Earth Action: Protect Parks From Plastic Pollution

Earth Action: Protect Parks From Plastic Pollution

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Earth Day is on April 22, however we shouldn’t restrict our motion for the planet to in the future in April.  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 possibly can take to invest in the Earth and make your personal life extra sustainable.

To deal with the intense environmental issues posed by plastic we should always all be investing in a post-plastic world. A essential part of this course of is breaking free of plastic pollution. But as they are saying within the enterprise world, “What will get measured will get carried out.” Citizen science tasks assist environmentalists quantify the issues. This week, you possibly can put money into the Earth by accumulating knowledge on plastic air pollution in nationwide parks.

Action: Participate within the Plastic-Free Parks TrashBlitz

 (Para obtener información en español, visita: actionnetwork.org/events/plasticfreeparkstrashblitz)

Plastic Problems within the Parks

Our nationwide parks are supposed to be protected against air pollution and growth in an effort to protect a few of the most lovely landscapes of our nation as really pure areas. But in 2018, a study of tidal areas in 35 nationwide parks discovered microplastics in each single pattern. Plastic isn’t just an issue in aquatic areas. No matter how far inland, plastic air pollution ultimately finds its way to the sea. And there may be quite a lot of plastic air pollution within the nationwide parks. More than 300 million people go to them annually. These visits generate nearly 80,000 tons of municipal stable waste – a lot of it plastic.

This 12 months, on World Oceans Day, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland referred to as for the division to phase out single-use plastic merchandise and packaging from 480 million acres of federally managed lands, with a aim of eliminating the acquisition, sale, and distribution of such merchandise fully by 2032.

TrashBlitz

TrashBlitz is a marketing campaign of The 5 Gyres Institute, a nonprofit working to get rid of plastic air pollution by means of analysis that permits data-driven environmental options. From now by means of September, they’re mobilizing volunteers to doc plastic air pollution at U.S. National Parks utilizing the TrashBlitz app.

This fall the information shall be included in a report that may reveal the supplies, gadgets, and types of waste present in nationwide parks. These outcomes shall be used to tell future laws to maintain single-use plastic out of protected areas. It can even be used to foyer members of Congress to help the Reducing Waste in National Parks Act that was reintroduced by Representative Quigley (D-Il) final fall.

To take part, register online and obtain the TrashBlitz app. Then go to any nationwide park between now and the tip of September and spend a while selecting up trash that you just report within the app. You will mechanically get an electronic mail along with your uncooked knowledge, and obtain a duplicate of the ultimate report when it’s printed this fall. You can even be entered to win an America the Beautiful National Parks Pass and two tickets to Jack Johnson’s “All at Once” live performance in Los Angeles on October 1.