This year marks the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, which is observed by millions of people in more than 180 countries. Some celebrate it on the first day of spring, but most observe it on April 22, with many extending the observance to be a weeklong event.
Earth Day was created in 1970 as the result of a proposal by U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin, out of concern for what he saw as pervasive degradation in the environment. The day was intended as a day to observe the need to protect the Earth, and a day to teach people about what they could do to help.
During Earth Day observances people are encouraged to take action in at least some small way to make a difference in protecting the Earth’s environment, such as picking up litter, recycling, turning off lights when not in use. People are urged to make some of these practices habits, which, in concert with the improved habits of other people the world over, would theoretically add up to some noticeable difference on our planet.
Those who were around for the first Earth Day may remember the 1970s “crying Indian” commercial, which has become a classic. It was sponsored by the organization Keep America Beautiful (KAB), an environmental group founded in 1953. In the commercial, a Native American paddles a canoe along a river filled with manmade debris—a river with factories on its banks, spewing smoke and pollution into the air. He paddles to shore, which is littered with refuse, and turns to observe the nearby highway, choked with exhaust-emitting cars. Someone throws trash out of a car window, which lands on the Indian’s feet. The commercial ends with a close shot of the man’s face, and the single tear rolling down his cheek, next to the message, “Get involved now. Pollution hurts all of us.” It was a powerful message. (The commercial can still be seen on many websites, including YouTube and www.retrojunk.com.)
In 2009 KAB conducted a nationwide study of litter. The study concluded that “litter and littering have decreased in the past 40 years, but remain an important problem.”
The organization estimates that the national cost of litter abatement is $11.5 billion per year, with $9.1 billion of that incurred by businesses. But, the report says, those numbers are thought to be underestimates, due to the way cleanup costs are tracked and reported.
When KAB compared the results of the 2009 study with a 1969 national litter study, it found that, by actual count, litter had decreased by 61 percent, especially litter comprising paper, metal, and glass. However, plastic litter had increased by 165 percent.
KAB cites seven primary sources of litter:
- Trucks with uncovered or unsecured loads on local roads and highways
- Pedestrians or cyclists who do not use the receptacles
- Motorists who do not use car ashtrays or litter bags
- Business dumpsters that are improperly covered
- Loading docks and commercial or recreational marinas with inadequate waste receptacles
- Construction and demolition sites without tarps and receptacles to contain debris and waste
- Household trash scattered before or during collection.
The group’s underlying assumption is that litter is caused by human behavior. With this in mind, KAB researchers observed nearly 10,000 people from 130 locations in 10 states. The research protocol they developed assured that the locations were evenly split among rural, urban, and suburban areas. General disposals were observed at fast food restaurants, recreational areas, gas stations, city centers, rest stops, hospitals, bars and restaurants, and retail stores. The conclusions? “81 percent of observed littering acts were intentional.” The team also concluded that younger people were more likely to litter than older people, and recommended involving them in cleanup campaigns.
Every state in the union has laws against littering, and some are more aggressive than others in enforcing them. In 2007 the Department of Ecology in Washington State conducted a series of litter focus groups to determine what might reduce littering behavior. Respondents overwhelmingly said that knowing they could be caught and fined would deter them from littering.
In Massachusetts, fines of up to $15,000 can be imposed upon people for illegal dumping of trash (Mass. General Laws Ch. 270, Section 16), and drivers caught disposing of rubbish out the car window can lose their license for up to a week for the first offense (MGL Ch. 90, Section 22G).
Harvard Police Chief Ed Denmark says his officers have on occasion gone after people for illegal dumping of trash in someone else’s dumpster, tracking them down and making them clean up the mess. He told the Press that if while on radar assignment an officer observed anyone disposing of trash out a car window, that person would be cited for it. “Our speed monitoring is all encompassing,” he said.
In Harvard and surrounding towns volunteers regularly pick up litter along the roadways, whether it’s Earth Day or not—and they collect bags and bags of trash. Some towns, such as Bolton and Lancaster, hold a townwide cleanup, where residents are asked to pick up trash in front of their homes and along roadways during a specified period; Bolton’s cleanup is done in concert with Earth Day. In both Harvard and Bolton volunteers have reported that, within days of cleaning up an area, they have found it looking as trashed-up as it was before they started.
Denmark said that if Harvard residents notify his department about roads of concern, his officers would “definitely spend some time there,” on the watch for litterers.
With the growing number of people on this planet, it’s certain that the amount of trash we’re all dealing with will grow. How much of that will be responsibly disposed of, and how much will end up as trash along highways and byways is anybody’s guess. KAB is counting on education to reduce littering behavior.
However, even after 40 years of Earth Day, it would seem there is more than ever to be done. In the north-central Pacific Ocean there is a floating garbage patch said to be at least the size of Texas, discovered in 1997 by yachtsman Charles Moore en route home from a boat race that ended in Hawaii. (The existence of the patch was predicted in a 1988 paper published by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.)
Last August the TV program 60 Minutes reported on the toxic town of Guiyu, China, which has become a dumping ground for “e-waste”—discarded computers and monitors. The report said the air was too toxic to breathe, and that the people who live there—and who work there disassembling the discarded equipment—suffer serious physical ailments.
These are scenarios Earth Day was created to prevent. Yet we persevere.
For more on the toxic town story, visit www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/11/06/60minutes/main4579229.shtml?tag=mncol;lst;2.
For more about the Pacific garbage patch, visit http://discovermagazine.com/2008/jul/10-the-worlds-largest-dump.
For more on the KAB report, visit www.kab.org/site/DocServer/Executive_Summary_-_FINAL.pdf?docID=4601.