Our View: Thanks to all for the clean-up and recycle efforts

The last week on the Hi-Line has shown once again of the growth of environmentalism in our daily lives while environmental causes along the Hi-Line.

While environmental causes have been losing ground at the governmental level — things haven't been going all that well in Congress or the Montana Legislature, people in their personal lives are taking actions that will help preserve the environment and improve the general day-to-day livability of the planet and our particular part of it.

There was a massive increase in the number of people using the Havre Pride and Recycle Hi-Line clean-up programs at 1st Street and 5th Avenue on Saturday morning. For a people, cars and trucks were lined up out to 5th Avenue. Volunteers had a hard time keeping up with the demand.

It was clear people had been saving recyclables — cans, papers, newspapers and ewaste — for a long time to bring them to the recycle location.

People brought in bags full of trash that was picked up from Havre streets by Havre Pride volunteers.

Then came the good news that Chinook is instituting its own recycling prograsm and are starting them off with a community barbecue.

Rocky Boy residents took part in an Earth Day event that collected lots of trash from the reservation.

And many people are taking it upon themselves to clean up their yards or the highways near their homes.

We still have a long way to go to clean up the environment, to make our streets and open fields more attractive and to save space in the landfill. But the actions of the community in recent days have shown that it is headed in the right direction.

Volunteers in Havre, Chinook and Rocky Boy, as well as all the other communities along the Hi-Line have taken time out of their lives to coordinate the recycling efforts.

We thank them all and thank all of those who took the time out of their lives to recycle.