MY husband and I recently visited family in Glasgow who live close to the Forth and Clyde Canal, and we decided to take a walk along the footpath. 

This was not our first sojourn to Glasgow, and I had been on the canal a couple of years ago and remembered there was a notable amount of trash then. What a horrible mess this walkway has become.  

The level of garbage strewn along the banks, on the pavement, and in the canal water was truly phenomenal and just plain disgusting. What should have been a delightful walk among the daffodils along this 230-year-old waterway was cut short as we were done looking at all the trash.  

Not only was it the empty vape boxes, candy wrappers, plastic cups, etc., but entire rubbish bin bags that had been deposited along the embankment. And it’s not simply the sadness from the visual affront, but this amount of garbage also presents significant health hazards for people, wildlife, the soil and water.  

In addition to providing a small swath of habitat for the local ecosystem, the research supporting the physical, psychological, emotional and physiological benefits of walking or bicycling in greenery areas has been well documented. 

What a gift this people-friendly and beautiful walkway should be for residents in the middle of a city the size of Glasgow. And of course, it encourages commuting by bicycle decreasing automobile usage. 

Here in the states, we certainly have our own problems with litter and damage and try to keep more public areas as cleaned up as possible, especially those places most attractive to tourists and beneficial to the local population. But it’s not always successful for many reasons – primarily financial – but it can also be attributed to the lack of a collective sense of ownership of these public places and ignorance of the multiple levels of benefits.   

I hope in the future there will be improvement to rehabilitate and preserve this truly unique resource. At this point it’s being wasted and it’s heartbreaking.

Lynda Monsey, RN, NP, MSN
Boulder, Colorado, USA  

YET another dreadful shooting and killing of innocent children in Texas by a young man who was only a child not so long ago. 

Listening to President Biden last night shaming his own citizens and politicians about gun laws on how an 18-year-old can buy assault weapons is not acceptable. How many presidents have spoken out about this in the past and done nothing to change the laws? 

Maybe this one can as he directed his sad words to the gun lobby brigades. Change the constitution or at least make it harder to get arms privately. I was in tears after his speech thinking about the poor children who lost their lives and to the parents. 

He said how will they sleep or tell their other siblings what happened? I hope none of my children ever have to face the same situation.

Remember Dunblane, I do and think about it every time I visit the place and where I was when I heard the news. RIP little ones.

Tony Kapelko