by Bob Lesser
In recognition of Earth Week, members of the Almonte United Church Sunday School and Youth Group submitted projects for the Extraordinary Earth Project “Planet versus Plastics” as part of Earth Day 2024’s theme “Planet vs. Plastics”. “Planet vs. Plastics” calls to advocate for widespread awareness on the health risk of plastics, rapidly phase out all single-use plastics, urgently push for a strong UN Treaty on Plastic Pollution, and demand an end to fast fashion. Coincidentally, this happened around the same time as the 4th Session of the International Negotiating Committee to develop an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment (INC-4), that is taking place in Ottawa from the 23rd to the 29th of April 2024 in Ottawa.
In addition to spending a Sunday morning collecting trash in downtown Almonte, the group received box loads of recyclable items that were requested from members of the congregation. The group of 20 entered 31 pieces of art, part of the 128,810 pieces of art submitted to date by the 5,149 participating teams worldwide. The largest piece of art is presently on display in Almonte United Church, comprised of 100s of recyclable plastic containers.
Remember to reduce, reuse, repurpose and recycle … every little bit helps. Let’s all work to eliminate plastic usage for the sake of human and planetary health and to decrease plastic production by 60 percent by 2040.
Photos are of the main project submitted as part of the Extraordinary Earth Project, presently on display in the sanctuary of Almonte United Church.
