Communities dreaming of a different world take action for all
by D.E. Bentley –
Garbage is one of those global issues that have been driven by population growth; it does not take super-intelligence to realize that the more people we have, the more we make and consume. Using less, lessening the personal footprint that we all leave in our wake, is one small step we can take. We can also share our ideas with others and, perhaps, exert small influence here and there on the less informed or inclined amongst us. We can, if we dare, speak up. More than once I have said to people, “Excuse me, you dropped something,” and handed them back what they carelessly tossed aside. Such exchanges have lead to productive conversations, for the most part.
There is no denying that we are a garbage nation, generating, on average, 4.5 pounds of trash in a day, 2.5 million tons a year. That’s a lot of garbage. A 2008 documentary, “National Geographic: Human Footprint,” directed by Clive Maltby, shows what the resources and accumulated trash, from daily use of disposable goods by one person over the course of an average lifespan, looks like, providing a valuable perspective on our consumption and waste. I have heard the question: would we pollute (or use) less if we had to live in it? Based on the bottles, cans and plastic food containers that accumulated in the back of our truck during a recent short walk into paradise – a small, out of the way trail – and the accumulated trash I see roadside every day, I would have to say no.
If living in the trash we produce does nothing to sway heavy producers and litterers of waste, perhaps showing them what a clean and beautiful world looks like is a better approach. If nothing else, it improves our own life experience, at least for a while. This approach, inspired by National Earth Day – which, hopefully, will not be a national recognition trashed by big business interests anytime soon – is what inspired hundreds of people to spend Saturday, April 22, 2017 walking the streets, trails and byways with bags in hand to pick up the accumulation of garbage tossed aside. Roadside and trailside trash collection is just one of the many ways that people act to “celebrate” Earth Day. Area efforts included events hosted by Little Lakes Community Association and the Honeoye Valley Association (HVA).
The HVA event included over 50 contributors according to organizer Bill Woods. Their “haul” included “over a dozen tires and a pile of scrap metal. The WOW! Award this year goes to the Girl Scouts. They hauled out a twenty-foot round knee-deep swimming pool with pump attached from the trail between Main Street, in Honeoye and Sandy Bottom Park, after digging it out of the mud. The Boy Scouts were also on hand and carried out at least a load. Collectively, contributors covered half of the Town of Richmond and part of Canadice – over 25 miles. KD Disposal provided free removal of the collected trash (during their normal Saturday garbage collective behind the Richmond Town Hall), an equivalent of a “20 yard rolloff.” The United Church of Christ in Honeoye, another important contributor to the community event, provided free breakfast from 7-9 AM.
“The Honeoye Valley Association is a not-for-profit volunteer organization that works in a variety of ways to protect and preserve the environmental quality of the Honeoye Lake watershed. HVA acts as an advocate for the protection and improvement of the Honeoye Lake Watershed. Activities include communicating with governmental agencies and political representatives, educational outreach, monitoring of the lake ecosystem, and acting as a clearinghouse for information related to
these activities.” Check out their web site: www.hvaweb.org/ for more information on how you can help keep their mission alive.
Just around the bend, to the west, Hemlock, collections were underway at this year’s Take Pride in Hemlock Day. The Little Lakes Community Association’s Earth Day roadside trash pick-up event started at at 9:30 a. m. in the parking lot of the Jack Evans Community Center (old Hemlock School) and ten volunteers participated in the cleanup throughout the hamlet. At noon the volunteers enjoyed a potluck lunch and live music, by Canadice acoustic duo, “Jim and Corrine,” at the Hemlock Fire Hall.
The Little Lakes Community Association is “dedicated to celebrating the energy and creativity of our neighbors in this beautiful part of the Finger Lakes through constructive community building. The mission of the group is to ‘Build community through opportunities that enrich lives, unite and empower residents and welcomes
visitors; simultaneously working to restore and preserve the original character of the Hemlock School, as we showcase and safeguard the treasures of the region.’ The slogan of the organization is, “We are a right to dance community!” Their partners include the Little Lakes Sustainability Network and Habitat for Humanity. For more information about upcoming events, including the chance to dance, and about the organization’s goals, go to littlelakesny.org.
For some people everyday is Earth Day. It is these “unsung heroes” that keep the trash picked up between the many clean up events, such as Renee Thornton and her husband. Often seen in our neighborhood armed with collection bags, the couple took it easy on the 22nd. In addition to their local four-mile stretch, they wandered along Canadice Lake Rd from Purcell to Burch Hill, a stretch Thornton described, simply as “BAD!” They then stopped in for gas and helped pick up around the 7-Eleven in Hemlock.
Such endurance and commitment is not without mishap, including the periodic run in with poison ivy. Despite a severe reaction following her clean up expedition, Thornton still managed to maintain considerable humor. In response to my stating the obvious, especially to an avid trash collector, that the “roadways are getting worse all the time,” she replied, “I know – we are looking for the notorious ‘Labatt Blue’ Man (LBM).”
So, LBM and all the trash slingers out there, wherever you are, I suggest you help make all of the road clean up heroes happy by not throwing things out the window.
Thornton offered a simple dream for Earth Day next, and all that follow. In addition to no further encounters with poison ivy, she would like to see a day when “every single person walks out their front door/driveway, turns left and picks up all the garbage until they get to their neighbors house (note: if elderly neighbor…keep going to next house). If you need help (i.e. Rt. 15A) then there is an on-call list of strange folks like my husband and I who will come and help!! Can you imagine what a difference that would make?” Then in a refrain I am hearing more often these days, she followed with “And in my world there are Fairies and Unicorns and …”. Such frustrations are understandable, but based on the incredible turnout for these few local events, I would say the momentum is growing and her dream, shared by many, many others, is not so crazy.