Clean All-Season Sport; Can you spot, photo, slam dunk?

Litter Picking is an All Season Sport              Drop a piece, you lose a point. 

            Pick up a piece, you gain a point.

Can you spot litter, photograph and add a caption, then slam dunk it into a trash bin?

March Madness (All Season Sport Introduction)

Here are a few examples of the Clean All-Season Sport photos and captions. Click on any of these hyper links to view. Which one is your favorite?
Cup-O-Rama

Heart Healthy Sport

Mardi Gras

Ice Fishing

Frozen Fossil

Christmas Fruitcake Graveyard

Iced Coffee

Frozen Lung

Frozen Entree

Super Bowl

Groundhog Day

Super Bowl Ad

Secret memo

Snowman

Blizzard Wizard

Mountains

#Litterati South Burlington

WARNING this sport can be dangerous: 
     Carnivorous plant devours Champlain College Student

Tiny Machines to 'play the game' (Video)

Essays:
The Last Piece nearly did me in. (True Story)

What's so great about litter picking?

Why are we tolerant of trash?

Adopt A Block

A tribute to Social Janitors

When I pick up litter I feel.... (View over 100 responses)

Shooting for the NBA All-Star basket in more ways than one 
(essay by Sheila White)

Got Talent? Project / activity ideas to raise awareness about litter and to encourage litter clean up.

Made in Vermont, Clean Up Coupon. 
  

Bernie urges us: Maintain a litter free environment through caring, contribution, and community in order to protect our water, wildlife, and human health. 

Pick up Vermont: Pick up Vermont 365.

Golden Broom Award - A Tribute to Social Janitors. South Burlington, Vermont

Golden Broom Award

Litter Pickers

Do you know the janitor of your school, your workplace, your synagogue, or church? 

Likely as not this person is humble, dependable, and takes pride in cleaning up after others. This person probably passes no judgment upon those who create and drop bits of trash. Steadfast and true this observant and non-assuming person cleans the floor and hallway and parking lot every day year-round.  The janitor cleans up so that all the functions of the school, or workplace, or religious meeting place, can take place with pride.

We should have a South Burlington Golden Broom Award for year-round commitment to maintaining a litter-free environment. I could easily name a long list of nominees so deserving-both in the business community and the community of citizens.

Please join me in thanking a few of these people, these Social Janitors.

Thank You to the citizens who have adopted a block as part of the solution to keep our community litter-free. Here is a partial listing, Marga & Glenn Sproul, Ann Slattery, the Scarpa Family, Kelsey Hudson, Rosanne Greco, Paul Engels, Jane Boisvert, Walter Luchini, Susan Saferstein, Chris Shaw, and Maida Townsend. Read more on the Adopt-A-Block tab on my website.

Thank You, Kylie Gould, district manager of Rite Aid on Hinesburg road for installing a public trash can on the storefront. Thank You Rite Aid employees who frequently empty the heavily used trash container.

Thank You Zachary’s (Williston road) a most improved site in the past year.

Thank You Price Chopper employees for diligence and persistent parking lot clean up. We are proud of you for doing this service for your store and our community. Special Commendations and Thank You goes to the employees of DoubleTree, Sheraton, Vermont Gift Barn, Dunkin Donuts, and Holiday Inn associate Gary, spotted cheerfully cleaning up litter (including cigarette butts) not only on the property, but also on the sidewalk a-fronting the Holiday Inn.

Thank You Justin Rabidoux, SB Director of Public Works, for contacting VTrans representatives to clean up litter on the SB I-89 ramps.

Thank You Winooski Valley Park District employees, Tom, Ben, James, Tim, Ashley and others, for keeping district parks Green and Clean.   

Thank You, Rachael Miller, Director of Rozalia Project (and volunteers) for organizing and implementing beach cleanups.

Thank You, Sophie, Karen, Sarah, Penne, Michael, Barbara, Betsy, Susan, Rosanne, and other representatives from the SB Land Trust for organizing SB Green Up Day. Thank You for this year’s SBHS volunteers. Of course, gracious thanks to all of those who on their own or with family, friends, or work associates joined in the great Vermont tradition of Green Up Day.

Alas, I am out of space. Please personally thank these and others who you know are deserving of a Golden Broom Award for their commitment to making our community Green and Clean.

Remember, litter clean up is an All-Season-Sport, which promotes litter prevention, and provides instant gratification.

Bernie publishes essays and photos reflecting Vermont values of Green and Clean and Community. He urges us all to pick up litter and maintain a litter-free environment through caring, community, and contribution in order to protect our water, wildlife, and human health.   Bernie’s web site is http://www.litterwithastorytotell.blogspot.com/

References on Gratitude, Appreciation
"Piglet had a Very Small Heart, but it could hold a rather large amount of Gratitude." -A.A. Milne
Gratitude and well-being. 
Gratitude and Happiness...
The secret of happiness 
Why it takes balls to be happy.
Attitude of Gratitude vs Appreciation
***  Want to be happy? Be Grateful (Video)
*** Nature. Beauty. Gratitude.  (Video)
Three reasons you should adopt an attitude of gratitude. 

Clean City: What’s so great about litter picking 365?

Litter picking espouses values of Green and Clean and Community; helping to maintain a litter-free environment-one small step in saving the earth. But what is so great about the action of picking up littered trash?

Focus is on Community:

§  Socializing as you clean up with others in Y/our town, city, or village.

§  Provides a civics lesson and a positive example to children and others.

§  Do-Bee it’s the Vermont way. Read the Do-Bee way @http://bit.ly/HokrBK

§  Relationships created and nurtured through invitation and participation.

§  Coalitions/Alliances: Connecting businesses, non-profits, and community groups creates synergy where 1+1=3.

§  Small local projects are great catalyst for change in behavior and action while building trust and cohesion in the community.

Vision and Values

·        Demonstrates Green and Clean and citizenship values.

·        Inclusion. Open to all individuals as well as group activism and self-determination.

·        Giving back to, taking responsibility for, taking pride in, your hometown.

All Season Sport

·         Read the litter picking All Season Sport point system @ http://bit.ly/16J3xUu

·          A chance to publish your litter pick photos on Litterati @ http://www.litterati.org/  via  https://twitter.com/litterati

     (Litter, just picked up, is beautiful.)

 Reward:
Personal and immediate as well as long-term satisfaction.

Activism:

·        Problem solving that is easy to do, requiring little to no special tools or technology.

·        Stirs up hope, lifts up a neighborhood, and creates a feeling of empowerment through positive action by the residents themselves. Re-affirms hope and faith that change is possible.

Coupons

Clean up coupon @http://bit.ly/1bW0nAR  .  Print and redeem at any store.

Localism:

·        Globally important, with global impact; affected and implemented at a local level.

·        Save Earth close to home. JONATHAN PORRITT, ONE OF ENGLAND’S LEADING GREEN ACTIVISTS, declares “Most people think the environment is everything that happens outside our lives. Yet this is a huge philosophical error creating a false divide between us and the physical world. We need to.. acknowledge that the environment is rooted in our sense of place: our homes, our streets, our neighborhoods, our communities…

·        Earth, the only planet with people and litter; easier to clean it up than move.

Schedule free:

Any time, any day, any place-litter picking avails itself to your calendar.

Membership:

Join planetary pickers caring for the Earth, 365.  Read about a few planetary pickers and litter-gitters, and trash paddlers, @ http://bit.ly/17Ujfwt

Treasures:

§  Opportunity to find treasures from coins, to tools, to the unimaginable.

§  Some found items even lend themselves to creative storytelling.

§  Jump-on-it deal @http://bit.ly/17Wk2go

 Sleuthing

Detective work is a fun challenge http://bit.ly/1gYuWf6
                                                                                                                                             

Exercise:

Walking, stretching, bending, and incentive to get outside in all seasons.

Differentiate your members:

·        Be the first business on your block to maintain a litter free storefront every day.

·        Be the first neighborhood to organize a meet up and cleanup throughout the year.

Add to the Field Guide

Chance to add your own entry to the Litter Field Guide book.  Preview @ http://bit.ly/16J3WpT

Theraputic:

·        See and think things that were previously unexposed. http://bit.ly/1azoNyJ

·        Relaxing, and calming. Makes you feel _____ (fill in the blank). Others responded it makes them feel: great, awesome, hopeful, happy, empowered, relief, they made a difference, exuberant, like a superhero, supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, peaceful and grounded. 

·        Read how other global litter pickers feel when they pick up trash – 365 @ http://www.litterwithastorytotell.blogspot.com/2013/04/earth-day-how-i-feel-when-i-pick-up.html.

 Litter Picking is an All Season Sport.
 

References

·         Building a good life in community. http://www.johnlord.net/New%20Paradigm/Building%20a%20Good%20Life.pdf

·         How a community initiative creates networks to improve well-being.  http://rwjcsp.unc.edu/about/articles/S292-S299.pdf

·         Sustaining community-based initiatives.  http://community-wealth.org/_pdfs/tools/cdcs/tool-kellogg-cmty-cap.pdf

·         16 ways to make your neighborhood safer, greener and more fun.  http://onthecommons.org/magazine/16-ways-make-your-neighborhood-safer-greener-and-more-fun