Plastic Pollution Awareness Day is headed your way!
PLASTIC POLLUTION AWARENESS DAY IS HEADED YOUR WAY!
Written by: Hannah Testa founder of Hannah4Change
People always ask me how I ended up getting February 15, 2017 declared as Plastic Pollution Awareness Day in the state of Georgia. After all, I am just a 14 year old girl. The short answer is passion and hard work, but I know that's overly simplistic. So here is my story.
Long ago, when I was 4, I realized that the actions we take today have an impact on our world. One day, after leaving a store, I said, “No one cares about our planet except for us”. My mom asked why I said that, and I replied that it was because no one brought their own reusable bags except for us. So from a young age I learned that protecting the Earth started with us. Around the age of 10, my parents started exposing me to issues that were affecting the animals I love, and so I started to really raise my voice to help the Earth and its animals. I raised money and awareness for various animal causes (it was difficult to focus on just one cause) by speaking at protests and rallies, collecting thousands of petitions to send to politicians, leading fundraisers, and producing educational videos to spread awareness of animal issues.
Around this time, I realized that one of the biggest problems facing wildlife is one that we can control - plastic pollution. For me, it is difficult to see a problem and not do anything about it. Even though I am young, through education I felt I could get others to reduce their plastic consumption because I always believed that “Knowledge is Power”. If we all were truly aware of what is really going on, wouldn’t we all want to improve the situation?
After learning all I could about plastic pollution, and partnering with several environmental organizations, I ended up networking with a local senator. My mom always says, “you don’t ask, you don’t get” so I used that philosophy to simply request an awareness day to educate the public about the dangers of plastic pollution. Together, we wrote a resolution that will proclaim February 15, 2017 as Plastic Pollution Awareness Day in Georgia. And now I am publicizing this event to as many residents and businesses as possible, with the goal that at least on this day, we will all commit to avoiding single use, disposable plastic products such as plastic bottles, straws, and bags.
Click on the above flyer to check out the event description on Hannah's website. Also, Earth Guardians will be partnering and incorporating this day of awareness into our Protect Our Future campaign and will be calling all EGs to take action around Plastic Pollution in their communities! So if you are involved in Protect Our Future and care about how plastic is effecting our environments consider organizing an event or action on Feb 15th 2017! (If you want to learn more about Protect our Future, email Aidan aidan@earthguardians.org)
There is no doubt that you too can do what I have done. Fuel your passion to help animals and the environment by getting educated on the issues…remember, “Knowledge is Power”. Discuss the issues and share what you have learned. Network. Leverage the internet and social media. If we children join together and use the power of our collective voices, we can force change. I hope you will join me to influence changes that help our wonderful planet. Together, let’s change the world!