You are walking down the street and someone in front of you
discards some trash on the sidewalk.

Vous marchez dans la rue et quelqu'un devant vous jette un
papier gras sur le trottoir.

Frown, but say nothing
I ask them to throw it in a trah can.
I pick it up
I pick it up and put it in a trash can
I pick it up and put it in the garbage.
I will not care about the person or the trash.
I won't be too bothered
I would be disappointed. I might pick it up or just keep walking
I would be feel disgust and disappointment. I would then pick up the trach when I came to it and throw it away.
i would feel bad but i probably wouldn't say anything. i would probably pick it up and throw it away.
I would keep walking.
I would not do anything. I would find it discouraging.
I would pick it up if it didn't already fly away.
I would pick it up if it were small and put it in the garbage if it was nearby.
I would shake my head and think they're not cool.
I would think to myself, "What a loser..."
I would walk past it.
If it's not disgusting, I'd pick up the trash and throw it away.
inwardly annoyed but probably wouldn't say anything
Keep walking

"quel con!"
c'est sale
ça m'est égal
Chacun sa conscience
Je fais une réflexion à voix haute à ma copine
je laisse faire, regrettant de ne pas être plus courageux
Je le ramasse
je le ramasse
je le ramasse et je le jette à la poubelle
Je le ramasse et le jette dans la prochaine poubelle.
je le ramasse et le mets à la poubelle
je le ramasse.
je le ramasserai.
je lui fais remarquer que si son désir était de viser une poubelle, il a râté son coup
Je me dis qu'il n'agit pas correctement, mais je ne fais rien
je ne dis rien, mais maugrée
je ne fais rien
je ne fais rien, on ne peut pas changer les gens
Je ne réagis pas
je pense que c'est très sale mais je n'ai pas le courage de lui faire remarquer
Si il y a une poubelle à proximité, je le ramasse et le jette (sinon je le laisse). Je pense que la personne est un pollueur.

Discussion

The
responses from both sides are pretty similar. There are two main
categories 1) they would pick it up 2) they would walk away. The
responses are pretty evenly divided between the two. A few students
also said that they find it disgusting to litter.

I
found that a lot of MIT students associated seeing someone litter with
emotions. For example, several students commented that they would feel
bad or disappointed. I think part of it is because of a large emphasis
on taking care of the environment and recycling in our school systems.
For example, I feel bad throwing a soda can in the trash, knowing that
it could be reused. What is the recycling program like in France and is
there a lot of time spent in schools education students on the
importance of recycling and protecting the environment?

Je
suis d'accord avec les analyses precedentes.Je rajouterais neamoins que
quelque eleves francais ont le souci de faire remarquer a la personne
qui a jete le papier que son comportement n est pas adaptee,il y a donc
une reelle volonte d eduquer chez certains francais.Je voudrais poser
une question aux eleves du MIT... Si vous sentez aussi contrarie et mal
a l aise en constatant d tels comportements,pourquoi vous vous
comptetez d etre decu et vous n essayez pas d intervenir plus
directement? Je sais qu il est inutile de corriger les gens directement
mais je crois au il est aussi inutile d sentir la deception sans
pouvoir agir!!

En
effet, les réactions sont à peu près les mêmes, mais les étudiants du
MIT parlent plus de leurs sentiments alors que pour les étudiants
français ce point n'est pas du tout abordé, il se degage par contre une
volonté de s'adresser à la personne et de lui faire remarquer que ce
qu'elle a fait est sale, dans le but qu'elle ne recommence pas a
l'avenir.

En reponse à Stephanie, à l'école, on n'a pas de cours sur la
protection de l'environnement ou sur le recyclage, en tout cas, jamais
pendant ma scolarité, je n'en ai eu, même pas de sensibilisation. Et je
pense que peu de personnes en France se sentent mal quand elles ont mis
à la poubelle quelque chose qui pourrait être recyclé. A l'école
polytechnique, les déchets ne sont pas vraiment triés, il existe un
conteneur à papier et une benne à verre sur tout le campus, ce qui
n'est pas très pratique au quotidien donc tout va dans la même poubelle
en général. Mais dans beaucoup de villes en France, les déchets sont
triés un minimum.

Il y a aussi en ce moment une campagne de publicite a la télé
pour réduire la quantité de déchets et je crois que de plus en plus de
personnes se sentent concernées par la protection de l'environnement
mais les comportements changent très lentement et c'est un phénomène
assez recent; nos voisins allemands ont beaucoup d'avance sur nous.

Qu'en est-t-il chez vous?

I
wanted to comment a little on Stephanie and Lise's posts. I grew up in
Texas, where recycling was not at all emphasized. We did not have
recycling bins in our school or our homes. In fact, when I was little,
I remember burning our trash. I know you are thinking, wow, Texas is
really backwards. However, I think that this lack of environmental
awareness stems from the conservative nature of Texas (and the South in
general). So, although some parts of the US are really working on
recycling more and reducing the amount of trash, other parts aren't
nearly as progressive.

In response to Tarek, I think that throwing trash away was
drilled into our heads when we were little. Now, we do it without
thinking and get angry at someone who violate the rule, just as our
teachers and parents used to get angry at us when we violated it. But,
I would say that the majority of Americans don't care enough about the
environment to pick up someone else's trash. We're too busy with the
rest of our lives to bend down and pick something up that we didn't
throw down.

You
guys might think this is funny, but when I was little, I remember
burning our trash too. (I'm also from Texas) My grandparents lived out
in the country, and back in the eighties, the trash truck only came by
once every two or three weeks. Sometimes they had way too much trash
and they didn't want it to fester for two weeks out on the porch, so
they burned it. I'm sure my grandparents didn't want to hurt the
environment, but they didn't know any better. Texas has changed a lot
though, I think. We had a recycling bin at our high school, and the
teachers were always encouraging us to "save the earth." In fact, I
remember watching comericals with the motto "Don't Mess with Texas" to
encourage drivers to stop polluting and trashing our highways.(it
happens a lot--> One time I was driving home from school, and I saw
some people in the back of a pick-up truck drop a mattress onto the
middle of the road! Another time, I saw some guys throw big huge trash
bags out the window while going 60mph on a highway.) Even though parts
of the South aren't necessarily as environment-conscious as the rest of
the country, I think we're trying our best to deal with the situation.

Do people in France pollute the highways? If so, how is this problem addressed?

engage