PHOTO: Photo courtesy of wikipedia.org
The iconic 70’s public service announcement of the Indian (Native American) who sheds a single plump tear over the landscape littered with trash remains emblazoned in the memories of people who grew up in that generation. We were taught in school, and when we watched those Keep America Beautiful commercials at home, that throwing trash onto the ground or into the water is a very bad thing.
The commercial opens on the man in his canoe rowing down a picturesque river, and the voiceover begins, “Some people have a deep, abiding respect for the natural beauty that was once this country.” To harken back to a time when the United States was inhabited by Native Americans was an effective and jarring method of reminding people that, by littering, we are sullying our once-sacred environment.
Perhaps now the face we should think of when we consider littering (not that we at The Forum ever would) is that of our parent or grandparent, someone who moved to this area and worked hard to keep her home, property, and neighborhood clean. What would Nana think? Nana, who planted the Rose of Sharon along the old fence all those years ago, or Papa, who built the fence along which trash is now regularly strewn. A Native American crying isn’t going to cut it, because the image no longer impacts us the way it once did.
And before we go any further, don’t try to blame littering on anyone else, because we see you. It’s not the out-of-towner or the rare hoodlum. It’s you. Italian American from Howard Beach, Spanish guy in Ozone Park, Irish lady in Maspeth…we watch you do it. There’s a crude phrase we won’t exactly quote about not going to the bathroom where one eats. Animals don’t even do it. But apparently, humans of all ethnicities, ages, and financial backgrounds do it. And so do you.
That’s why some of our local reps have been increasingly tearing their hair out over littering and graffiti in south Queens. Trash doesn’t just get thrown into vacant lots. It literally happens in beautifully landscaped yards and along otherwise well-kept sidewalks. We watched a man in his shiny, expensive truck outside the Key Food Fresh on 101st Avenue unwrap a cellophane covered snack this week and dump the wrappings in several pieces out his window, and it was all we could do to restrain our would-be aggressive response. Why? Who wants to live in their own filth?
The “crying Indian” commercial debuted on April 22, 1971, the second-ever Earth Day. The Keep America Beautiful organization, founded in 1953, created the PSA and continues to operate cleanup efforts throughout the nation in partnership with local, state, and private organizations. The New York State affiliate of KAB is NYSARRR, the New York State Association for Reduction, Reuse, and Recycling. There’s also Keep New York City Beautiful, operated through the Department of Sanitation. Politicians and large corporations often sponsor clean-up efforts; as one example, Subaru has partnered with National Parks to round up volunteers for trash pickup.
Chronic illegal dumping and highway littering violations are relatively easy to report on the City’s website (www1.nyc.gov/site/dsny). To report chronic littering on a City sidewalk or street, call 311. If an unlawful act is in progress, dial 911. Information that leads to the apprehension of litterers can yield an award of 50% of the fines assessed.
There are many ways to let organizations and representatives know about this colossal problem, to support them financially, and to volunteer. But the absolute most important thing we all have to do is to take pride, as our ancestors did, in where we live, work, and go to school. And it means reinstating our “deep, abiding respect for the natural beauty that was once this country.”
