Tuesday, June 16, 2015

Imitating Birdman

Last Sunday, Birdman of Portland City Photos posted a similar drain sign, leading to the Bay in his city. The one above is one of the most recent curbside signs in my neighborhood.  This reminded me of a community service activity that students did in the school in which I used to teach.  One day in 2012 by happenstance in front of my house, I saw a former colleague shepherding her small group of advisees to paint the warning signs on the the drain areas on our block.  Perhaps the discarded "stuff" is diverted some way to a central location, but it appears that the rainwater and debris along the curbs drain directly to the river.  Who knew!?


Linking to Our World Tuesday

20 comments:

  1. That's a clever thing to do.

    Mersad
    Mersad Donko Photography

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  2. We're definitely a throw-away society and we should all be more responsible to protect our environment. Everything that is cared for and maintained the way it should be always lasts longer. That's also true for our planet. We humans have possibly discovered that too late!

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  3. I wish they would do something similar here, as ours connect directly to the Wabash river... yet you see the most horrendous things dumped.

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  4. Kinda a scary thought, isn't it!

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  5. This is an interesting topic to me. I thought that by now most, if not all, major cities had reworked their drainage to discharge into treatment facilities instead of natural water resources.

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  6. I didn't know that. Glad to see the signs, as I know people dump all kinds of stuff down those drains.

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  7. Jack, I think they do. The signs on our city streets serve as just a gentle environmental reminder. Can you say 'scare tactic'? I know you can.

    Kate, I'm flattered. Blush.

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  8. i think it's a very good warning to have!

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  9. We have similar warnings on openings that drain into our streams and creeks.
    It wasn't all that long ago that raw sewage was drained into the Mississippi River. Perhaps we are learning and young people today will take better care of the planet.

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  10. I've never seen this done here.

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  11. I think that is a grand idea.

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  12. Very important. We have no warnings...

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  13. I can certainly understand that rainwater isn't cleaned, but I thought there would be some kind of filter. Interesting reminder!

    PS: Regarding the memorial on my blog today, it's a general memorial to victims of terror and oppression.

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  14. Here they have put new asphalt above the old one and covered all water drainage pipes with it. Now our apartment house' basement is full with water in the rain. No, they do not care about the river, steal more money and fast is the only concern. And we are OK, everybody does not care about anything at all. (sorry for this short introduction to Moscow City life and thank you so much for the comment!).

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  15. Good to remind people, I think!

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  16. It's called "non-point-source pollution" and it's an initiative to reduce pollution from driveway (motor oil) and garden (pesticides and herbicides) sources. And idiots have been known to pour waste motor oil and other pollutants down storm drains, too. Despite what Jack and Birdman suggest, most storm drain systems flow into waterways. The cost of rerouting them through treatment plants is way beyond what most citizens are willing to spend. (Speaking of which, our northern neighbor, Victoria, B.C., is still daily pouring all of its untreated sewage (millions of gallons) directly into the Strait of Juan de Fuca. We're not as far along and enlightened as we'd like to think.)...and now I'll get off my soap box. Thank you.

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  17. We have these in both N.H. and in Massachusetts. What a great idea it is. It is hard to imagine that people don't know this...but....

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  18. You won't see that here.

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  19. I use see folks sweeping leaves and debris into these drains....not good.

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  20. Isn't it a shame that humans need campaigns like this just to do what is more than obvious?! Even so, terrorist attacks on the environment take place everyday everywhere...

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