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Earth Day is on April 22 however taking motion for the planet shouldn’t be restricted to at some point. Earth911 is honoring the 52 years of Earth Day with 52 Actions for the Earth. Each week from Earth Day 2022 to Earth Day 2023, we’ll share an motion you’ll be able to take to invest in the Earth and make your personal life extra sustainable.
Plastic poses critical environmental issues, and we must always all be investing in a post-plastic world. A crucial element of this course of is breaking free of plastic pollution. This week, you’ll be able to put money into the Earth with the straightforward step of selecting up plastic.
Plastic Pollution
Plastic is ubiquitous in our lives – from the packaging defending our vegetables to the fleece sweatshirts on our backs – and it generates air pollution all through its lifecycle. Between 4% and 8% of world oil consumption is said to plastics by fossil gasoline extraction and emissions from plastics manufacturing.
At the tip of plastic’s lifecycle (which is commonly restricted to a single use), almost none of it is recycled. When plastic is disposed of for incineration, it generates carbon dioxide, probably the most important greenhouse gas. In 2016, greater than half of the 12 million tons of carbon dioxide launched by incinerators within the U.S. got here from plastics. Because plastic will not be biodegradable, it stays in a landfill indefinitely. But a whole lot of plastic by no means makes it to disposal. Instead, it turns into litter, with 8 million tons of plastic coming into the oceans every year. There it varieties huge garbage gyres and immediately harms sea life. Sunlight and warmth trigger it to release greenhouse gases because it breaks down into microscopic particles that enter the meals chain and bioaccumulate.
Plastic air pollution is a a lot larger downside than simply litter. But selecting up plastic litter is one solution to cut back plastic air pollution.
Action: Pick up Plastic
Cleanup Events
EarthDay.org’s Great Global Cleanup is a worldwide marketing campaign to take away billions of items of trash from neighborhoods, seashores, rivers, lakes, trails, and parks. The program goals to sponsor cleanups every single day of the 12 months. Visit the campaign website and scroll all the way down to the map to discover a cleanup occasion close to you. If you’ll be able to’t discover an occasion that works along with your schedule, EarthDay.org toolkits make it easier to arrange an occasion of your personal.
Personal Plogging
Plogging is the apply of selecting up litter whilst you run (or hike or go for a stroll). So even for those who can’t decide to an organized cleanup occasion, this week whilst you’re going about your different enterprise, take the time to select up and recycle any plastic waste you come throughout. You can have much more impression by documenting the plastic air pollution you discover as a citizen scientist. The Ocean Cleanup needs to find out about plastic air pollution close to rivers and oceans. EarthDay.org’s Global Earth Challenge app needs to find out about plastic air pollution in all places.
