Keeping America Beautiful

 One of the first real ad campaigns I remember as child growing up was the "Keep America Beautiful" campaign.

Lady Bird Johnson, wife of President Johnson became involved in 1965 even though the organization had been around since 1953 when a group of leaders joined up to bring private and public sectors together to develop a national cleanliness ethic. 

This is from a campaign in Mississippi. Wildflower signs now dot most interstate highways. 

I think they need to bring it back again. Somewhere during the course of my life, people seem to have forgotten about keeping us beautiful. It seems with every new cookie cutter development, people have become isolated in their own little bubble and what the outside of their bubble has become does not concern them. I noticed it driving the interstates last weekend. Garbage thrown on the side of the road, cups and paper floating up each time a car sped past. I guess many are so concentrating on their phones they don't see what I do. 

The advertising which most affected me as a teenage was the infamous Crying Indian who wasn't really a Native American at all. It has been trashed by several people and organizations because it was sponsored by some of the largest corporate producers of the trash they were speaking of. Many also felt that the advertising was putting all the pressure on individuals to not litter and letting the corporations, many who disagreed with environmental policies, remain unaccountable. 

This morning as I was running errands, I stopped at the drug store to pick up a couple of things. Sitting alone, all by itself in a space was a Perrier bottle, half full.. Had a car been coming from the other way and tried to pull in to the space, they could half hit the bottle and received a flat tire or two. How long had it sat there? Who left it? Why wouldn't they walk the 50 feet to the trash can in front of the store and dispose of it properly? I picked it up and did that, thinking what kind of person does this?

Have we all become so immune to simple things like picking up after ourselves? That bottle made me sad. 

Perhaps we should begin another Ad Council campaign instead of just thinking everyone will do the right thing. Obviously, we have a couple of generations who need a refresher course in the environment.