Owners of unsightly properties have been notified and the community’s youth drafted into service for the Pemberton Rotary Club’s Earth Day challenge. The local service group wants people to celebrate the earth by starting at square one, cleaning it up.
"One of the first things we did was go out with a camera and get some pictures of some pretty unsightly areas," said Lisa Ames, local realtor and Rotarian. "We got back to the office and looked at the pictures and decided it was worse than we thought. You see it everyday and you get immune to it."
Evidence in hand, Ames and other Rotary members discussed clean up with some of the offending landowners.
"We do have an unsightly premises bylaw in Pemberton," she explained.
While some people have been resistant, she says that generally reaction to cleaning up on Earth Day has been positive.
Local Scouting and Guiding troupes will be participating during their regularly scheduled meeting times. Students from both the elementary and secondary schools will be helping during the school week. For the rest of us, Saturday, April 22 will be the official day.
"We’re coordinating a community-wide, clean-up event," said Ames. " We want people to embrace the idea."
Embracing the idea amounts to thinking globally while acting extremely locally.
"Ideally what we’d like to see is one person take on coordinating the effort for their street. We want people to clean up around their homes, their streets, their stratas," she said.
To help people get rid of the debris they centrally located litter drop offs at the Equifest grounds off of Cottonwood Street and at the site next to the Pemberton Valley Lodge.
Ames points out that with the upcoming tourist season, it would serve the community well to put its best foot forward.
"You don’t want the first thing people to see when they come into town is garbage. It’s not such a great introduction to Pemberton."
However, enhancing the community’s environmental beauty extends beyond getting rid of the garbage. The Rotarians are also planning to plant 12" evergreen seedlings in areas in need of additional forestation. There are also actively negotiating for a space to develop "Rotary Park".
Ames and her fellow Rotarians will be out in force cleaning up various public venues around town. If your home and neighbourhood are under control garbage-wise, you can still participate in the Earth Day clean up. Volunteers can show up at the Equifest grounds at 9 a.m. and be assigned an area to clean up. Bags and gloves will be available.
"We are hoping people will wake up on Sunday morning and see a noticeable difference in the appearance of Pemberton"
For more information, call Lisa Ames at 604-932-1661.
