On behalf of Rebekah and the Ditch Pigs, past and present...I welcome them to the
Camino Frances, or any other route, or segment of a route, for that matter. Their assistance, if offered eventually, will be very appreciated. Leaving trash along the Camino is something that I continue to not understand.
Perhaps it was growing up during the first Earth Day campaigns of the very polluted 1960s and 1970s in North America. It sort of started with Rachel Carson’s New York Times bestseller novel
Silent Spring in 1962. Then we had a growing consciousness that the environment was really messed up. It looked, smelled, and even tasted bad. When you can see and taste the air you breathe, it is bad.
Grassroots efforts developed to try to clean up local dumping areas and localized polluted places. That was my early introduction to being a Ditch Pig I suppose...
Finally, we had the indoctrination (in a good sense) provided by the regular Public Service adverts on TV. They showed actor "Iron Eyes Cody" (actually a Sicilian/Italian-American who made quite a living portraying native Americans in film over his very long career) lamenting the state of "his" environment. It was a brilliant production and well played.
See Iron Eyes Cody information here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Eyes_Cody
I was a teenager at that time. But the entire effect was profound and life changing. Most everyone in my generation stopped littering and starting picking stuff up. That habit continues to this day. THAT is why I just do not understand how too many pilgrims can fail to pack it out...
Just as an FYI, if you are interested, here is the iconic TV ad in color:
As we only had three black & white channels on our TV at home at the time, I only ever saw this advert in grey tones. To my surprise, the actual ad was in color...go figure...after all these years!
I hope this helps.
