Due to the ongoing need to keep our community safe through social distancing measures, the Vineyard Conservation Society is changing plans for this year’s Earth Day beach clean-up. Rather than coordinating one big day of action and the risk of crowded beaches that would bring, this year VCS encourages everyone to independently clean Island’s beaches, as well as the trails, sidewalks, roads, and anywhere else outdoor travels take you, during the entire month of April.
At this time of isolation from friends and coworkers, and profoundly upset daily routines, a press release from the VCS says, it is more important than ever to get outside and take in the natural world. “Outdoors we see, smell, and hear the rhythms of nature beating on, undisturbed. For a moment, the song remains the same.” the release says.
Earth Day on Martha’s Vineyard began over a half century ago when, in honor of the first-ever global Earth Day, a group of local environmentalists set out on April 22, 1970 to make a difference. Organized by a fledgling VCS, the plan was to clean up roadside litter across Martha’s Vineyard. The goal was not just to get the trash out of the woods and waters, but — probably more important to these young activists — to draw attention to the under-appreciated problems of waste, litter, and pollution.
In that spirit, dozens of high school students were recruited to pull then-executive director Bob Woodruff’s giant ox cart, traveling from Vineyard Haven to Edgartown via State Beach in Oak Bluffs, all the way filling it with debris.
VCS states that while this year’s group will greatly miss getting together with Earth-conscious friends this April, with their help they can still honor Earth Day, April 22, and all that it represents. They ask that you share your observations, anecdotes, and photos via email by sending to info@vineyardconservation.org, or post your photos and tag them on Facebook or Instagram) and they will send you your choice of prizes (while supplies last), including VCS hats, canvas shopping bags, Walking Trails or Edible Wild Plants books, and more.