Keep America Beautiful Month

March 31, 2026March 31, 2026Jensperspectiveblog 5 Comments

As the earth turns green, Keep America Beautiful Month in April reminds us of the ways we improve our environment. It’s not just about picking up trash and keeping our own living space clean. The movement celebrates the efforts we make several key areas.

The Keep America Beautiful Foundation is a US-based non-profit organization with three basic missions: reducing waste, preventing litter and beautifying communities. It’s about uniting communities in common goals. Together, we can live in more beautiful and clean neighborhoods.

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HISTORY

In 1971, the Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts of America in conjunction with Keep America Beautiful, Inc. founded Keep America Beautiful Day. A week of activities followed in 1982, where cities celebrated with beautification events, school contests, and educational committees. By 1984, city officials across the country proclaimed Keep America Beautiful Month and planned expanded events and programs to improve their communities.

Don’t forget that we celebrate Earth Day this month and if your observing National Volunteer Month, join one of many local events like beach clean ups, community gardens, or litter cleanups.

HOW TO OBSERVE

Reduce waste by repurposing and reusing old items. Recycling is another meaningful way we can all reduce waste in our communities.
Teach children the importance of preventing litter. Adopt-a-highway, street or park programs are an excellent way to educate and beautify at the same time.
Beautifying your community can be a fun and creative project. Clean up the winter debris in your yard. Plant a tree, some flowers or even a garden. Put a fresh coat of paint on your fence or deck.

There are many ways we can all help beautify our part of the world. Use #KeepAmericaBeautifulMonth to share on social media.

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NATIONAL CLEAN OUT YOUR COMPUTER DAY

February 9, 2026January 2, 2026Jensperspectiveblog 2 Comments

Observed on the second Monday in February, the 12th this year, National Clean Out Your Computer Day promotes taking time out of your day to do some basic housekeeping on your computer.

Use things like thumb drives to safely store those precious photographs. I encourage you to also create a rescue drive on a separate thumb drive. This will allow you to fix and reinstall windows if something goes wrong.

We all say I won’t need this…. Let me tell you a story. We bought a new PC for my husbands office. His had just gotten to old to handle the new things out there. So Windows 10 Pro came pre-installed. Everything worked great until it didn’t. We could not authenticate our windows software. It came with the code for it but, Microsoft would not accept it.

After a really long period of working with tech support, it turns out Windows was installed wrong and was missing key setup files. I asked for the didk to reinstall windows and of course, no one does that anymore. So I had to use my laptop and download a rescue disk to USB thumb drive.

Happily, once I reinstalled everything it all works great. Even though it was a product I just bought, the company made a mistake on just that one item. I was given the option to ship my new PC off somewhere so they could fix it, but as I said it’s a new computer. So that rescue is now labeled and put up in case it’s needed in the future.

This is why I advise having backups and keeping things like photos, documents, music and movie collections in a safe back up. Do it often to make sure your important data can be accessed.

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All computers need regular organizing and clean up. This includes the removal of old files and clutter. We tend to save emails, documents, and photos on our hard drive when other media can store it for us. Often, we keep duplicates we don’t need, too. Old programs also create havoc, too. Makes sure you are using the latest versions of programs and operating systems, too.

Over time, files and programs that are unused on your PC clog the memory and cause confusion during retrieval and use of other data. They may also slow down your computer.

Explore More….

NATIONAL CLEAN OUT YOUR COMPUTER DAY HISTORY

In 2000, the Institute for Business Technology first promoted National Clean Out Your Computer Day.

HOW TO OBSERVE #CleanOutYourComputerDay

Take a look at your files and programs on your computers. If you work in an office, encourage your peers to do the same. Share tips and tricks to efficient computer clean up.

Organize your files and folders.
Review your emails and delete any that are no longer needed.
Delete junk files.
Remove duplicate files.
Delete old files and programs not being used.
Update the programs you do use.

Use #CleanOutYourComputerDay to post on social media.

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NATIONAL DRINKING STRAW DAY

January 2, 2026November 14, 2025Jensperspectiveblog 1 Comment

On January 3rd National Drinking Straw Day commemorates the date in 1888 that Marvin C. Stone received the patent for the paper drinking straw. Since then, all variety of drinking straws are used.

It is believed the Sumerians used the very first drinking straws for drinking beer. Archeologists speculate they used the straws to avoid the solid byproducts of fermentation that would have sunk to the bottom. The oldest drinking straw known to be in existence was found in a Sumerian tomb dated 3,000 B.C.E. This found straw was a gold tube inlaid with a precious blue stone.

The Argentines used a similar metallic device called a bombilla. Used for hundreds of years, the bombilla acted as both a straw and a sieve.

Today, manufacturers make a variety of reusable straws. From stainless steel and glass to bamboo and silicone, they not only save money and the environment, but they are also fun to use. They come in a variety of creative shapes and colors.

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NATIONAL DRINKING STRAW DAY HISTORY

The United States Patent Office granted Mavin G. Stone, his Patent # US375962 A on January 3, 1888.

HOW TO OBSERVE #DrinkingStrawDay

Reduce an ever bigger carbon footprint and get a great product as well. See also Skip the Straw Day, Chocolate Covered Cherries Day, and Fruitcake Toss Day.

Enjoy your favorite beverage using a drinking straw. Use #DrinkingStrawDay to post on social media.

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NATIONAL SKIP THE STRAW DAY

February 27, 2025February 20, 2025Jensperspectiveblog

On the fourth Friday in February, The Coral Keepers ask you to consider a different way on National Skip the Straw Day! For thousands of years, humans have enjoyed slurping a refreshing beverage through a cylindrical tube. If Marvin Stone (the inventor of the first paper straw in 1888) were alive today, he might be shocked to know of the five large areas of the ocean, called gyres, where plastic garbage collects. The sea’s currents create vortexes trapping plastics, and in the collection are plastic drinking straws.

Straws and other plastics cause harm to marine life in many ways. Birds, fish and other sea life consume plastics accidentally or when they mistake it for food. Plastics don’t biodegrade. They break down into smaller and finer, microscopic pieces. When plastics break down, they produce bisphenol A (BPA) which interferes with reproductive systems in marine life. It also produces styrene monomer which is a suspected carcinogen.

According to the National Park Service, Americans use 500 million drinking straws daily! So, on National Skip the Straw Day that’s potentially 500 million fewer straws that don’t end up in landfills or the ocean.

We can give you all sorts of other statistics to convince you to Skip the Straw on National Skip the Straw Day (and on other days), but we would rather show you how.

NATIONAL SKIP THE STRAW DAY HISTORY

The Coral Keepers, students at Whitehall Middle School in Whitehall, MI, along with their advisor, Susan Tate, founded National Skip the Straw Day in 2017 to encourage Americans to give up the straw habit and help spread awareness about the damage caused by disposable plastics. See also National Drinking Straw Day.

HOW TO OBSERVE #SkipTheStrawDay

For most of us, the easiest way is to pick up the glass and tip it back like our parents taught us to do when we four or five. It may take some practice and maybe both hands. There are other fun, eco-friendly, healthy options.

Bamboo straws are a renewable, reusable and biodegradable.
Paper straws, while still disposable, are biodegradable and from a renewable source.
Glass straws are coming in durable, colorful designs fit for a variety of beverages.
Stainless steel straws are an option for those of us who like our cold drinks really cold!

Other Ways to Observe:

Volunteer to help clean up your local beaches, parks or neighborhoods. Take note of how many straws are included in all the litter.
Plan ahead. Do you frequent fast-food restaurants or get beverages to go? You will often receive the straw before you have the chance to say no. Be prepared when you order to request your drink without a straw.

Share your solutions and use #SkipTheStrawDay on social media.

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NATIONAL SKIP THE STRAW DAY Feb 28

February 28, 2020February 28, 2020Jensperspectiveblog

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We can give you all sorts of other statistics to convince you to Skip the Straw on National Skip the Straw Day (and on other days), but we would rather show you how.

HOW TO OBSERVE #SkipTheStrawDay

Bamboo straws are a renewable, reusable and biodegradable.
Paper straws, while still disposable, are biodegradable and from a renewable source.
Glass straws are coming in durable, colorful designs fit for a variety of beverages.
Stainless steel straws are an option for those of us who like our cold drinks really cold!

Other Ways to Observe:

Volunteer to help clean up your local beaches, parks or neighborhoods. Take note of how many straws are included in all the litter.
Plan ahead. Do you frequent fast-food restaurants or get beverages to go? You will often receive the straw before you have the chance to say no. Be prepared when you order to request your drink without a straw.

Share your solutions and use #SkipTheStrawDay on social media.

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