[latchkey]

Saigon is a massive city and has garbage collection infrastructure, yet people still dump trash into the rivers that run through the cities. It is actual culture to just toss trash onto the streets, into the gutters and into the rivers.

I used to live alongside Truong Sa river and watched people dump their trash into it all day long. There is even a govt run group that goes up and down the river all day long picking up trash.

I've been following this group for a while now... they do cleanups all the time...

https://www.instagram.com/sai_gonxanh/

[Workaccount2]

I have worked with people who grew up in Central America and just drop garbage on the ground when done with something. Even if the trash is 20 feet away.

It's hard to shake natural habits from your youth, especially if you don't even care that much.

[latchkey]

My experience is that it isn't about not caring.

It is that people who have very little (or come from very little) care about different things, like putting food on the table, today. It is survival instinct only.

Quality of education goes a long way too. Do they teach sustainability in schools there? Even if they did, how many generations of kids do we have to go through before they teach these things to their kids?

There is no concept of a week or a month or 10 years from now. When you're lacking that, you have no care for the future or how your actions today, will affect things down the road.

It really was eye opening taking myself out of my nurture and actually living in a place like SE Asia.