Do you really have to leave that there?

While I wouldn't necessarily call myself a huge part of the "going green" movement, I do believe we should all do our part. I use reusable shopping bags for just about everything, I use environmentally friendly household cleaners, I've stopped buying bottled water and I don't litter. It's not much...but I'm getting there. Yesterday I saw something that totally irked me. I was walking to the parking garage after work when I saw this man walking toward me. In one hand he had a cigarette and in the other a fast food bag. As we both approached a garbage can that was on the sidewalk from opposite directions, he chucked both the cigarette and the bag in the direction of the can. Notice I didn't say, "in the garbage can". Both items landed on the sidewalk. The man continued to walk as if he'd made a basket...he didn't turn his head to look, he didn't slow down...nothing. He just kept on walking. His actions stopped me dead in my tracks. Seriously? You're going to throw your trash on the sidewalk next to the garbage can??? I picked up the fast food bag and dropped it in the trash, an action that probably took 2 seconds out of my life. (I left the cigarette butt on the ground though, there's just something about picking something up that has a stranger's spit on it that makes my skin crawl.) I'm not a do-gooder, or an environmental activist, but Mr. Litterbug, is it too much to ask that you pick up your trash?