Why Do People Litter?

I've been blogging for the last four years on another blogging platform about litter. Because I love Google, I decided recently to move the blog. The overturned, abandoned hot tub, which was left on the side of Newsom Station Road in the outskirts of Nashville, Tenn., started my blogging obsession about my trash obsession.

There is an orange fungus* that I have seen growing in my yard. When I first noticed this overturned hot tub, I thought that the fungus, laced on steroids from our water supply, had grown out of control on the side of the road. Or was it an alien ship abandoned by visitors from outer space? Should I admit that I was actually startled by the litter? I was.

How did this large lump of litter make it to the side of the road? Did it fly out of the back of a pick up truck as countless plastic bags do each day? Did someone flick it out a car window just like a cigarette butt?

I never learned (or cared) who tossed this in my neighborhood. I just called Metro Public Works, who picked it up for the slob who left it there. For me, this slob's trash changed my life.

*The fungus is known as the dog vomit slime mold.