Posted by: Izz
6:45am

We're talking again to Rob Wallace of Keep America Beautiful. Earth Day is coming up. What are you doing for that?

Posted by: Rob
7:15am

Earth Day is right in the middle of the Great American Cleanup (April 22nd this year), so a lot of the activities I mentioned will happen around that date. Like many organizations, we take advantage of the extra attention that Earth Day gets to educate people about what they can do EVERY day to help the environment. This year, we'll be coordinating a competition between New York City and Los Angeles to see which city can be the "greenest" by planting the most trees and cleaning up the most litter from Earth Day until the end of May. Next year, we may add some other cities to the competition too.

Some people who are really "into it" celebrate Earth Month throughout the entire month of April. This year, we helped to create an entire calendar of kids' activities with something new to do or think about every day.

Posted by: Dex
7:20am

Mr Rob, Sir. I found a crazy long list on your Web site of freaky stuff that showed up last year on your Clean Up. I've made a list of my 10 favorites:

• a 6,000 year old arrowhead
• an accordion
• a bath tub
• a crab trap
• a diamond ring
• some homework
• a motor boat
• an uncashed check for $5,000
• some underwear
• a wig

Posted by: Izz
7:25am

Wow. What happens to all that stuff?

Posted by: Rob
7:30am

I heard that the arrowhead was donated to a local museum... that's how they found out it was 6,000 years old.

I can't speak for the rest of these items, but I know that our volunteers will always try to recycle or reuse whatever they pick up. The landfill is always the last resort.

That's actually a good, everyday theory for how we deal with ALL the stuff we consume. Before you throw it in the trash, think about how you might be able to reincarnate it as something else. Reuse is the lowest impact you can have with your trash. If you can't reuse it somehow, recycle it. And if you can't recycle it, throw it out as a last resort.

Posted by: Dex
7:40am

But here's a more important question. What if that list was all from ONE person? Like some super-richy-rich kid who had a ton of money and diamonds and a motor boat but he got scared when he found this ancient arrowhead in his bath tub just after a mysterious accordion-player in a wig left a crab trap in his homework bag and...

Posted by: Izz
7:45am

... and he suddenly needed new underwear? Is that likely?

Posted by: Dex
7:49am

I'm not saying likely. I'm just saying it's possible, that's all.

Posted by: Rob
7:52am

Hey, I wish there was only one super-litterer out there. We could catch him (or her) and be done with it.

Every piece of litter has a person and a story behind it... so your theory is just as valid as anyone else's! Just be sure that YOU are never the person behind a piece of litter, because that would be intensely uncool.

Personal responsibility is really at the center of everything KAB teaches. When we ALL take responsibility for the environment, great things happen. You can get involved in a local cleanup activity or recycling drive (check your local papers, or check our website to see what's going on). Or you can simply take responsibility by being smart about your trash — never littering and always recycling everything you can. Believe me, your actions speak loudly and they are contagious!

Oh, and next time you put on a fleece jacket, just think... someone may have been drinking from it not too long ago...

Posted by: Izz
7:55am

Thank you Mr. Wallace. That was GREAT.