Keeping America Beautiful

Americans generally take great pride in our country. We call it the land of the free, people yearn to achieve the American Dream, and we like to think of ourselves as a cultural melting pot. Additionally, we tend to be even more proud of our country’s wide variety of natural beauty. After all, we even have a song called America the Beautiful.

With purple mountain majesties, shining seas, and amber waves of grain, why wouldn’t we be proud to call this place our home? As amazing as we make it sound, however, the industrialization of the country has also instilled the need take care of this extraordinary, beautiful environment of ours so that we can still keep singing this song.

Recognizing this quite a few decades ago, April has long been recognized as Keep America Beautiful Month. (And no, this is not some phrase taken from President Trump and his campaign crew.)

Having started in 1953, Keep America Beautiful Month is a time each year where individuals, families, organizations, neighborhoods, etc., are encouraged to come together to admire and work to better preserve America’s natural beauty. Organized by the Keep America Beautiful Foundation, the hope is to educate the public on the importance of reducing waste, preventing litter, and beautifying communities.

To celebrate this month and the beauty of our natural environment, here are CREEC’s top five suggestions on how to partake in Keep America Beautiful Month right here in our local community:

1. Adopt a Highway: Whether it’s with a group of friends, your family, or even your co-workers, adopting a highway is a great way to be active member in keeping the community clean. It’s relatively low commitment, as you are required to conduct two road-side clean-ups twice per year, but has an enormous impact on the well-being of the surrounding environment. Visit http://www.dot.state.mn.us/adopt/ to learn more!

2. Plant a Tree: Planting a tree is a relatively inexpensive activity, especially if you receive the tree at a very young age. Not only do trees help provide oxygen, but they also bring a little bit of the natural environment back to our neighborhoods. If you are unable to plant a tree in your place of residence, come and join CREEC on Earth Day as we plan to plant over 200 trees!

3. Remember the Three R’s: Reduce. Reuse. Recycle. These three activities can be applied to a variety of items, but one that we are very passionate about here at CREEC are plastic water bottles. We strongly suggest for community members to first and foremost reduce the amount of plastic water bottles they are using. However, if they do end up using them (because in some situations that is the only option), we highly encourage either the reuse of them or for them to make it to a recycling bin so they don’t end up floating in our oceans or taking over our landfills.

4. Welcome Spring Pollinators: Although bees aren’t necessarily everyone’s favorite insect, they play a large role in the health of our natural environment. By planting bee-attracting plants, you can help provide bees and other pollinators the nutrients they need to continue doing their job of keeping our trees and flowers alive. Particularly for Minnesota, some of the best bee-friendly plants include: Bee Balm, Black-Eyed Susan, Sedum, Goldenrod, Sunflower, Roses, Butterfly Weed, Purple Coneflower, and Peony.

5. Participate in CREEC’s Crow River Clean-Up: On Saturday, April 14th CREEC will be hosting its 3rd annual Spring Crow River Clean-Up event. Hiking up and down a 10 mile stretch of our river, volunteers will have the opportunity to get together with other community members to . Be on the look-out for our Facebook event for more information.