3 Reasons Why Los Angeles Should Invest In Clean Streets
Over the years, Los Angeles has had a reputation for its growing accumulation of trash in parts of town — Here are three reasons why that should change.
1. Clean streets make for a beautiful ambiance.
If you’ve ever noted the most beautiful cities worldwide, they are well-kept. A clean town gives a magical vibe, an aura of hope and stability. Cleaner streets smell like nature, and dirtier ones give out a pungent smell that is challenging to eliminate. Take Madrid, for example, a clean city of wonder and hope — Or Copenhagen, a colorful, tidy, and magical place in Denmark.
Los Angeles needs to catch up. But is it irreversible? Maybe not. If you look at cities like West Hollywood, for example, or Beverly Hills, it’s clear that more affluent parts of town can maintain a high standard. So why can’t Echo Park? or Koreatown?
Chelsea’s Home Health Care has its headquarters in Koreatown — so every day, we see this before our own eyes. But we envision a better future.
2. Clean streets are better for our health, our wildlife, and the environment.
“There’s more than one way that litter is hazardous to wildlife. Animals can get their heads stuck in jars or cups that smell like food”, and “Eating litter can also lead to extreme illness or death in wildlife” (Sciencing). Additionally, humans can also get sick from this litter. Medical waste like needles can cause infection and disease to spread. Thus, we must keep our streets clean for ourselves and wildlife.
Not only can litter be detrimental for our health, it can be bad for the environment. Litter can pollute the environment just as much as cars can. As litter breaks down, chemicals are released into the air. Also, microplastics break down, negatively affecting the ocean (Texas Disposal).
A Keep America Beautiful study found that, “Cigarette butts continue to be the single most littered item in the United States, even though cigarette butt litter has declined dramatically since 2009. Plastic films, both general use films and food-packaging films, such as candy wrappers or snack bags, represent the second and third most littered items in America”.¹
3. Litter can negatively affect mental health.
According to Trashfreemaryland.org, “Studies that used the Center for Epidemiological Depression scale and Patient Health Questionnaire to measure the correlation between litter and mental health found that patients who communicated a more negative perception of neighborhood characteristics displayed more depressive symptoms. Participants who communicated a more positive perception of neighborhood displayed fewer depressive symptoms”.²
Thus, it’s highly important to keep our cities clean — for the health of ourselves, our wildlife, our environment, for natural beauty, and mental health!
What can you do to make a difference?
- When you see trash and are near a trash can, pick it up. It is not demeaning to pick up garbage — Regardless of who carelessly left it there before you. I truly believe, It is up to us to make the changes we want to see in the world.
- Contact your local city hall and see if they can invest more resources into a city cleanup program.
- Be a voice for change — to friends, family, co-workers, etc.
- And finally, be mindful of your own trash, reduce reuse and recycle!
And with that — Keep this article in mind the next time you think about a city like Los Angeles that needs cleaning!
I see litter as part of a long continuum of anti-social behavior.
Bill Bryson
Citations:
¹Keep America Beautiful. (2021, May). Keep America Beautiful 2020 National Litter Study Summary Report.
²https://www.trashfreemaryland.org/blog/2019/05/23/can-litter-affect-mental-health-what-were-starting-to-learn-about-a-connection-between-clean-communities-and-wellness#_ftn4
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Perez, L. G., Arredondo, E. M., Mckenzie, T. L., Holguin, M., Elder, J. P., & Ayala, G. X. (2015). Neighborhood Social Cohesion and Depressive Symptoms among Latinos: Does Use of Community Resources for Physical Activity Matter?Journal of Physical Activity and Health,12(10), 1361-1368. doi:10.1123/jpah.2014-0261
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CHHC provides services in a dignified, humane, and cost effective manner and according to plan of Care directed by the patient’s physician. CHHC shall not discriminate according to group, gender, age, sexual preference, or diagnosis. Additionally, this post is solely a general post and does not involve any specific families, employees, etc. Any photos are from sources available to the general public and are actors rather than real patients.
