Mike Anderson at CleanUpTheRiver.com is one of my new favorite bloggers, and here’s why: he knows a thing or two about the role that encouragement plays in persuading everyday citizens to make a difference.

He deftly applies those instincts to his new scheme: the “Dash for Trash:”

Each team would be asked to remove forty pounds of trash per person from the St. Croix River Valley as they made their journey. 20 miles, 30 canoes, 40 pounds of trash each, gathered by 60 hard-working people. If successful, the project would recover more than two thousand pounds of pollution (2,400 pounds, to be precise).

Right on! He doesn’t actually use the phrase working together, but he certainly nails the point. And what’s really interesting is the difference between how he uses numbers and how nature protection and pollution control organizations usually use numbers.

We often make the mistake of using mathmatics to prove how big the problem is – with the unintended consequence of convincing everyday citizens that their efforts won’t make a difference, so why bother? Mike uses numbers to prove how big a difference a few hard working citizens can make, giving them confidence that their efforts will be worthwhile.

Good luck with the Dash for Trash, Mike.

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