HERD ABOUT IT?

by Ana Grarian

In my city we are pretty good at cleaning up after our pets. Everytime you see someone walking their dog, you see the requisite plastic bag. I have a little plastic container on our leash that holds rolls of thin plastic bags.
Now you could argue this is not the best way to deal with pet waste, and I would probably see your point.

Come spring I may look into developing a compost system that would handle dog waste. There are biodegradable bags, but they most likely don’t work in home systems. I probably could go to some kind of wax paper bag for the times I am near home and can dispose of it promptly.
My point is that folks were bothered enough by the presence of a foreign substance to find a solution. And the folks who were responsible for that “problem” responded and cleaned it up. The city has even put up a few pet stations, where you can get a bag and dispose of the contents.

I was reading an atricle in the NY Times about mountain top removal, and the effects of the waste on neighboring communities. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/20/opinion/20House.html

Why do we allow the presence of toxic ponds near schools and residential neighborhoods? Why do we allow them at all? Why are businesses not prosecuted to the full extant of the law and why are the laws changed to allow more of it?
Because it makes money. Commerce is more protected than your right to a clean, healthy neighborhood, water or air. Infringing on the ability of commerce to profit, by assigning “unduly harsh” laws, is illegal.

So if you don’t like leash laws or pooper scooper laws. Find a way to prove they impinge on your business.

You may get them overturned.