We created gita to help people do more of their everyday living at the local level and to make it easier to enjoy the beauty of their neighborhoods. But in order to keep our neighborhoods beautiful, we have to keep them clean, and that’s what the Keep America Beautiful® Great American Cleanup® is all about:

• It’s the nation’s largest community improvement program

• It prompts individuals to take greater responsibility for their local environment 

• It unifies and beautifies communities across the country in a grassroots spring-cleaning movement

• It takes place annually in an estimated 15,000 communities nationwide

Marking its 23rd year, the Great American Cleanup will run between March 20th and June 20th. You can join a local project through the Great American Cleanup website but there are also things you can work into your everyday routine that would make a huge impact—and with gita right behind, the whole thing is a lot easier and a whole lot more fun.

The litter challenge—

Challenge yourself to the 20-20-20 challenge outlined by The Litter Challenge (another grassroots movement encouraging people to get walking and clean the environment):

• Pledge to doing 20 minutes of walking with gita a day, picking up 20 pieces of litter on every walk for 20 days in a row.

When out-and-about with the kids—

To help the kids practice habits that keep the environment healthy, encourage them to pick up litter you see on your gita walks together. Here are a few fun ideas:

• At home, put out a large container and add a marble for every piece of litter they remove from the street. As the weeks go by, they’ll be able to see how big of an impact they are making.

• Let them be in charge of the playlist you stream through gita’s Bluetooth speaker on your walk under the condition that they agree to pick up litter along the way.

When going to the park or playground—

Here are some easy ways you can use gita to help make your picnics and family days out more eco-friendly:

• Minimize your own trash. You can do this by unwrapping or unpackaging things before you leave the home—gita will keep everything protected.

• If you bring it in, make sure to bring it with you when you leave. If there is no trash or recycling bin nearby, gita won’t mind carrying it until you find one.

• Carry spare trash bags in gita to carry out any trash you see. It may not be your trash but it is your neighborhood.

*PSA: Don’t forget your face mask and hand sanitizer. Having a few pairs of disposable gloves handy wouldn’t hurt either.

Sources:

• https://kab.org/programs/great-american-cleanup/

• http://thelitterchallenge.org