyone is helping to keep everything clean around the pier. We should take this as a lesson: Get together and keep our land clean. NATALIE D. STREET La Habra

Ann Blum wants L.A. to actively enforce the litter law (Voices, Sept. 9). Littering will always be a problem when there is no easy way to dispose of litter. Having visited clean countries, I couldn't help but notice the availability of trash cans on sidewalks. In this area, the only place I see them is occasionally at bus stops. The idea is to make it easy to get rid of trash; the littering problem perhaps doesn't disappear, but it certainly would decrease in severity. CHRISTINE A. BREAN South Gate

It's one of those things so mundane and commonplace, most of us probably don't even notice when it happens, let alone get worked up over it. I don't know why it bugged me so much when I saw it again the other day. I was driving on the 10 Freeway and watching as the driver ahead of me and his passenger casually flicked cigarette ashes out their windows as they chatted. Then, as they finished their smokes, first one and then the other tossed their butts onto the road. This town is a lot of things.

John Balzar (Commentary, Feb. 13) urges all to follow President Bush's suggestion that we devote 4,000 hours to volunteerism. For those who are "so busy" they can't spare even four hours to do their part, there is a way to do something wonderful for the planet that involves no rescheduling of one's time: Carry plastic bags and pick up litter wherever you go. You don't have to take a single step out of your way. It's everywhere. Linda Segall-Anable Valley Glen

Social psychologist Diederik Stapel made a name for himself by pushing his field into new territory. His research papers appeared to demonstrate that exposure to litter and graffiti makes people more likely to commit small crimes and that being in a messy environment encourages people to buy into racial stereotypes, among other things. But these and other unusual findings are likely to be invalidated. An interim report released last week from an investigative committee at his university in the Netherlands concluded that Stapel blatantly faked data for dozens of papers over several years.

Andrea Angott has a doctorate in psychology and is a postdoctoral associate in the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University. She generally spends her days studying how consumers make decisions about their healthcare. But last year she detoured into the curious world of home staging. Staging, for those of you who have never flicked on the HGTV cable channel, is the process of decluttering, rearranging and otherwise dressing up your home to make it appeal to a broad array of potential buyers.

Swooping low over the office courtyard's pond, the lone gull was watching like a hawk. In fact, the gull was watching for a hawk, not to mention the three falcons perched next to the man-made lake in the center of the Water Garden in Santa Monica. The gull let out a loud screech and kept on flying when it spotted the four birds of prey. "He's letting the other gulls know we're still here," said Fred Seaman, a falconer hired by the office complex to rid its 17-acre site of messy gulls and pigeons.

No one had to explain it to Rory McIlroy — he understood the significance of the moment. The 22-year-old from Northern Ireland had just won the U.S. Open, capturing his first major, and already his name was being mentioned in the same breath as Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus. McIlroy had become the Next Big Thing. "When you win a major quite early in your career, everyone is going to draw comparisons," he told reporters. "It's natural. " Modern sport thrives on star power, feeding off those rarified athletes who come along once a generation or so, talented and successful enough to become icons.

California's coastline is full of colorfully named strands like Seal Beach, Pismo Beach and Muscle Beach. However, Tin Can Beach — a wacky monument to littering — is just a memory. The nickname for a 3½-mile stretch of sand just north of Huntington Beach, Tin Can Beach reached the heights of trashiness in the 1940s and '50s when it was the sometime domain of hobos, drinkers, free spirits and vacationers. They built cardboard shacks, erected tents and thought nothing of tossing used cans, bottles, paper plates and other debris to the ground.

Southern California researchers have found evidence of ingestion of plastic among small fish in the northern Pacific Ocean in a study that they say shows the troubling effect floating litter is having on marine life in the far reaches of the world's oceans. About 35% of the fish collected on a 2008 research expedition off the West Coast had plastic in their stomachs, according to a study to be presented Friday by Algalita Marine Research Foundation and the Southern California Coastal Water Research Project.

Starting today, beach-goers will see new, aqua-colored drums in Bolsa Chica and Huntington State beaches, city and state officials said Tuesday, as they unveiled an anti-litter program. The effort is part of "California Cleaning," a 1-year-old state pilot program aimed at increasing public awareness about litter problems.

The morning after in Tahrir Square resembled the aftermath of a hurricane: a desolate landscape of walking wounded, husks of wrecked vehicles and a scatter of random debris. Here, a rubber sandal, there a bloodied scarf, and on the periphery, a very small, very dirty kitten. Anti-government protesters held their ground in the sprawling plaza through a violent night in which firebombs rained down and automatic weapons fire rattled. As it grew light Thursday morning, some of the square's defenders collapsed into sleep on traffic medians or on mats spread on the filthy concrete.

Mid-City Arts, the street-art gallery attached to a spray paint supply store that brought us last year's big tagger-gone-legit debut show by Chaka, has gone the same route with another artist who grabbed the public's attention before being grabbed by the authorities. The show is "Rick Ordonez: Kitty Litter. " FOR THE RECORD: A subheadline on an earlier online version of this article erred in calling the show "Kitty Liter. " Ordonez made his name in graffiti circles as Atlas ?