By John E. Weare, Keep Alliance Beautiful
Earth Day and Arbor Day must not pay their respective PR departments enough. I remember these holidays are in the second half of April yet always have to look up the specific dates. One of my wife’s students said confidently that it was Earth Day this past Tuesday (April 21). Neither of the calendars in the Keep Alliance Beautiful office, supplied by the Nebraska Department of Water, Energy and Environment, and DAV entitled “America The Beautiful”, list either holiday.
The best reminder of Arbor Day is a sign on the courthouse entrance saying offices will be closed for the occasion. For the record, Earth Day was Wednesday, April 22, and Arbor Day was Friday, April 24.
Both holidays evaded my radar this year as far as planning something significant to celebrate. I happened on a couple people, while driving Tuesday, that seemed an apt example of ways to treat the Earth. Turning slowly into the eastbound lanes at Third and Yellowstone, I took the far lane to give a young man on a bicycle a wide berth. As he swerved a bit a young woman walking on the sidewalk glanced at the cyclist and seemed to time the tossing of a large fountain drink cup to avoid hitting him. The day before Earth Day two people who looked to be in their 20s were likely just doing what they do on a nice spring afternoon. Did either give any thought to how these habits are good and bad for the Earth? I doubt it. Riding a bike is fun and carrying an empty oversize cup is inconvenient.
Education makes a difference. If people understand the impact riding a bike, walking or taking public transportation has on the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere they may choose one of these options. If people take more pride in their community and its appearance they may stop littering and begin picking up trash when they come across it.
My efforts on Earth Day landed on this approach as I sought to talk to people one-on-one who visited our trailers in Alliance Wednesday. I hung a colorful banner created by Emma, our education coordinator, on the back of the red horse trailer. The wind cooperated so passersby would easily see our “guide to separating recyclables”. This is the same guide Brandon from Keep Chadron Beautiful features on an app KAB has been adopting.
After helping on our seniors curbside route I only talked to about a half dozen people that afternoon. I primarily showed patrons where to deposit items in our newly reconfigured trailers, helped dump contents from bags and wished them a happy rest of their Earth Day. I’d say more than half were aware. One lady, a regular who lives in the country, said she usually gives her son a new tree on Earth Day. Closing the back hatch she said, “I think that’s him” referring to a pickup pulling a horse trailer. As she drove off I watched them pull into the north lot. It was her son and daughter-in-law stopping to unload lick tubs. Funny how things work sometimes.
“Our Power, Our Planet” was the theme for the 56th anniversary of Earth Day. People have the power to make our only viable habitat better or worse of course. It depends on who is reading the ledger when making a judgement on which way things are trending. A community may be thriving in the midst of drought. An inland nation dismisses data on temperature trends as island villages retreat from rising waters.
I encourage everyone to see what they can do to promote a healthier planet. Recycling is a major component of KAB’s mission as we encourage people to reduce, reuse and recycle every day to improve and beautify their community. For you it may be planting a tree or a pollinator garden. Maybe a zero waste lifestyle is within reach. The tiniest effort helps tip the scales.