Dear PoP – Happy Earth Day

“Dear PoP,

My partner and I live in Columbia Heights. We live on 13th St NW near the Giant grocery store. Last year we noticed that the landscaped area on the Holmead St side of Giant had turned into one large trash area. This spring, Giant had a crew come out, clean up the trash, trim the rose bushes and put down new mulch. It looked nice again. Then we noticed that people started to throw trash in this area again. So we decided one day that every time we walked by this area we would pick up at least one piece of trash. Mind you, we walk by this small landscaped area on the way to work, home from work, on the way to the gym, walking home from shopping, etc. etc. We soon found ourselves picking up a lot of trash.

It really opened our eyes to how much people use the street/sidewalk for a trash bin. Each time we would only pick up one or two items, but slowly the place was cleaned up again. In honor of Earth Day I wondered what would happen to our city if everyone of us just picked up 1 piece of trash on the street in which we lived on our way to work, or coming home from work, or on our way to the shopping store, etc. Maybe in some small way all of our “little corners” of our great city would become cleaner. We found it quite easy to simply stop, pick up an old beer can, banana peal, empty potato chip bag, discarded lottery ticket, etc. Why not give it a try in your neighborhood? It might just change how you view the place you call home.

Happy Earth Day!”

I think it’s a great idea. If we all pledge to pick up just one piece of garbage a day I think our combined efforts can make a bit of a dent. It’ll be a Sisyphean task but as long as we do it everyday I hope we can make a small difference like you and your partner have done in the photo above.

Who else is in?