Join Island Cleanup
To the Editor:
Thomas L. Friedman in his op-ed piece in The New York Times
on Wednesday, November 18 this year said,
“Green for me is not just about recycling
garbage but about renewing
America.
Shelter Island has groups of folks who have regularly done
clean-ups, so the Trash Mash is not a reinvention of the
wheel. This is an attempt to come together over a holiday
based on gratitude, and shift the focus of a day which
historically is driven by consumption and redirect it toward
the reality of where we are today. The environment needs our
attention much more than our perceived need of a new suit.
Turn Black Friday Green.
We have the ability as a smaller unit to organize more
effectively and expeditiously. It took me three hours on one
morning and four hours another day to talk with people to
organize the Trash Mash. [See Calendar.]
Small and manageable is good. Access is important. We have
all of that and additionally we can slow it down here. Slow
isn’t bad either.
But creating chaos within the environment because we are
careless and lazy is no good. Until someone steps up and says
no, change won’t happen. We must begin to
effect change in the area of maintaining a sustainable
environment.
Therefore, after watching football on Thursday and maybe
overeating at the Thanksgiving table, come out with your
neighbors and walk it off with the kids, who watch everything
we do and file it in their heads. Look around at your Island.
Turn Black Friday Green and help us in the Trash Mash.
Remember, our promise to our children was to give them a
better life. They are watching us.
SHERRY PEREGRIN
SHELTER ISLAND