(April 1, 2025) Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful’s popular Open Your Eyes to Litter series of five educational activity books was created over 20 years ago. Over one million copies of the original series were distributed to schools throughout Pennsylvania. To account for the changing environment, new environmental education standards and new types of litter, Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful is working with illustrator and concept artist, Brady Mock, and Eastern Pennsylvania Coalition for Abandoned Mine Reclamation (EPCAMR) to update the series.

Revisions to Open Your Eyes to Litter in a Watershed are complete! Designed for kids in grade 2 through 4, the book focuses on how illegal dumping and littering affect watersheds. The book includes vocabulary, activities, journal prompts and fun activities that reinforce the concept of a watershed and how litter impacts the people and animals who live there. The book and its teachers guide are available to download, free of charge, on the organization’s website

Pennsylvania’s first-ever Litter Action Plan, announced by the Governor’s Office in 2021 called for education and outreach strategies to ensure all Pennsylvanians know littering is unacceptable and there are better ways to manage their waste. Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful’s Open Your Eyes to Litter book series answers that call.

“We are thrilled to announce the availability of our watershed book for schools, groups, and individuals. By keeping our waterways free from litter and debris, we can preserve the beauty of Pennsylvania’s waterways, improve water quality, and enhance the health and safety of our environment. This benefits not only people but also animals, birds, and fish, and protects the natural resources we rely on for recreation and tourism.

It’s especially important to convey this message to our youth, as they are the future stewards of our environment. Educating young people about the significance of maintaining clean waterways ensures that they understand their role in protecting and preserving our natural resources for generations to come,” said Shannon Reiter, President of Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful.

The book series provide hands-on learning and are appropriate for grades K through Six. Each book revision addresses PA Department of Education Academic Standards and has an accompanying Teacher’s Guide that provides multi-disciplined educational activities that expands on the information, ideas, and activities that are included in each book. The book series includes:

• Revised Open Your Eyes to Litter – Explains what litter is and who is affected by it. Also available in Spanish.
• Open Your Eyes to Litter, Our Littered Past – Illustrates litter and waste issues from prehistoric times to the present and explains how each culture managed or didn’t manage their waste. Also available in Spanish.
• Open Your Eyes to Litter, Think Before You Toss – Explains ways trash can be properly disposed, what happens to trash once it is thrown away, and why you should reduce, reuse and recycle.
• Revised Open Your Eyes to Litter, In a Watershed – Illustrates how litter and illegal dumping affect watersheds and the animals and people who live, work, and play there.
• Open Your Eyes to Litter, Keeping Our Greenways Clean – Explains how litter affects our greenways, how greenways function, and encourages both awareness and stewardship of greenways. This book illustrates the major greenways in Pennsylvania and shows how they connect cities and communities.

The books and teacher’s guides are available to download.

“Our Open Your Eyes to Litter books are a perfect complement to an in-class or virtual lesson about litter or recycling. Students can follow up with a litter pick up of their school grounds or neighborhood. Our books can help kids learn the huge impact litter has on our communities and the natural world and invites them to think about what they can do about it,” said Shannon Reiter, President of Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful.

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About Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful
Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful’s mission is empowering Pennsylvanians to keep our communities clean and beautiful. Since 1990, Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful and its volunteers have removed over 162 million pounds of litter from Pennsylvania’s roadways, greenways, parks, forests, and waterways. To learn more about Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful, visit www.keeppabeautiful.org.

Download the press release