Our local atheist meetup group has adopted a highway. More specifically, 2.6 miles of highway just outside of Cohoes, New York.
That’s me on the left there. (Many more photos here.) We just wrapped up our first highway cleanup event. Eight people showed up, and over the course of half the full route, we went through over a dozen trash bags. Lots of litter… mostly plastic cups, cigarette packs and butts, beer cans, energy drinks, and random bits of paper and foam packaging.
Things we learned today, as said on Facebook by Rick, the event’s organizer:
- Apparently, high proportions of the nation’s dwindling number of smokers are drawn, irresistibly, to Cohoes, NY, much in the way that visionaries flocked to Devil’s Tower in Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
- Litterers exhibit a strong preference for Budweiser, Red Bull, Five Hour Energy and Newports.
- Unlike love, Styrofoam is forever.
I got a nice sunburn, and I’m looking forward to doing this again – with a bigger group so we can split up and do the whole route.
Thoughts from a Godless Heathen 
Hey Mike! It's so awesome you guys are adopting part of your community. I think it's very important that atheists and agnostics show that they too are generous and community-minded, and that those values are in no way linked to religion.