Give a Hoot! Don’t Pollute.

By S. C. Samoy, RISE Director of Operations & Communications

A 1996 World Series Yankees baseball cap. An extra small Disney Mickey Mouse tie-dye T-shirt. A white Nike with blue swoosh for the left foot (size 7). A crumbling ten-dollar bill. These are some of the items I picked up this morning in Rockaway Hip-Hop Community Garden and the perimeter sidewalk along Beach 59th Street and Rockaway Beach Boulevard.

Some objects, such as still-wet ankle socks and cigarette butts, go straight to the dark green garbage bag. Other things are put in clear recyclable bags: empty PATRÓN mini bottles, discarded Wendy’s and Popeye cups and lids and bags and napkins. I wonder who the folks are who knowingly tossed their once-treasures onto RISE’s lawn. Or those who did who did not even have any conscientiousness while in the act.

I asked a young man with his unleashed pit bull why he thought our neighbors did such foolery. “There’s gotta be dirt, so you have something to do.”

“Believe me,” I replied, “there are other things I can be doing.”

“Well, we need pollution, so we can clean it up,” he said.

I realized I did not want to listen to more of his opinion, though I had asked for it. He went on for a bit more and then I told him I needed to continue my work.

I wonder if we can ever achieve world peace, if we cannot even keep our neighborhoods free from discarded stuff. I grew up with Woodsy Owl “Give a hoot! Don’t pollute” and Keep America Beautiful ad with “the Crying Indian/Iron Eyes Cody,” whose single tear drop slid down his face because of the careless act of littering.

Do you run into the same issue in your neck of the peninsula? RISE’s participation in International Coastal Cleanup isn’t until Saturday, September 13, 2025. Until then, what can we do, together and apart, to begin the journey to America the Beautiful?