Keep Australia Beautiful Week

I am still on the e-list for Keep Australia Beautiful because I admire their litter survey tool, which is comprehensive and better than most equivalents in the US.

The KAB pledge for Keep Australia Beautiful Week is to pick up one piece of litter per day for the entire week.  Many years ago, Geoff Hatchard wrote a piece where I seem to remember he recommended picking up five pieces per day.  I do way more than that on average, although I tend to focus on recyclables.

When I travel, by comparison I am always amazed at the contrast to DC, the national capital, which to my way of thinking, is particularly dirty.

I argue it is because a lot of people don't take ownership of their community, don't feel a part of it.  Even nice areas of the city, Georgetown excepted maybe, are replete with litter.

While there are various "clean/green" teams for commercial districts in DC, it's hard often to see enough impact.  Plus, I think we need "flying squads" that do a circuit of regular pick ups in areas outside of commercial districts.

For some discussion of litter issues, see:

-- "Every litter bit hurts," 2005
-- "Litter revisited," 2006 -- discusses my coming across Keep Australia Beautiful
-- "Litter : This week is Keep Australia Beautiful Week and Friday is "Butt Free Friday"," 2014. In the comments section, Charlie points out a survey of Torontonians on sustainable behavior, although the most current survey focused on behavior wrt trash in Toronto parks





-- Keep Australia Beautiful Week, webpage