An Eau Claire man’s efforts to save the environment have earned him kudos from Madison. | Unsplash
An Eau Claire man’s efforts to save the environment have earned him kudos from Madison. | Unsplash
An Eau Claire man’s efforts to save the environment have earned him kudos from Madison.
John Ellingsen picks up trash as a way to help the community he loves, prompting Gov. Tony Evers to hail the do-gooder on social media.
“Protecting our environment from pollution and preserving our public lands are core to who we are as Wisconsinites,” Evers tweeted. “Thank you, John, for mobilizing your community to help do just that.”
When Ellingsen isn’t busy, he could be found in and around Eau Claire removing garbage.
WEAU reported that he spent a weekend clearing trash from the banks of the Chippewa River.
The Earth means so much to Ellingsen.
“Our Earth isn’t our landfill,” he told Eau Claire’s NBC affiliate. “We don’t need to leave all this trash all over.”
The station added that Ellingsen would invite friends and family to join him.
With the mercury dropping, he’ll wait for warmer days to host more community cleanups.
“I hope that in the future people will want to continue to do this with me because I really enjoy it,” he told WEAU.
Team Seas, a worldwide effort to extract 30 million pounds of trash from the waters, served as an inspiration for Ellingsen.
The brainchild of YouTubers MrBeast and Mark Rober, the initiative also hopes to raise $30 million, according to the website HITC.
“For every one dollar you guys donate… one pound less of trash will be in the ocean,” MrBeast said in a recently uploaded video.
HITC reported that the duo seeks to achieve growth that would bring more awareness toward the cause.
According to MrBeast’s verified Twitter account, Team Seas had cleared more than 300,000 pounds of trash as of late last month.
New Year’s Day 2022 is the deadline date for the initiative to meet the goal.
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