Water gushes within the background whereas a guitarist strums and two plushy ft step into body and land amid a vivid pink plastic bottle cap, a cigarette butt and a crumpled lid close to a creek mattress.
Izzy, a foraging snowy egret puppet, goes for the pink bottle cap and struggles to swallow it earlier than a red-legged frog puppet named Fred races in from the best and discourages Izzy from consuming plastic.
“Oh yuck, I hold pondering that stuff is meals,” Izzy says to Fred earlier than noticing the eight-pack plastic ring choking the egret’s new, handheld pal.
“Properly the wind blew this on me and I bought tousled in it,” Fred tells Izzy earlier than the pair discover a pair of Alameda County residents volunteering and cleansing up creekside litter. This scene at Sycamore Grove in Livermore opens the signature video in a marketing campaign Alameda County’s Clear Water Program launched in 2018 to extend consciousness round stormwater air pollution prevention.
Via a red-legged frog puppet speaking on-screen to an egret whereas plastic suffocates it, the county division accountable for federal clear water legislation compliance sends a transparent message: Litter hurts.
In actual fact, red-legged frogs like Fred are an Alameda County native species thought-about among the many most weak to storm drain air pollution as seen within the video, one among greater than two dozen movies the company has launched since Might 2018. Fred’s standing as a threatened species is one motive why Oakland-based Gigantic Thought Studio and Los Angeles-based builder Puppet Storage selected the amphibian as one of many two mascots.
“Everybody is aware of Kermit and we thought that could be a difficulty however having a red-legged frog was totally different sufficient the place he may very well be pink and noticed,” mentioned Lisa Duba, principal at Gigantic Thought Studio. “We thought the hen would lend a distinct vitality than the frog when it comes to being humorous and having the ability to fly round and shifting round from creek to creek, whereas frogs type of keep in a single place. So we needed to have them work off one another.”
The duo’s stardom extends past the movies now: There are exercise books, coloring pages and a web-based interactive recreation that includes Fred and Izzy centered round storm drain air pollution prevention training. 4 of the unique movies had been translated final 12 months into Cantonese and Spanish, and the social advertising and marketing marketing campaign has racked up greater than two million views on the company’s YouTube channel as of publication time.
“Our principal purpose actually is to coach the general public that the distinction between the storm drain system and sewer system is that what goes down the storm drain system shouldn't be cleaned,” mentioned Cynthia Butler of the county’s clear water outreach program.
And that’s how it's for many cities: The road drains most individuals name “gutters” transport water to creeks and pure our bodies of water with out stopping for remedy.
San Francisco is a uncommon exception in California as it's the solely coastal metropolis served largely by a mixed sewer system, which collects and treats stormwater and wastewater in the identical pipe community. In Alameda County, storm drain runoff goes into creek beds just like the one at Sycamore Park within the unique video, the place the puppets see people cleansing it up.
For an Earth Day remix of that first video, Fred and Izzy drove residence their message with a double entendre: “Hey have a look at that, the litter enterprise is choosing up already. Thanks, guys.”
Alameda County’s Clear Water Program invitations residents to volunteer on the following occasions within the East Bay this Arbor Day:
Piedmont
Date: Thursday, April 27, 5-7 p.m.
Location: Piedmont Neighborhood Corridor
Deal with: 771 Highland Ave., Piedmont
No registration is required.
Pleasanton
Date: Saturday, April 29, 11 a.m.-2 p.m.
Location: Alviso Adobe Neighborhood Park
Deal with: 3465 Outdated Foothill Highway, Pleasanton
Occasion with data tables, Fruit tree pruning demonstrations, and enjoyable actions for youths
No registration is required.