>>ANNOUNCER: Promoting a healthy environment It's the air we breathe
Clean, safe water Responsible management of our natural resources
We protect and restore For a sustainable future
Environment Matters >>NARRATION: A water treatment project ten
years in the making now has the green light -- and the funding to make it happen -- ahead,
how taking care of a chronic upstream problem means cleaner water for the New River.
Plus: >>WOMAN: "Just get out there and help make
it shine!"
>>NARRATION: In neighborhoods, along roadways and streams -- hundreds of volunteers are
pitching in to help with the DEP's annual spring cleaning programs.
>>GREG ADOLFSON: Hello everyone and welcome to another edition of Environment Matters.
I'm Greg Adolfson with the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection.
After a long and harsh winter, it's good to finally get out and enjoy the spring weather
and as the landscape starts to green up -- groups of volunteers all across the state are pitching
in to help Mother Nature with a little bit of spring cleaning.
The DEP's Brent Kessinger has their story.
>>Linda Blough "Volunteering is so beneficial.
It helps your neighborhood but it also helps you as well.
I mean, you're just getting out there and doing work.
Working feels good, you know, and it's nice to know that you're having a positive impact
on your neighborhood."
>>NARRATION: The ground is still wet with dew but volunteers with the Highlawn Neighborhood
Association are already busy picking up trash around their neighborhood --
>>Judy Elkins "All of us are concerned with our city.
We love Huntington.
We love our state.
So we're interested in keeping it nice."
>>NARRATION: That theme of community pride is a common thread you hear events like these.
We caught up with Kim Adkins and Tanner Lovins in downtown Huntington.
Their church group was one of four different groups taking part in cleanup efforts across
the city this particular Saturday.
>>Tanner Lovins "I've grown up here my whole life and it's just really important to me
-- this town is very important so just to see the place grow as everything is being
built up and businesses are coming back in -- we want to make sure that we clean up the
area so it attracts people.
It'll just make everybody feel better if the place is clean."
>>NARRATION: Getting extra points for degree of difficulty were the folks from the Four
Pole Creek Watershed Group who put on their hip waders and spent a wet, muddy day pulling
trash from the creek.
And while this was an organized statewide event -- for most of these groups, this is
a year round labor of love.
>>Judy Elkins "When you finish doing this, you can't help but be tired but you smile.
Because you know you've accomplished something -- the area you've cleaned looks better.
You've made friends with the people that are out here picking up.
We really enjoy each other and doing this.
It's just a sense of fulfillment."
>>Kim Adkins "I go out on a regular basis just for 30 minutes around my house and fill
up an entire trash bag because the wind blows trash around and people are just careless
and throw it out and it really doesn't take much at all.
You can walk to the park or walk to work and take a Kroger bag or a Walmart bag and just
pick up trash as you go -- it's that easy."
>>NARRATION: The DEP helps groups by providing gloves, trash bags and litter grabbers and
also arranging haul away and landfill disposal but program organizers say it's volunteers
like these and their efforts that make up the backbone of the program.
In Huntington, I'm Brent Kessinger for Environment Matters.
>>GREG ADOLFSON: Sometimes the best lessons are learned by
doing -- and that's the thinking at one area Middle School where Make It Shine is an annual
spring tradition....
>>NARRATION: The folks at Andrew Jackson Middle School in Kanawha County have been taking
part in the Make It Shine program for several years now.
For many of these 8th graders, this is their third time around.
>>Hailey Hagerman and Erica Larijani Erica --It's fun to get out of class...
Hailey -- And it's nice to get out and help clean up and make it look nice...
Erica -- and make our school look pretty...
>>NARRATION: But this is more than just a day outside away from the books -- it's a
lesson that teacher hope will stay with these kids for their entire lifetime.
Krista Antis 52 "It's incredibly important because if they're helping with this it means
they're taking ownership and responsibility for the things that they use and the people
and places around them."
>>NARRATION: Last year, more than six thousand volunteers gathered up nearly two hundred
and twenty pounds of litter during the first two weeks of April -- eclipsing the old record
by more than 12-hundred volunteers.
Totals for this year's cleanup will be available in about two months.
>>GREG ADOLFSON: The DEP's other big spring cleanup event -- The Adopt A Highway Spring
Cleanup is set for later this month.
Earth Day is April 22.
First celebrated in 1970, Earth Day is now celebrated in more than 192 countries worldwide.
Here's the DEP's Tom Aluise with some simple steps you can take to make every day Earth
Day.
>>NARRATION: There are dozens of easy, simple things you can do to help improve and protect
our environment.
For example, if you haven't done so already -- replace the five most frequently used lights
in your house with Energy Star qualified products like compact fluorescents or LED.
Not only will you save $75 dollars a year on your energy bill -- you'll help reduce
carbon pollution by lowering your energy demands.
Another easy way to save is by using a programmable thermostat -- that can save about $180 a year.
When it comes to your daily commute -- consider carpooling or using public transportation,
but if you do drive -- try to drive more efficiently.
Aggressive driving -- things like speeding, rapid acceleration and braking wastes gas
-- reducing highway gas mileage by as much as 33% -- that's like paying an extra $1.20
a gallon for gas.
Idling your car also wastes gas -- modern cars burn more gas idling in 30 seconds that
they do starting back up -- and idling makes air pollution.
Consider that the next time you're at the drive through window at the bank.
And while we're on the subject of cars, make sure you take care of those routine maintenance
items like keeping your engine properly tuned, your tires properly inflated and using the
recommended grade of motor oil.
Last but not least -- reduce, reuse and recycle.
Unfortunately, a large amount of material that could be recycled ends up in landfills,
or worse -- illegally dumped in our landscape.
Recycling saves energy, conserves our natural resources and most importantly, helps sustain
our environment for future generations.
And remember, the most effective way to reduce waste is not to create it in the first place.
For Environment Matters, I'm Tom Aluise.
>>GREG ADOLFSON: These individual actions may not seem like much by themselves but together
they can add up to a powerful difference for the environment we all share.
You can find out more ways you can help by checking out our website: dep.wv.gov.
Coming up: >>MAN: "We're putting together the technologies
and blending systems that would make it work -- ultimately that's the bottom line."
>>NARRATION: How a new wastewater treatment system could become a model for many rural
areas in West Virginia and beyond, plus: >>WOMAN: "The cumulative effect of several
area small scale growers can have a real impact on the availability of food at a farmers market."
>>NARRATION: More than a backyard garden -- why urban farming is a growing trend.
We'll have the latest from this year's Urban Agriculture Conference.
Those stories and more when Environment Matters continues.
We're back in a moment.