Why?

To say that coastal San Diego is paradise understates the consistently mild climate and the shockingly fertile growing environment. Plant a seed, something will grow—even bearing flowers and/or fruit multiple times during 12 months. Food is aplenty and too often wasted, as the Featured Image indicates.

I came upon the fallen fruit, presumably a variety of apple, today along Louisiana Street in my neighborhood of University Heights. I wondered: Why? Why waste good food, given as a gift of the fantastic climate conditions? There are homeless folks and hungry families all around the area. If you don’t want the bounty, put it out for someone to take. Generosity isn’t any easier than something you have no need for that another person might desperately and gratefully accept.

Oh, I wanted to grab some of the (presumed) apples and put them out on the sidewalk. But some residents are just nutty enough with their doorcams to cry theft and plaster my mug on Facebook or Nextdoor. Technically, my action would be stealing, and maybe there is some reason for letting the, ah, forbidden fruit languish. I’ll never know. But I see lots of waste similar enough to this situation to make an example of it.

Photo vitals: f/3.4, ISO 32, 1/640 sec, 115mm (film equivalent); 12:32 p.m. PDT; Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra.