There aren’t many things that are universally cool, and it’s cool not to litter. I’d never do it.

McConaughey frames environmental responsibility as a matter of social identity rather than mere rule-following. By calling anti-littering “universally cool,” he suggests that some ethical behaviors can transcend subcultures, politics, or trends—becoming a shared baseline for public decency. The blunt personal pledge (“I’d never do it”) reinforces the idea that character is shown in small, everyday choices made when no one is watching. The quote also works rhetorically by reclaiming “cool” for civic-minded conduct, implying that true confidence and maturity express themselves through respect for shared spaces and the people who use them.