Patrick Traylor / staff Paula Mullin, education specialist with iLivehere, says that environmental awareness in the Quad-Cities is growing.

Submitted Christian Bawden, third from left, organized a cleanup in July 2008 using the Web site iLivehereqc.org. Helping him with the cleanup were, from left, Olivia Sun, Bettendorf; and Maddy Bawden, Mike Bawden and Gray Bawden, all of Riverdale.

Submitted Chris Bawden of Riverdale organized a cleanup in July 2008 using the Web site iLivehere.org.

Getting your "clean on" around your community is easier than you might think, thanks to groups like iLivehere, formerly Keep Scott County Beautiful.

For years, Keep Scott County Beautiful worked hard to put a stop to littering. In April 2008, the group changed its name to iLivehere while broadening its focus to encompass ways that community members can clean up our world.

To bring people together, iLivehere also includes an online community component, where people in the Quad-Cities and beyond can come together to talk about their green accomplishments and to set goals for the future where they live. According to the Web site, iLivehereqc.org, it was created to promote overall environmental stewardship, community pride and the appreciation of our natural resources in the Quad-Cities.

"It was formed by Waste Commission of Scott County to encourage citizens, like you, to get involved and do something, anything, for our local environment," the site states. "But don't stop there. Be sure to tell us what good things you've done for the environment."

Giving community members a chance to share information about projects and cleanups also helps others get involved. Members can take part in cleanups and other environmental projects created by other members, or they can cruise the site to get ideas for cleanups or projects of their own.

"The more friends we have on our social network, www.ilivehereonline.com, the better," says Paula Mullin, education specialist with iLivehere.

iLivehere online allows members to make their own pages, share their No.1 environmental concern and their "environmental mission" in seven words. With discussion boards and message postings, members easily can interact with one another. They can join groups, add friends and post photos, too, similar to what members can do on social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook. The site is free and open to everyone.

Chris Bawden from Riverdale, Iowa, used the iLivehere site to organize a cleanup in July 2008.

Bawden needed to supervise a family service project for a Boy Scout merit badge, and he decided to make a nearby ravine into an official iLivehere cleanup site. He and his family filled more than six bags with garbage they collected from the overgrown hillsides and stream in the ravine.

"It was easy," explains Bawden. "All I had to do was visit iLivehereqc.org and register online. They had everything I needed, and my dad picked it all up. We all worked for a couple of hours (that Saturday) and got the job done."

iLivehere supplied bags, gloves, litter tongs and safety vests for the cleanup.

Bawden's mother took photos. It "was her way of helping, I suppose," he says. "My little brother, my sister and her friend did most of the work, though. I had to pick up the heavy stuff and make sure we didn't leave anything behind."

iLivehere also provides environmental education opportunities and administers the Make it Yours program, in which volunteers can sign up to "adopt" an area and keep it clean.

iLivehere also is "working on making event recycling containers even more convenient to use so recycling is available at more local events," Mullin says. "We'll also continue asking people to be our friend (online)."

She says the programs are working; environmental awareness is increasing. In 2008 both Bald Eagle Days and the Earth Week Fair saw increases in numbers of participants.

"We've received an increasing number of calls from residents and businesses interested in learning about green initiatives, which suggests they are environmentally aware," she says.

iLivehere always needs more volunteers and members to help clean up their communities. Visit ilivehereqc.org for more information. To join the social network or share a story of your own, click the "connect" tab.