Recently, I’ve had the opportunity to write about several events where people can give back to the community and help clean it up.
Thanks to a lot of thoughtless slobs, it’s necessary to have events to pick up and clean up around town and the Pearl River. Yes, I said thoughtless slobs, because I’ve seen pictures and experienced trash being dumped along the river and roadsides in Columbia.
Many of you know that I live smack in the middle of Columbia and more than once I’ve written about trash problems. I’ve gone to take my dog, Sugar, out for her morning walk only to encounter a beer can or fast food bag in my yard. As someone who works downtown, I’ve seen trash carelessly dumped from vehicles in or next to parking spaces. Not the least of this junk included dirty diapers and remnants of fast food meals.
All of this litter and debris makes me cringe. I guess it’s because I come from a generation that has been concerned about the Earth around us. No, I’m not an environmentalist, per se, but I worry about trash along roadsides and water bottles left to float down the rivers.
When I was a child, I was a member of the Ecology Club at school. Yes, as a child in the ‘70s, many of us took up causes. In this case, my friends and I joined to pick up trash around Walls Elementary School in Kent, Ohio, my hometown.
The lessons of the Walls School Ecology Club stuck with me, so when Mayor Justin McKenzie announced the Aug. 5 cleanup for Columbia, it made me happy. I’ll be there. At first, I’ll be doing my job and covering the event, but I hope to have some time to help people clean up downtown or in neighborhoods across the city.
The cleanup isn’t limited to picking up trash; however, it’s also about sprucing things up. Bushes need trimmed, sidewalks are buried under grass and brush and so much more. There might be a fence, railing or bench that needs painted or power washed.
That’s where you, all the people in the community, come in. You can help. If everyone spent just a few hours cleaning, even their own properties, Columbia and Marion County would be a better place.
Besides being a better habitat for nature’s species (birds don’t survive well in plastic rings from six-packs), the cleanup does something else; it instills pride in the community. This pride and cleanliness is then visible to those who may be considering locating a business in Columbia or Marion County.
Seeing a town full of trash along the roadsides and unmowed yards doesn’t make for a good impression. Investors often look at a clean community as one that has pride … and hard workers. I’d hate to see a factory, warehouse, or other business choose another community because the ride from the airport into town to meet with the mayor, Board of Aldermen, Board of Supervisors, Marion County Development Partnership or anyone else was littered with Styrofoam cups and water bottles.
Aug. 5 is just the beginning. You can help out by showing up at the MCDP offices on Courthouse Square at
7 a.m. (or whenever you can) to join in. Bring your work gloves and any other equipment you think you might need; they’ll provide the trash bags. There will also be dumpsters around for the project. If you can’t come down and work, consider donating money to help buy supplies or come down and help hand out water to thirsty cleanup folks.
If you can’t make the downtown cleanup, join the folks from Take2 Miss on Sept. 23 and clean the Pearl River up. As you’ve read in this edition of The Columbian-Progress, a group spearheaded by Abby Braman of Madison is making plans to clean up the river from its origins more than 100 miles north of here down to Louisiana where it ends.
The photos Braman has taken along the Pearl are appalling to say the least. She’s collected many bags of trash from the banks of the mighty Pearl while she was kayaking or walking her dog.
Locally, volunteers can join area Girl Scouts that Saturday at the Columbia Water Park and help out. You may clean the banks of the Pearl or head out in a canoe or kayak to search for trash. Braman said the process begins with one piece of litter being picked up. She encourages people to pick up two pieces of trash and snap a photo to post to her Take2 Miss Instagram or Facebook pages.
Together, everyone can help make Columbia and Marion County a better place to live and work. So come out and join in the fun. It will be rewarding.
Mark Rogers is the managing editor for The Columbian-Progress. He can be reached at (601) 736-2611 or by email at news@ columbianprogress.com.
