As soon as we realize the weather is getting (slightly) warmer and we’re going to be outside a lot more, we also realize that, geez, it’s a real pigsty out there. Although the annual Keep America Beautiful cleanup this weekend was canceled due to severe weather predictions, the die-hards behind Saturday’s 20th Annual Potomac Watershed Cleanup won’t let “possible lightning” stop them.

Shannon Macken, with sponsor Alice Ferguson Foundation, sent us an email this morning about the event:

We put on crummy clothing, go out to mostly predesignated sites, don gloves, and get to work picking up trash. Literally tons of it. We’ve found refrigerators, shopping carts, tombstones, and a couple thousand DC parking tickets. Granted, not all of it is that glamorous; most of the stuff we toss consists of run-of-the-mill plastic bottles. But there are a lot of them out there, and we need help.

And hey, if it rains, that only means the trash will be that much cleaner before you pick it up. Last year they picked up over 232 tons of trash, and yes, they even recycle what they can. Join them at any number of sites — there are 47 locations in D.C. alone and 300 total around the Mid-Atlantic; you practically can’t step outside tomorrow without running into one. Since some sites are much smaller than others, they’re asking that you contact the siteleader beforehand so they know how many to accomadate. The cleanup goes on at all locations between 9 a.m. and 12 p.m. And as Ms. Macken tells us, “Picking up litter is for more than just boy scouts and convicts, you know.” Word.

Photo of adorable children making the world a cleaner place in the 2007 winner of the Potomac River Watershed Cleanup Photo Contest by George Gadbois, courtesy the AFF web site