Jasmine GrotteEnglish 1106Essay 2 Comparison/Contrast        Pollution Then and Now      How much garbage do you notice on the sides of the road now?     The contrast between the expansive quantities of pollution in our parent’s days and ours is bewildering in its contrariety. Prior to the year of 1972 the land and waters of
America were shamefully disgraced by the dissipative lifestyle of the American people. Notwithstanding, the fashionable advantages of the twenty first century have brought us impeccably clean roads and rivers.      The bedraggled and consistent state of the parking lots and the sides of the road was something that my mother and father consistently noticed during the sixties and seventies. On any given day that Mother chose to go for a ride in a vehicle, she begrudgingly bore the sight of trash and discarded paraphernalia along the road sides by which she traveled. My father particularly heeded the sea of cigarette buds that blanketed the once black asphalt of a local grocery store. Although this was not the most pleasant of possible ambiances, the American people, like my parents, accepted it as normal. They continued on with their everyday lifestyles of frivolous disposal of unneeded or expired items while the condition of our nation was becoming an embarrassment to our citizens.    Congress passed the clean water act in 1972. The Clean Water Act was presented in an attempt to properly maintain the physical, chemical, and biological candor of our nation’s water. This attempt by the government to improve the living conditions of Americans prompted the beginning of an awareness of our environment that has taken off in amazing continuance affecting our everyday life. The population as a whole has taken tremendous strides in improving our environment and the conditions in which we choose to abide.      The group LAG, Livermore Action Group, from
California made a stand with nonviolent actions to promote much needed cleaner water. Earth Day emerged April 22, 1970 which helped coin the official term “environmentalism” being associated with concerns about the care and the prognosis of the Earth. Both the first group and the latter social acknowledgement were part of a major communal effort to better our circumstances.      My Father particularly reminisces about a promotion that was showed during the commercials between the Saturday morning cartoons. The promotion showcased a vast amount terrain surrounding a highway. A Native American was seen with his back to the television audience looking over the land that was completely covered in litter, and as the Native American turned his head to face us, you saw tears streaming down his face. This commercial made a big impact on my Father and his interpretation of the littering problem.      As we now experience everyday life in 2007 we can hardly imagine what it was like to live in the filthy conditions that so many subjected themselves to only 30 years ago. Today, as we drive down highway 53, it catches our immediate attention and we decry a Wal-Mart bag floating aimlessly in the wind. We find ourselves particularly offended if we step on a chewed and rejected piece of gum. I am quite certain that we could all visualize the consequences of throwing a Coke can out of a window while we are driving. The overall perspective of the average American has changed so drastically, and for the better; since the days of our parents.