We live here - and you need to do your part to keep "here" clean.

Last week, Mother Nature reminded me just how much trash is out there literally floating around.

As waters from recent flooding receded, evidence of litter is everywhere. In particular are those darn plastic grocery bags trapped in the tree branches and bushes along the river bank. Something needed to be done, and it couldn't wait until the annual Clean Valley Day (April 13) so a call to action was put out via Facebook and Twitter. Within a few hours there was significant online chatter about when and where people were going to meet up for a litter-picking-up session.  In fact, Roanoke Times writer Mark Taylor and Seth Marlowe organized a meet-up for that afternoon that included people onshore as well as people in waders picking up trash. (Mark even wrote about it in the Sunday paper.)

I sincerely commend and thank each and every person who was motivated by our call to action, but it's not enough to pick up trash every now and then. It needs to become second nature. How often do you walk right by a piece of trash on the ground? I watch it every day -- people walking by trash without thinking it's their responsibility.

Sure you didn't put the garbage there, but if you don't pick it up, you also haven't made the world a cleaner place. It only takes a few seconds to pick up a piece of litter and dispose of it. Imagine if everyone picked up one piece of trash off the floor each day. Our world would be so much cleaner. Kids also learn through your example. If they see you picking up litter from the floor and disposing of it, they will probably not grow into adults who are indifferent to garbage littering our world. It will be second nature to them to pick up trash they see lying around.

It's a small act, but one that can have a great impact. 

 

So what's my recommendation? Put extra trash bags in your car, in your backpack, and in your boat. And the next time you're out and about, take a few minutes to leave the area better than you found it. Oh ... and stop using plastic bags at the grocery store ... try a reusable one instead. 

 

Get outside!