Apr 10, 2018 3 min read

For television aficionados of a certain age, it was an iconic commercial, one with a powerful message that resonates with them today.

The minute-long ad, accompanied by an ominous musical score, portrays a Native American man paddling his canoe along a river, past a series of smoke-belching factories and onto a shore besieged by litter.

After disembarking his watercraft, he approaches a highway where several commuters toss trash from their moving vehicles, a bag landing and splattering near his feet. This proud man, whose ancestors were original caretakers of this land, stops, turns slowly toward the camera and reveals a large tear descending from his right eye.

This was a “Keep America Beautiful” commercial that ran for much of the 1970s and hit home with a lot of people – while, in truth, having little impact on curbing pollution and litter.

Although the enactment of environmental laws has greatly reduced pollution, it still exists, and littering lamentably remains prevalent. These ongoing social and ecological issues are why the Great American Cleanup is in its 24th year. Groups and organizations nationwide schedule cleanup events at local venues, usually on Saturdays, where teams of volunteers pick up trash and properly deposit it off the premises. The cleanups are conducted from March 1 through May 31.

Three events were scheduled in Washington County on Saturday, and the Observer-Reporter’s Trista Thurston attended the one in Mingo Creek County Park, where about 15 students and their parents tidied up the popular park. About 40 people had signed up, but cold, windy and snowy conditions reduced their number.

Volunteers found that despite an emphasis on keeping green spaces green, many park dwellers violate that code of conduct. Thurston reported that a number of cans and bottles were retrieved, along with a pizza box, a tire and other debris. The experience of cleaning up, she wrote, taught the students the value of not littering in the first place, while providing important community service.

Cold weather, if it continues, may force cancellations of some Great American Cleanup events across Pennsylvania this year. It probably will reduce the overall effectiveness compared with 2017, when more than 130,000 volunteers participated statewide, carrying away five million pounds of trash and more than 20,000 tires. They also planted about 16,000 trees, shrubs and flowers.

More than 1,000 volunteers assisted in nearly 100 cleanup events in Washington County last year. Greene County had 32 cleanups.

Even if numbers are down, locally and throughout Pennsylvania, the Great American Cleanup is an excellent endeavor, a great complement to its springtime companion, Earth Day.

That “Native American,” incidentally, was actually an Italian-American actor from Louisiana named Espera Oscar de Corti, who died in 1999, three months shy of his 95th birthday. He portrayed Native Americans in Hollywood films and certainly appeared genuine in the award-winning commercial.

If he were alive today, filming an ad related to the cleanup work done by thousands of youths nationwide, he would be beaming. And he would not be acting.