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Loving Mother Earth

Earth Day observed - Living Green

Two men participate in a litter pick-up. For Earth Day, individuals and organizations are working to clean-up communities across the globe. Locally, there are multiple opportunities to clean up litter, including a litter pick-up to be held by the Northern Michigan University Conservation Crew at 5 p.m. today along the bike path behind McDonald’s in Marquette, a city-wide clean up to be held Saturday by the Marquette Beautification and Restoration Committee, as well as the Clean U.P. Marquette social media campaign, which encourages individuals to pick up litter and post it to social media from April 8 through Saturday. (U.S. Navy photo)

MARQUETTE — Today, over a billion people across the globe will celebrate Earth Day, a day encouraging substantial practices and changes in environmental policy that marks the “anniversary of the birth of the modern environmental movement in 1970,” organizers said.

The first Earth Day aimed to increase public consciousness of environmental issues and make environmental protection a political priority — and within a year of the very first Earth Day, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was created and the Clean Air, Clean Water, and Endangered Species Acts were passed.

Now, Earth Day continues to aim to be “a day of action that changes human behavior and provokes policy changes,” organizers said.

A simple, yet significant behavior change that almost anyone can make this Earth Day is to help pick up litter, and today, litter clean-ups are taking place in Marquette and across the world, encouraging individuals to join together and take collective responsibility for the planet, organizers said.

“Volunteers across the U.S. are coming together with grassroots organizations for Earth Day 2019 to clean up over 3,000 green spaces, urban landscapes, and waterways,” an Earth Day 2019 press release states. “Plastic pollution and waste challenge every community, every day, and these cleanups offer a chance to make a real difference.”

Because discarded cups, wrappers, receipts and other litter can harm wildlife, watersheds and more, it’s important to pick up litter found in the local community, its forests and the shores of Lake Superior as the melting snow exposes a winter’s worth of litter, organizers said.

A number of groups are working together locally, including Clean U.P. Marquette, the Marquette Beautification and Restoration Committee and the NMU Conservation Crew, to encourage citizens to pick up litter before, during and after Earth Day.

“We have one planet. Picking up trash isn’t going to save us from a bleak future caused by climate change, but it will plant seeds in the minds of citizens that environmental conservation is important, water is sacred, and all generations need to get emboldened in doing their part,” said Andrew Lorinser of Clean U.P. Marquette. “It’s a small part in the process of sustainability, but collectively through clean-ups, we can help foster and enthuse others to stay involved.”

For those looking to get out today, a litter pick-up event will be held by the NMU Conservation Crew and the public is invited to meet at 5 p.m. along the bike path behind McDonald’s in Marquette, organizers said.

On Saturday, the 40th annual city-wide clean up will be held by the Marquette Beautification and Restoration Committee, with groups meeting at Huron Mountain Bakery between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. and organizers available to provide instructions for involvement.

Beyond today and Saturday, organizers are encouraging the public to take a moment to look around and take personal responsibility for keeping the community clean through the Clean U.P. campaign, a social media campaign that kicked off April 8 and challenges residents to pick up litter and post about it on social media through April 27.

“People can get involved by taking a bag and a glove with them on hikes, walks, runs, strolls on the beach. It’s as easy as stepping out of your front door and picking up the cigarette butts, plastic or paper that you see every day, but feel it’s not your responsibility to pick up,” said Cesar Escobar of Clean U.P. Marquette.

Clean U.P. Marquette is a localized version of the recent #TrashTag trend online, which encourages people around the world to spend time picking up litter in their communities and share a photo to Instagram, Facebook or Twitter using the #TrashTag hashtag with #CleanUP attached, organizers said. Participants are asked to use their specific locations to tag the photos, for example, “CleanUPMQT” or “CleanUPNMU,” organizers said.

“Businesses are now challenging each other to pick up trash in front of their locations and post it with the #trashtag and #cleanUP,” Escobar said. “I encourage anyone to think of creative ways we can come together as a community and help one another not blame one another.”

Organizers hope the social media campaign can help to foster a sense of responsibility and ownership in the community, especially with younger generations, they said.

“There’s a misconception that a generational divide is contributing to increased litter and graffiti in the city. Traditionally, our city clean-ups have been undertaken by dedicated Baby Boomers. We’re hoping to get more young people involved in the upkeep of our city,” Lorinser said. “This upcoming generation, Millennials and Gen Z, are some of the most environmentally concerned citizens, so it’s important to expose and promote them with positivity. We can celebrate our citizens’ efforts by facilitating and organizing events for causes that already concern them.”

Lorinser and Escobar have been glad to see the community participating in the campaign and hope the momentum can continue, they said, noting that they would “love to do this again next year, or even throughout the year.”

“It has been wonderful to see individuals, businesses, groups get together and participate,” Escobar said.

Ultimately, the movement aims to promote a lasting change in habits surrounding litter in the area, through Earth Day and beyond, they said.

“We didn’t want Clean U.P. to be a viral trend and a one-and-done fix,” Lorinser said. “This is a movement we hope continues after the spring and lasts a lifetime.”

To learn more about Earth Day, visit www.earthday.org/

For more information about Clean U.P. Marquette, visit andrewmqt.com/cleanup, or the Facebook event page at facebook.com/events/2699262486755592.

For more information about the Marquette Beautification and Restoration Committee, visit https://www.mqtbeautification.org/

Visit www.facebook. com/nmucc/ to learn more about the NMU Conservation Crew.

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