Keeping our homes and streets clean is something we all do, at least if we value our health. A clean space is less conducive to disease, or to disease-carrying organisms like pests and varmints.
Large metropolitan cities, such as London and New York, pride themselves for their systematic approach toward hygiene, yet they still face huge health issues, some of which are rodent-related.
London, for example, is infested with mice. NY is crawling with rats.
Many people blame the infestations on the geography of these cities. Others blame it on the demographics. Others still on the nature of big cities, period.
Granted, there’s much to be done to clean up cities like these round the world, starting with sewage systems, sanitation services, and technological innovation. Yet none of these initiatives matter as long as the cities’ inhabitants act irresponsibly with their garbage.
in 1991, in response to this problem, film director David Lynch teamed up with his Wild At Heart cinematographer, Frederick Elmes, to create an anti-littering PSA, the aim of which was to showcase what exactly fuels rodent infestations.
See, in Lynch’s world there’s no such thing as innocence. Everyone is complicit. Everyone’s accountable.
Or, as I like to put it, ‘For every rat that messes up something, there’s an action that enabled it, and an actor in need of new direction.’