A poignant television public service advertisement aired as part of the "Keep America Beautiful" campaign on Earth Day 1971.

Chief Iron Eyes Cody, an American Indian actor, paddled a canoe on a river flanked with polluting mills, then walked along a highway shoulder where a passing motorist threw a bag of trash that exploded at his feet.

A single tear rolled down his cheek as the announcer said, "People start pollution. People can stop it."

Ellen Keefe, executive director of Westmoreland Cleanways, says those old enough to remember often mention the commercial when discussions turn to the environment or Earth Day, which is celebrated next Tuesday.

Since the first Earth Day in 1970, Keefe has personally observed that people are paying more attention to the environment, evidenced by cleaner skies and waterways.

"As far as the average person goes, they're more conscious," Keefe says.

Today, groups like Westmoreland Cleanways, Pennsylvania Resources Council, Westmoreland Conservation District, Construction Junction and the Turtle Creek, Plum Creek and Nine Mile Run watershed associations work to promote environmental awareness.

But at the start of the environmental movement, efforts were even more grassroots, from community recycling drives to Scouts cleaning up creek beds.

Linda Patchel, a student at the former Churchill Area High School, began using her family's station wagon for a weekly recycling drive, recalls Joan Gottlieb of Churchill, her former biology teacher.

Now, 38 years and four sponsors later, a group of community volunteers continues to collect glass and metal cans from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. the first Sunday of each month at the Woodland Hills School District administration building.

Mandatory recycling in the state's larger municipalities has done away with volunteer efforts in many communities.

"People want the lazy way," says Gottlieb, a member for more than 30 years of the Churchill Area Environmental Council, which serves Churchill, Chalfant, Forest Hills and Wilkins Township. "They want to put it at the curb and forget about it."

But for smaller municipalities like Churchill and Chalfant that are exempt from mandatory collection, the volunteer drive provides a way to keep some recyclables from the landfills.

Local organizations have jumped on the recycling bandwagon as a way to raise money.

Many groups -- churches, libraries, fire departments and band parents -- collect paper for recycling and profit at bright green Abitibi Paper Retrievers scattered throughout the East Suburbs. The paper is trucked to Canada, where it is recycled into newsprint.

Other groups assist in Westmore-land Cleanways' fugitive tire program. The volunteers scour hillsides and other areas for discarded tires, turning in about 3,000 to 3,500 a year, even after 13 years into the program.

Two environmental trends are rain barrels and composting.

"By installing a rain barrel, you're diverting water instead of putting it into the sewage system," says Hal Kaufman, education program coordinator for Pennsylvania Resources Council's Pittsburgh office.

If thousands of homeowners would do that, it would lessen overflow situations, he says.

However, Gottlieb cautions only barrels that keep out mosquitoes with a screen should be used, not open-topped, homemade systems. Stagnant water can be a breeding ground for the insects, which can carry West Nile virus.

She said if the barrels become more popular, municipalities should require permits and regular inspections.

Nine Mile Run Watershed is offering free rain barrels and technical assistance in four neighborhood study areas in the Wilkinsburg-Edgewood area this year.

Some municipalities collect leaves in the fall and compost them for use or sale as mulch in the spring. Both Pennsylvania Resources Council and Westmoreland Cleanways offer backyard and worm composting workshops.

Kaufman says composting diverts materials like food scraps and paper from landfills, turning it into a rich organic fertilizer.

But for those not inclined to take those measures, Gottlieb suggests doing "something useful like picking up trash from the road" -- something she has done faithfully for years.

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Ways to help the environment year-round

Westmoreland Earth Day Celebration will take place Saturday from noon to 5 p.m. at the Robert S. Carey Center at St. Vincent College in Latrobe.

The free event includes family activities, educational displays and free resources.

Earth Day is only one day a year. There are other ways to help the environment throughout the year:

• Pennsylvania Resources Council will hold a Watershed Awareness/Rain Barrel Workshop at 7 p.m. April 24 at the Westinghouse Lodge, off Greensburg Pike in Forest Hills.

Cost is $30 a person or $40 a couple. For more information, call Nancy at 412-431-4449, ext. 247.

• Westmoreland Cleanways is sponsoring a tire, vehicle battery and appliance/scrap metal collection from 8:30 a.m. to noon on May 3 at Wynnsong Theater on Route 22 in Delmont.

Cell phones, compact fluorescent bulbs (no tubes) and inkjet cartridges will be collected at no charge. Nominal fees apply to other items.

• Westmoreland Cleanways also will hold a collection event from 8:30 a.m. to noon June 7 at the Murrysville Municipal Complex.

• Westmoreland Conservancy, a land trust based in Murrysville, will sponsor Conservation Connect from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. May 3 at Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium.

The evening includes a picnic-style dinner and behind-the-scenes tour. There also will be children's activities, conservation-related talks and visual displays. Tickets must be purchased in advance. For prices, visit www.westmore landconservancy.org.

• Construction Junction, located at the corner of Meade Street and North Lexington Avenue in Point Breeze, accepts donations of building materials and is a drop-off point for recyclables, including cardboard, paper, plastic and aluminum.

Hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday.