TEENS TACKLE THE PLASTICS PROBLEM:
Youth challenge Alaskans to "rethink" consumption during Week without Plastics

April 20-27, 2008: Reduce, reuse, and recycle: These three words have historically guided Americans in their efforts to minimize waste. Today, as global warming threatens our way of life, landfill space becomes decreasingly available, and consumption reaches an all-time high, AYEA members are adding a fourth “R” to the mix: rethink.

AYEA teens launched the Re3: Rethink Plastics project (ayea.org/takeaction/re3-rethinkplastics.html) to inform individuals about the impacts of plastics on our health and environment, to educate consumers about alternatives to disposable plastics, and to illustrate to youth that they can make a difference.

The global community has acknowledged that plastics pose problems to our environment and health. Americans use eighty-four billion plastic bags each year, and sixty million plastic bottles are littered each day. Countries such as Ireland and China are taking steps to ban plastic bags. Recently, Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels unleashed a proposal for a twenty-cent “green fee” on disposable plastic bags because of their “significant energy, climate change, wastewater, litter, and water quality impacts.”

Zoe Fuller, a fifteen-year-old from Palmer, Alaska, is the youth chair for Re3: Rethink Plastics. She says, “Reducing our plastic waste will help Alaska’s wildlife, clean up the environment, and save money.” Fuller and peers spent the winter researching plastic impacts, use, and policies, and developed educational presentations. In March, they traveled to Juneau where they learned about legislation proposing a plastic bag “user fee.”

The Rethink campaign culminated with a Week without Plastics April 20-27, a grassroots effort to educate consumers about alternatives to disposable plastic bags, in particular, organic cotton bags made especially for AYEA. Week without Plastics was created by AYEA members from Juneau in 2004. From Fairbanks to Yakutat, AYEA teens promoted solutions to plastic pollution. Here are some highlights:

• In Anchorage, teens worked with Mayor Mark Begich to proclaim April 20-27 a “Week without Plastics;”
• Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski promoted the Week without Plastics on the Senate floor as a core service project during her annual speech on Global Youth Service (April 25-27);
• AYEA teens have created a Week without Plastics Tool Kit that can be used by youth, school, or community groups, or anyone else wanting to tackle plastic (www.ayea.org/DOCs/Re3-2008-Week-Without-Plastics-Toolkit.doc);
• In the village of St. Michael, AYEA graduate Charlee Lockwood convinced store manager Matt Jackson to stop ordering plastic bags and Styrofoam; he is committed to giving his customers reusable bags.
• Homer AYEA member Aviva Hirsch published a “Bring Your Own Bag” letter to the editor in both the Homer Tribune and Homer News;
• Fairbanks AYEA member Katie McCaffrey published a “No Plastics Week” letter to the editor in the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner;
• In Sitka, Mt. Edgecumbe teens sold reusable bags at a number of stores and Wells Fargo bank, and interviewed with the local radio station about plastics impacts. Sitka teens also got a few letters to the editor printed in the Daily Sitka Sentinel.
• Yakutat teens collected signatures supporting state legislation to create a “user fee” on disposable plastic shopping bags. They held a community drawing to give away reusable bags.
• AYEA member Zoe Fuller published a “Rethinking Plastics” opinion piece in the Mat-Su Frontiersman and the Juneau Empire; and
• The “AK” radio program on Alaska Public Radio Network broadcast an Earth Day special, focusing on plastics and AYEA’s campaign.

The Alaska Conservation Foundation (ACF) was able to provide funding for AYEA’s outreach efforts through a grant from a family foundation to purchase reusable organic cotton bags to be distributed throughout the state.

“These are the civic leaders of tomorrow,” says ACF Executive Director Nick Hardigg. “We are helping provide the funding to create a conservation movement and to show people that they can really make a difference in Alaska’s future.”

So, what’s after the Week without Plastics? AYEA teens and volunteers are also weaving the “Rethink” theme into the 10th anniversary Summer Fund Raiser, to be held June 5, 2008 in Anchorage (www.ayea.org/fundraiser). Teens want people to rethink our consumption, and rethink our future. Aviva Hirsch, a Homer AYEA member who has been outspoken on disposable plastics, will deliver a short speech on plastics.

“Each bag we save makes a difference,” she says. “We can bring our own bags and take this into our own hands.”