THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, June 17, 1995 TAG: 9506160002
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A12 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Short : 48 lines
The seventh annual Clean the Bay Day last Saturday was a resounding success. Some 5,100 volunteers plucked from beaches, marshes and waterways 96 tons of cigarette butts, tires, syringes, sofas, appliances, shopping carts, auto parts, dead sea creatures and plastic bottles, bags and six-pack holders.
Humankind is the dirtiest animal, littering land and water (and outer space, too) with wretched refuse, much of it toxic - in short, fouling its nest, Mother Earth.
But humankind is also a tidying animal. Dismayed by the junking up and polluting of Virginia's rivers, Chesapeake Bay and oceanfront, Virginia Beach City Councilman Robert Dean initiated the first Clean the Bay Day as the 1980s faded.
A couple of thousand volunteers turned out for the first cleanup. This year platoons of civic-spirited men, women and youngsters combed the shores and plumbed waters from the Potomac to the Elizabeth River and from the Eastern Shore to Suffolk.
Since that first Clean the Bay Day, volunteers have removed about a million tons of refuse and garbage from the Bay area. But the huge harvest year after year is discouraging in a way. Haven't people learned yet not to litter waterways and shores?
Obviously not. Sofas and tires don't find their way into creeks and marshes without human assistance.
Clean the Bay Day looks to be a desirable annual ritual from here to eternity to prevent the Bay area from becoming a watery dump for human trash and garbage.
It's not too soon to sign on for the eighth cleanup next summer. Volunteers work in teams led by trained zone captains. A telephone call to the Clean Community Commission in any of South Hampton Roads' cities or to Robert Dean (427-6606) is all it takes to get on the list.
The more bodies the better for ridding the Bay of humans' throwaways. Meanwhile, hope the message gets through to the all too many who couldn't care less about the environment that it's time to clean up their act. Hey, we all live here! by CNB