Armed with only an iphone and a piece of chalk, one Portobello resident has been chalking up a small victory for unwary pedestrians on the streets of Portobello

A Portobello resident has been out on the streets marking dog mess with chalk, in an effort to keep his fellow pedestrians from having an unfortunate mishap. Paul Lambie is surprisingly modest about his recent act of good citizenship.

"It definitely made a few people smile. I'm pretty confident that nobody watches their dog take a dump and then walks off happy. I hope it's most often an accident. Maybe it's older folk that can't bend down to pick up the doo. It IS something that needs addressing and I thought I might be able to get people talking about solutions. And it's funny. It'd be great if people all over town started chalking up dookie warnings."

Lambie isn't the first to take this matter into his own hands. Will Perrin, who writes a local blog about Kings Cross in London, used colourful Islington Council flags to draw attention to the worst areas in his neighbourhood. There have even been suggestions by some, such as Nicky Getgood of Talk About Local that we harness the power of social media tools like twitter to create a geo-tagged #ukpoo map of Britain, similar to the #snowmap that was created last winter.

There is a serious issue here. As Getgood writes in her call to arms, "it's filthy, unsightly and downright dangerous when there are children about (Toxocariasis is no urban myth)." And, as the council website makes clear, it is an offence not to clear up after your dog when they foul a public place.

For now, Lambie's old school use of chalk is an interesting way of raising awareness. Perhaps other good citzens of Edinburgh could start chalking warnings on the worst streets in the city. If you do, drop Guardian Edinburgh a photo. You can even use the FixMyStreet tool on the frontpage to let the council know where it is.

Coming to a street near you! Photo: Paul Lambie

What is the worst street in Edinburgh for dog poo? Comment below or contact us by email.