April is the type of month where the sun shines and flowers start to bloom. It is a time we celebrate the beauty of our world, with Earth Day being April 22. We, as Americans need to do more to keep our planet a nice place to live.

Keep America Beautiful (KAB) is a non-profit organization that helps inspire and educate people to take action every day to improve and beautify their neighborhoods and their environments. This group was founded in 1953 when a group of civic leaders came as one to bring public and private districts together promote a national cleanliness moral. It has since become a strong community for the past six decades. KAP has served as our country’s nonprofit manciple of litter prevention.

According to Dosomething.org, “The EPA estimates that 75% of the American waste stream is recyclable, but we only recycle about 30% of it.”

KAB makes millions of dollars a year from dozens of corporations who either directly or through their trade associations. This organization has many partners that help keep them running and keep our country nourishing and superior. Those include Waste Management, H&M, McDonald’s, Wrigley, The Coca Cola Foundation, Pepsico, and many more.

Science teacher, Miss Watts shares that in her classroom, “We recycle. I have Clorox wipes for them to get rid of germs that may be left behind on their desks.”

There are numerous ideas and activities to help take part keep the planet greener and happier in the month of April.

• Participate in the Great American Cleanup®, the nation’s largest community improvement program, which kicks into high gear every spring in tens of thousands of communities across the country and continues through June 20
• See trash or just anything that shouldn’t be where it is supposed to, throw it away!
• Keep your house clean and tidy! Inside and out! It’s always nice to wake up and smell the freshness and not have to worry about stuff everywhere!

Miss Watts also states, “To make our school (Carolina Forest) cleaner and better, we need to keep recycling. Pick up after ourselves. Most of our students are excellent with their lunch trash, but some students need to improve.”

Most of us have a deep care about our planet and surroundings.  Western folk singer, John Denver expressed, “Love the earth as you would love yourself.”