I’m Pigman. The most piggish of all men, you know – Superman, Batman and all the others. But I’m not proud of it anymore. On the contrary – I’m trying to protect people against my destiny. Many years before I was careless boy. Without muzzle and pink wrap. The entire world was at my feet. I thought – if you throw paper on the ground, there will be someone who will pick it up. If you throw your fridge in the wood, there will be somebody who will pick it up. And so I did – had something not-needed, I threw it out of my car’s window. Had a crap – threw it away.

Once I was getting ready to slop out motor oil – straight from my old car, straight near to the margin of the lake. So what? Am I not the greatest nature’s product, don’t I have my rights? And, after all, isn’t the oil as natural as mud? I took the wrench and screw the crank case.

“Don’t slop out that oil, you’ll turn into a pig,” I heard suddenly. That was a small man, with grey beard and a piglet in his armpit. “Don’t slop out that oil,” he repeated.

Piglet started to kick and suddenly the wind came on. “Crazy,” I thought, but responded him kindly: “I’m not slopping, the oil slops out itself.” And I screw out the bolt.

BANG! I heard stunning roar, and all I saw, was pink fog. But not. That was giant, deep and long boar’s squeak, which started in east, then rolled on me, knocking me off in the slop of motor oil.

I stood up. The man with grey beard and piglet were gone, but something seemed different and strange. I turned my car’s mirror and looked at myself. Pink wrap, muzzle, tail in ring and cloven hoofs instead of human hands… At first I thought – this is a joke. I tried to get rid of the wrap. Useless. It has grown to my back. I touched my muzzle. It was a part of my face now. I can’t describe how desperate I was. All I wanted – to get back my old appearance. But I didn’t know how.

I tried to call for the man with piglet. Useless. I collect all slopped oil to the last one tiny drop. Nothing changed. And then I put my cloven hoof in pocket inside of the wrap and found a note: “From this moment you will be fighting for clean forest. You will speak to the people, you will learn children, you will propagate clean forests and let them know the fact, that anyone who will litter in forest, sooner or later will turn into a pig. You will organize collective litter gathering, meet the journalists and participate in advertisements. And only when Latvia will be clean, as clean as Norway, for example, only then you’ll become a man again.”

So, this is my message: “Don’t litter the forest! You’ll turn into a pig!”

Refuse in forests of Latvia

Public opinion poll says that every year about 82 % inhabitants of Latvia spend their holiday in the forest, and the number still is growing. However, more people in forest means more refuse – nowadays we use more throwaway dishes, packages, grills and we leave them right there, in forest. The biggest problem is growing number of the plastic refuse left in forests – plastic doesn’t decompose. And as the number of private houses and other building activities increases, also the problem of industrial and household waste left in forests is getting more painful. Every year JSC “Latvia’s state forests” takes off the forests about 6 thousand cubic meters of waste – it’s about 120 log trucks, full of garbage!

How did I start?

In July of 2005 JSC “Latvia’s state forests”, cooperating with Ministry of the Environment and Ministry of Agriculture, started social campaign “Don’t litter the forest! You’ll turn into a pig!” to draw public’s attention to the refuse problem in forests. The main character of this campaign became Pigman (in Latvian – Cūkmens). From 2005 social campaign “Don’t litter the forest! You’ll turn into a pig!” draws public’s attention publishing informative materials on television and radio, also exposing posters in the streets and publishing information on written media. Pigman, personalizing polluters, goes to schools and children camps. Every year more and more public organizations, waste management companies and others want to get involved in this social campaign and be friends with Pigman.

How long will I be fighting?

“The problem of forest pollution, in my opinion, isn’t hidden in the garbage themselves, but in public’s attitude towards environment,” says JSC “Latvia’s state forests” chairman of the board Roberts Strīpnieks, “While people don’t get, that we are not sent on Earth from some other planet to conquer it, but we have born here and we are a part of this planet, it’s useless to wait that that kind of person will take his garbage off the forest after his picnic. We can organize infinite activities to clean the forest, but the most important and the hardest exercise for us is to change public’s attitude. This is the main aim of this social campaign.”

To change public’s attitude – this is not exercise for one or two years, it’ll take a lot more time. That’s why every summer from 2005 JSC “Latvia’s state forests” actualize this social campaign against littering in forests, hoping for better and closer cooperation with all nature’s friends. Pigman will become a man again in that moment, when forests of Latvia will be free of waste!

Have a question? Don’t hesitate to write me an e-mail: Cukmens@cukmens.lv!

Photos of my activities HERE.

Videos of my activities HERE.

Ierunā