We were shocked to learn this week of the amount of trash being collected along Harvard’s byways by one-woman anti-litter crusader Christine Spielvogel. We wonder how much of the litter is deliberate and how much is accidental. After all, things can fall off the back of trucks and out of pockets. We’d like to think it’s accidental. But she is collecting an awful lot of trash.

We also wonder about all the beer cans, wine jugs, and liquor bottles she’s been finding. Is this a symptom of an under-age drinking problem in town? Or drivers operating while intoxicated? Maybe the police should take notice.

We hope others will join Spielvogel in this anti-litter campaign, bringing along trash bags and keeping an eye out for it during walks along Harvard’s otherwise scenic roads.

In this environmentally-enlightened age of low carbon diets, wind turbines, solar panels, and eat-local campaigns, we hope people will tune in to the litter problem that’s been with us since we started making, buying, using, and throwing away stuff. We need to become more aware of just how much stuff we’re buying, and before we buy it give some thought to where it will end up when we no longer have a use for it.