Today is being celebrated, because it's a Saturday and in theory a day off for many people, as "Earth Day" in many places across the country even though it's not really Earth Day until Wednesday. Here in Norwich, Connecticut, there are two neighborhood cleanups going on, from 11 until two along Harland and Scotland Roads and from 10 until one from the area around the Sweeney Bridge to Howard Brown Park. If you've caught up with this late in the day, don't worry, there's trash enough for everyone to pick up, which to me is one of the things you can do whether it's really Earth Day or only very close to it.
Ann Lathrop, the wife of Norwich's former Mayor, Art, sort of nudged me (without realizing it) in that general direction years ago when she founded NAG, Norwich Against Garbage. Her whole point, as I understood it, was that the big gestures are over-rated. Taking ten minutes a day to make where you walked and lived cleaner would, by addition, eventually make all of Norwich better and brighter. I got into the habit of going for a walk with a plastic bag (and if I were organized enough, work gloves because some of the detritus you find on the streets and sidewalks is spooky and messy) and picking up the empty cigarette packs, the broken cassette tapes, the shattered CD's, the empty soda cups and the discarded beverage cans and bottles.
I've always been impressed by how heavy empty fast food containers are: when the food is still in them, it seems we can carry them with no problems. But when we've scarfed the last bite of that cholestobomb, with bacon, suddenly that burger box is too heavy and gravity triumphs, though judging from the distances the boxes are often found from the street, it's a good thing the car windows were open. I'm not the world's greatest garbage picker and even I amaze myself with how much stuff I gather up walking around my neighborhood. (and now a little light went on over Josh's head--yep, it's on my walks that I come across the items that I then visit the city of Norwich website and accomplish a Citizen Service Request.
You probably have something similar on your hometown's website--and it works, it really works! (I'm almost channeling Sally Field in honor of it almost being Earth Day).
Of course, what works better than filling out a form, or having a day on the calendar, is having a quarter of an hour to choose to make a difference. In honor of the new Yankee Stadium, let me put it into terms yesterday afternoon's Yankees could understand. You don't have to hit (five!) home runs, singles are fine. Admittedly, nobody pays $2,600 a game to sit in a box seat for singles, but that's another matter altogether.
If you can devote all day today to help neighbors and friends pick up and clean up, that's great. If you can spare only a couple of minutes, that's fine as well. We'll add your helping hands to everyone else's and pretty soon we've got a lot of folks worrying about trash, separation of recyclables and starting to look again at CFL bulbs (which really put the right into bright ideas), alternative fuels, hybrid fuels, mass transportation. What did Mom always say about picking up after ourselves? If you have the time, after you've picked up, give her a call and tell her you're catching on to what she meant. She'll be able to tell you where you missed a spot. Even on the phone. Moms, they have x-ray vision.
-bill kenny
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