Keep America Beautiful

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Keep America Beautiful cleanup volunteers in 2021 Keep America Beautiful Cleanup Team.jpg
Keep America Beautiful cleanup volunteers in 2021

Keep America Beautiful is a nonprofit organization founded in 1953. It is the largest community improvement organization in the United States, with more than 700 state and community-based affiliate organizations and more than 1,000 partner organizations. [1]

Contents

Keep America Beautiful aims to end littering, to improve recycling, and to beautify American communities. [2] The organization's narrow focus on littering and recycling has been criticized as greenwashing in that it diverts responsibility away from corporations and industries. [3] [4] [5] [6]

History

Keep America Beautiful was founded in December 1953 by the American Can Company and the Owens-Illinois Glass Company. [7] [6]

Keep America Beautiful conducted many local PSA campaigns early in its history. One of these early campaigns in Pennsylvania (PennDOT) some attribute to having coined the term "litterbug," although the National Council of State Garden Clubs representative exhibited a "litter bug" emblem at the first Keep America Beautiful organizational meeting. Author and Federated Garden Clubs of Maryland president Alice Rush McKeon published "The Litterbug Family" in 1931 containing poems and illustrations about the problem of roadside litter. [8] [9] [10]

Others report, however, that the term was coined by Paul B. Gioni, a copywriter in New York City who originated it for the Ad Council in 1947.[ citation needed ] Keep America Beautiful joined with the Ad Council in 1961 to popularize the idea that individuals must help protect against the effects litter has on the environment. [11] Gioni came up with the 1963 television campaign theme "Every Litter Bit Hurts." [12] Another campaign in 1964 featured the character Susan Spotless. [13]

In 1970, Keep America Beautiful began distributing free brochures. More than 100,000 copies of the brochure were requested within four months. [14]

In 1971, on Earth Day, a new campaign was launched with the theme "People Start Pollution. People Can Stop It." In what later became known as the "Crying Indian" PSA, [15] the television ad, narrated by actor William Conrad with Peter Sarstedt's instrumental "Overture" playing in the background, featured Italian-American actor Iron Eyes Cody, [16] who portrayed a Native American man devastated to see the destruction of Earth's natural beauty caused by the thoughtless pollution and litter of a modern society. [17] [18]

In 1976, Keep America Beautiful introduced its "Clean Community System", which encouraged local communities to prevent litter through education efforts, public service advertising, local research, the mapping of litter "hotspots", and cleanup activities. During the height of the campaign, it received over 2,000 letters a month from people wanting to join their local programs. [11]

In 2023, Keep America Beautiful began its "Do Beautiful Things" podcast series hosted by Jenny Lawson, the organization's president and CEO. It covers policies, behaviors, and business solutions that can help create more sustainable communities. By featuring expert interviews and discussions it aims to educate and provide practical sustainability tips. [19]

Accomplishments

Keep America Beautiful is best known for its "Crying Indian" public service advertisement (PSA) which launched on Earth Day in 1971 and for its annual America Recycles Day. The advertising campaign has been widely credited, including in Frank Lowenstein's "Voices of Protest", with inspiring America's fledgling environmental movement.[ dubious – discuss ]

In 2021, Keep America Beautiful released a comprehensive litter study. Its study concluded that 90% of Americans agree litter is a problem in their community, roadside litter is down 54% in the last ten years and there are approximately 50 billion pieces of litter on the ground in the United States. In concert with the study's release, Keep America Beautiful launched their hashtag #152AndYou on Earth Day representing that if all individuals picked up 152 pieces of litter, there would be no litter on the ground until someone littered again. [20]

Programs

Partnership with other organizations

Keep America Beautiful distributes programming and materials through a network of organizations. In addition to KAB's certified affiliates, the organization partners with other groups to expand its reach. These include multiple state recycling organizations, Boys & Girls Clubs of America, Hands on Network and the Points of Light Institute, the Arbor Day Foundation, Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, National CleanUp Day, Ocean Conservancy, Sustainable Urban Forests Coalition, EARTHDAY.ORG, and Take Pride in America, among others. [21] [22]

Scouting Keep America Beautiful Day was first cosponsored by Keep America Beautiful and the Boy Scouts of America in 1971 as a national cleanup and recycling program. Keep America Beautiful also co-sponsors the "Keep America Beautiful Hometown USA Award" with the Boy Scouts of America that boy scouts can earn by completing a non-paid, community service project, with the approved scout project being designed to "help keep America beautiful and benefit the community either physically or financially." [23] [24]

In January, 2021, Keep America Beautiful merged with RETREET, which focuses on post-disaster tree planting. [25]

Controversies

Keep America Beautiful's, now retired, 1971 ad campaign, featuring Italian-American actor Iron Eyes Cody as the "Crying Indian", has often been described as greenwashing. People Start Pollution - 1971 Ad.jpg
Keep America Beautiful's, now retired, 1971 ad campaign, featuring Italian-American actor Iron Eyes Cody as the "Crying Indian", has often been described as greenwashing.

Keep America Beautiful's actions have been criticized as greenwashing. The organization's narrow focus on littering and recycling diverts responsibility away from corporations and industries. [26]

Despite self-identifying as having Native American ancestry with the stage name of Iron Eyes Cody, Espera Oscar DeCorti was of Italian descent. [16] This sparked accusations of cultural appropriation and racial stereotyping. [27] In February 2023, the Keep America Beautiful organization transferred ownership of the ad's copyright to the National Congress of American Indians, who intend to restrict use of the ad to only historical purposes. [28]

Heather Rogers, creator of the 2005 documentary film Gone Tomorrow. The Hidden Life of Garbage and book of the same name, [29] classifies Keep America Beautiful as one of the first greenwashing corporate fronts. She asserts that the group was created in response to Vermont's 1953 attempt to legislate a mandatory deposit to be paid at point of purchase on disposable beverage containers and banning the sale of beer in non-refillable bottles. [30] [31]

Keep America Beautiful's narrow focus on litter, and its characterization of litter as a consumer created problem, is seen as an attempt to divert an extended producer responsibility from the industries that manufacture and sell disposable products to consumers who improperly dispose of the non-returnable wrappers, filters, and beverage containers. [29]

Elizabeth Royte, author of Garbage Land, describes Keep America Beautiful as a "masterful example of corporate greenwash", writing that in contrast to its anti-litter campaigns, it ignores the potential of recycling legislation and resists changes to packaging. [32]

The tobacco industry developed programs with Keep America Beautiful that focused on cigarette litter solutions acceptable to the industry such as volunteer clean-ups and ashtrays, in lieu of smoking bans at parks and beaches. [33] The tobacco industry has funded Keep America Beautiful [33] and similar organizations internationally. [34]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Earth Day</span> Annual international event on April 22

Earth Day is an annual event on April 22 to demonstrate support for environmental protection. First held on April 22, 1970, it now includes a wide range of events coordinated globally by EARTHDAY.ORG including 1 billion people in more than 193 countries.

A public service announcement (PSA) is a message in the public interest disseminated by the media without charge to raise public awareness and change behavior. Oftentimes these messages feature unsettling imagery, ideas or behaviors that are designed to startle or even scare the viewer into understanding the consequences of undergoing a particular harmful action or inaction as well as the importance of avoiding such choices. In the UK, they are generally called a public information film (PIF); in Hong Kong, they are known as an announcement in the public interest (API).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Greenwashing</span> Use of the aesthetic of conservationism for promotion

Greenwashing, also called green sheen, is a form of advertising or marketing spin that deceptively uses green PR and green marketing to persuade the public that an organization's products, goals, or policies are environmentally friendly. Companies that intentionally adopt greenwashing communication strategies often do so to distance themselves from their environmental lapses or those of their suppliers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Iron Eyes Cody</span> American actor (1904–1999)

Iron Eyes Cody was an American actor of Sicilian descent who portrayed Native Americans in Hollywood films, including the role of Chief Iron Eyes in Bob Hope's The Paleface (1948). He also played a Native American shedding a tear about pollution in one of the country's most well-known television public service announcements from the group Keep America Beautiful. Living in Hollywood, he began to insist, even in his private life, that he was Native American, over time claiming membership in several different tribes. In 1996, Cody's half-sister said that he was of Italian ancestry, but he denied it. After his death, it was revealed that he was of Sicilian parentage and not Native American at all.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Litter</span> Waste products disposed of incorrectly at an inappropriate location

Litter consists of waste products that have been discarded incorrectly, without consent, at an unsuitable location. The word litter can also be used as a verb: to litter means to drop and leave objects, often man-made, such as aluminum cans, paper cups, food wrappers, cardboard boxes or plastic bottles on the ground, and leave them there indefinitely or for other people to dispose of as opposed to disposing of them correctly.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Environmentally friendly</span> Sustainability and marketing term

Environment friendly processes, or environmental-friendly processes, are sustainability and marketing terms referring to goods and services, laws, guidelines and policies that claim reduced, minimal, or no harm upon ecosystems or the environment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ad Council</span> American nonprofit organization

The Advertising Council, commonly known as Ad Council, is an American nonprofit organization that produces, distributes, and promotes public service announcements or PSAs on behalf of various sponsors, including nonprofit organizations, non-governmental organizations and agencies of the United States government.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Keep Britain Tidy</span> British environmental charity

Keep Britain Tidy is a UK-based independent environmental charity. The organisation campaigns to reduce litter, improve local places and prevent waste. It has offices in Wigan and London.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marine debris</span> Human-created solid waste in the sea or ocean

Marine debris, also known as marine litter, is human-created solid material that has deliberately or accidentally been released in seas or the ocean. Floating oceanic debris tends to accumulate at the center of gyres and on coastlines, frequently washing aground, when it is known as beach litter or tidewrack. Deliberate disposal of wastes at sea is called ocean dumping. Naturally occurring debris, such as driftwood and drift seeds, are also present. With the increasing use of plastic, human influence has become an issue as many types of (petrochemical) plastics do not biodegrade quickly, as would natural or organic materials. The largest single type of plastic pollution (~10%) and majority of large plastic in the oceans is discarded and lost nets from the fishing industry. Waterborne plastic poses a serious threat to fish, seabirds, marine reptiles, and marine mammals, as well as to boats and coasts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Environment Agency</span> Government agency of Singapore

National Environment Agency (NEA) is a statutory board under the Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment of the Government of Singapore.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Litter in the United States</span> Crime and environmental issue

Litter in the United States is an environmental issue and littering is often a criminal offense, punishable with a fine as set out by statutes in many places. Litter laws, enforcement efforts, and court prosecutions are used to help curtail littering. All three are part of a "comprehensive response to environmental violators", write Epstein and Hammett, researchers for the United States Department of Justice. Littering and dumping laws, found in all fifty United States, appear to take precedence over municipal ordinances in controlling violations and act as public safety, not aesthetic measures. Similar from state-to-state, these laws define who violators are, the type or "function" of the person committing the action, and what items must be littered or dumped to constitute an illegal act. Municipal ordinances and state statutes require a "human action" in committing illegal littering or dumping, for one to be "held in violation." Most states require law enforcement officers or designated, authorized individuals, to "...witness the illegal act to write a citation." Together, prosecutions and punitive fines are important in fighting illegal littering and dumping.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Litter in New Zealand</span>

Litter is a global issue and has a significant human impact on the environment. Litter is especially hazardous because it can enter ecosystems and harm a country's biodiversity. Litter is a prevalent environmental issue in New Zealand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tennessee Bottle Bill</span>

The Tennessee Bottle Bill is citizen-supported container-deposit recycling legislation, which if enacted will place a 5-cent deposit on beverage containers sold in Tennessee. The bill applies to containers made of aluminum/bimetal, glass or any plastic, containing soft drinks, beer/malt beverages, carbonated or non-carbonated waters, plain or flavored waters, energy drinks, juices, iced teas or iced coffees. Milk/dairy, nutritional drinks and wine and spirits are not included in the program.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Plastic pollution</span> Accumulation of plastic in natural ecosystems

Plastic pollution is the accumulation of plastic objects and particles in the Earth's environment that adversely affects humans, wildlife and their habitat. Plastics that act as pollutants are categorized by size into micro-, meso-, or macro debris. Plastics are inexpensive and durable, making them very adaptable for different uses; as a result, manufacturers choose to use plastic over other materials. However, the chemical structure of most plastics renders them resistant to many natural processes of degradation and as a result they are slow to degrade. Together, these two factors allow large volumes of plastic to enter the environment as mismanaged waste which persists in the ecosystem and travels throughout food webs.

Personal Responsibility in a Desirable Environment (PRIDE) is a non-profit organization that links citizens with the resources of local, state, and federal agencies to improve the region's water quality, clean up solid waste problems, and advance environmental education. It was originally launched by Congressman Hal Rogers and General James Bickford in 1997 and is a statewide non-profit organization in Kentucky.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Greenkeepers</span> International NGO

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">National CleanUp Day</span> Day observed annually September in the US

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Let's Do It! India</span> Indian non profit organization

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The Food and Beverage Recycling Alliance, or simply FBRA, is a Nigerian non-profit organization that promotes extended producer responsibility and industry collaboration with the goal to unite responsible stakeholders in the food and beverage sector to support and grow waste collection, buyback, and recycling programs. FBRA was set up as the Producer Responsibility Organization (PRO) for the food and beverage industry to enhance the recovery of post-consumer packaging waste in accordance with the operational guidelines of the National Environmental Standards Regulations and Enforcement Agency (NESREA).

References

  1. ↑ "KEEP AMERICA BEAUTIFUL RELEASES LARGEST STUDY ON LITTER IN AMERICA". Keep America Beautiful. May 19, 2021. Retrieved June 5, 2021.
  2. ↑ "What We Do". Keep America Beautiful. 2016-01-27. Retrieved 2019-10-04.
  3. ↑ "The Futility of Picking Up the Trash". Bloomberg. February 16, 2022. Retrieved November 26, 2022.
  4. ↑ "Recycling Plastic Into Unique and Useful Creations". Daily Yonder. October 24, 2022. Retrieved November 26, 2022.
  5. ↑ ""KEEP AMERICAN BEAUTIFUL" AND PERSONAL VS CORPORATE ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSIBILITY". History News Network. February 16, 2020. Retrieved November 26, 2022.
  6. 1 2 Yoder, Kate (June 12, 2024). "How the recycling symbol lost its meaning". Grist. Retrieved June 29, 2024.
  7. ↑ Tarantola, A. (October 29, 2021). "Is Big Tech 'greenwashing' its environmental responsibilities ahead of COP26?". Engadget.
  8. ↑ Dickson, Paul (2014). Authorisms: words wrought by writers. New York: Bloomsbury. p. 103. ISBN   9781620405406.
  9. ↑ Dickson, Paul (2014-06-17). "How authors from Dickens to Dr Seuss invented the words we use every day". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 2023-08-22.
  10. ↑ "National Parks and Conservation Magazine July-September 1954: Vol 28 Iss 118". National Parks and Conservation Association. July 1954.
  11. 1 2 "Ad Council : Pollution: Keep America Beautiful - Iron Eyes Cody (1961-1983)". Archived from the original on 2008-10-30. Retrieved 2009-04-23.
  12. ↑ "Clip: Littering Public Service Announcement 1963". Archived from the original on 2008-12-04. Retrieved 2008-12-20.
  13. ↑ "Clip: Littering PSA Susan Spotless 1964". Archived from the original on 2008-11-21. Retrieved 2008-08-04.
  14. ↑ Daye, Derrick (2007-11-10). "Great Moments In PSA's: Keep America Beautiful". Branding Strategy Insider. Retrieved 2024-04-23.
  15. ↑ Dunaway, Finis (November 21, 2017). "The 'Crying Indian' ad that fooled the environmental movement". Chicago Tribune.
  16. 1 2 Strandis, Ginger (2008). "The Crying Indian". Orion Magazine.
  17. ↑ "Pollution: Keep America Beautiful - Iron Eyes Cody (1961-1983)". Archived from the original on 2008-10-30. Retrieved 2009-04-23.
  18. ↑ "The 'Crying Indian' ad that fooled the environmental movement". Chicago Tribune. November 20, 2017. Retrieved November 26, 2022.
  19. ↑ Vrydaghs, McCall (2023-11-06). "Keep America Beautiful Launches New Podcast Series: "Do Beautiful Things" with Host Jenny Lawson". Keep America Beautiful. Retrieved 2024-10-07.
  20. ↑ "The Definitive Study on Litter in America". Keep America Beautiful. April 22, 2021. Retrieved April 28, 2021.
  21. ↑ "Keep America Beautiful".
  22. ↑ "Earth Day Live 2020". Keep America Beautiful. 20 April 2020. Retrieved April 28, 2021.
  23. ↑ "Keep America Beautiful". Boy Scouts of America. Retrieved 6 February 2018.
  24. ↑ "Keep America Beautiful Hometown USA Award Application" (PDF). Boy Scouts of America. Retrieved 6 February 2018.
  25. ↑ "Keep America Beautiful Merges with RETREET to Focus on Community Restoration and Resiliency Through Tree Planting". Keep America Beautiful. November 8, 2021. Retrieved September 6, 2024.
  26. ↑ Park, William (May 5, 2022). "How companies blame you for climate change". BBC News.
  27. ↑ Reid, Darren R. (October 31, 2018). "Elizabeth Warren, the Pipe Bomber and why so many white Americans claim Native ancestry". The Conversation. Retrieved 2022-06-13.
  28. ↑ Tang, Terry (February 25, 2023). "Rights to 'Crying Indian' ad to go to Native American group". Associated Press . Retrieved February 25, 2023– via ABC News.
  29. 1 2 Ariane Conrad Hyde (2005-04-01). "Litterbug World". AlterNet. Archived from the original on 2013-01-15. Retrieved 2008-05-20.
  30. ↑ "Keep America Beautiful: A History", toolkit.bottlebill.org.
  31. ↑ Wilkins, Matt, "More Recycling Won't Solve Plastic Pollution", Scientific American blog, July 6, 2018. Retrieved 2018-07-10.
  32. ↑ Garbage Land page 184
  33. 1 2 Smith, Elizabeth A.; McDaniel, Patricia A. (March 2011). "Covering their butts: responses to the cigarette litter problem". Tobacco Control. 20 (2). BMJ Publishing Group Ltd: 100–106. doi:10.1136/tc.2010.036491. PMC   3209806 . PMID   20966130.
  34. ↑ Wallbank, Lucinda A.; MacKenzie, Ross; Beggs, Paul J. (April 2017). "Environmental impacts of tobacco product waste: International and Australian policy responses". Ambio. 46 (3): 361–370. doi:10.1007/s13280-016-0851-0. PMC   5347528 . PMID   27844421.
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