Planet vs Plastic Scavenger Hunt

Around the St. Louis Earth Day Festival grounds, you can find wooden signs each with a question and a QR code. These will take you the various pages linked by the pictures below. Get your stamps from a volunteer nearby and bring your completed form to the Earth Day Challenge booth for a prize!

Plastic Production Timeline

Environmental Justice Impact

Environmental Impacts on Animals

Microplastics

Health Impacts

The Youth Movement

The Global South

Solutions and Policy

Plastic Production Timeline

Since the development of polyethylene in 1933, plastic production has experienced significant growth. Following World War II, during which plastic production quadrupled in the United States, plastic manufacturing companies turned their attention to consumer products replacing materials such as wood or glass. As this cost-effective and convenient market developed, environmental concerns related to plastic waste became clear.

Current data indicates that the recycling rate of the U.S. is only 6% resulting in residual plastics affecting the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the food we eat. It is important to promote reduced plastic usage and advance improved packaging solutions for the generations to come.

Resources for Adults

Article: The Age of Plastic: from Parkesine to pollution

Book: The Problem with Plastic by Judith Enck with Adam Mahoney

Video: The problems with single-use plastics

Resources for Kids

Matching Game: What was it made of before plastics?

Interactive Slideshow on the Life of a Plastic Bottle

Video: Investigating Plastic Pollution – The Basics

Video: The story of plastic (animated)

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Organizations to get involved with to take action on this topic

Environmental Justice Impact

When Plastic was first introduced into our post WWII homes, it was marketed as an equalizer. Giving convenience to domestic laborers, predominantly women, while celebrating the ease of a disposable product. Decades later, we are seeing inequality and injustice as the now obvious conclusions to this “throwaway” culture.

Environmental Justice is a movement and policy that affirms that all people and communities have a right to equal protection, sustainability, and access to their environment and that laws and regulations for a safe and sustainable future should be upheld equally.

There are significant inequalities in plastic pollution exposure according to race, income, ability, gender, sexuality, and other marginalized identities in relation to proximity to plastic environmental hazards. Ingesting micro/nano plastics from contaminated water or food and living near hazards, such as plastic production or recycling facilities, contributes to poorer health. No person or environment is disposable. We must center Environmental Justice in our Planet vs Plastic efforts to create a just future for all.

Resources for Adults

Project showing the overlap of southern plantations and plastic pollution plants with maps and short video: Plantations to Pollution

Reel – What Is Environmental Justice?: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DVizyWbkWeO/

Article: Plastics and Environmental Justice

Book: Toxic Communities: Environmental Racism, Industrial Pollution, and Residential Mobility by Taylor, Dorceta E.

Book: Waste One Woman’s Fight Against America’s Dirty Secret by Flowers, Catherine Coleman

Intersectional Environmentalist Video: What is Intersectionality? (Kimberlé Crenshaw, Applying it to Environmentalism)

Video: The Intersectional History of Environmentalism

Youtube Short: Holding Polluters Accountable with Abre’ Conner

Resources for Kids

Watch a Short Video explaining the Environmental Justice impacts of the Plastic Pollution Crisis: The Story of Plastic

Social Media: @littlejusticeleaders Dr. Shelby Dretz creates content to help with conversation starters for all topics related to social justice and helps frame the content in an age appropriate fashion.

Check out Library Books:

Mermaid Kenzie: Protector of the Deeps by Charlotte Watson Sherman

One Plastic Bag by Miranda Paul

Biscuit’s Earth Day Celebration by Alyssa Satin Capucilli

Compost Stew by Mary McKenna Siddals

The Adventures of a Plastic Bottle by Alison Inches

Wangari’s Trees of Peace by Jeanette Winter

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Environmental Impacts on Animals

Plastics are not only bad for the environment, but they also present a threat to wildlife animals and pollinators like birds and bees that are now interacting with plastic fragments found around them.

Recent studies have shown that birds and bees are using plastic to build their nest. Exposure to the chemicals and plastic fragments called microplastics can impair cognition in bees making it hard for them to remember floral scents, for example, which are critical for pollination.

Microplastics found in birds’ lungs have reduced their lung function and caused tissue inflammation in 51 different species.

We need stronger wildlife and pollinator laws, and we must be mindful of the plastics we use in our daily lives and how we dispose of them. If anything, we must reduce our plastic consumption.

Resources for Adults

Article: Microplastics Found in Bird’s Lungs in New Study

Article::Microplastics are confusing bees and threatening eco-systems.

Video: Hanging out with an Albatross

Resources for Kids

Read a Nat Geo Article for Kids on Plastic

Book: (9-13 years): The Plastic Problem by Rachel Salt

Take the Trash Hero Kids Ocean Debris Quiz

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Microplastics

Plastic waste never disappears – it just breaks up into smaller and smaller pieces. Over time, discarded plastic products – like water bottles and cling wrap – break down into microplastics. Synthetic fabrics like polyester, shed microplastic fibers when they’re washed. Microplastics get released into the environment when people use products laced with the particles.

Microplastics are shards of plastic that are between 1 nanometer and 5 millimeters. One nanometer is just a fraction of the width of a human hair, and 5 millimeters is about the width of a wedding band.

Where can you find microplastics?

Microplastics can be found everywhere — in the air, in your drinking water, in the ocean, in streams and lakes, in the soil, in all kinds of animal and plant-based proteins including chicken, beef, seafood, tofu, and more, in beer, in bottled water, in table salt, in your dryer’s lint filter, in sea birds’ stomachs, and in the human heart, brain, lungs, kidneys, placenta, blood, and more.

Do microplastics affect our health?

Yes, microplastics may impact our health in two ways: 1) Microplastics’ physical presence in the human body can cause damage and inflammation, and 2) chemicals from the original plastic, or pollutants picked up in the environment, can leach into our organ tissues and cause damage. Microplastics can enter the human body through ingestion and inhalation. See [Plastic Health Impacts] for more information on how microplastics and plastics in general negatively impact our health.

What can you do to reduce microplastics in your everyday life?

Consider making some of these changes to reduce the amount of microplastics in your daily life:

In the kitchen

Use wood or bamboo cutting boards.
Swap out plastic food storage containers and plastic cling wrap for glass, metal or ceramic. Try beeswax wraps or aluminum foil to cover food.
Microwave food on a ceramic plate or in a glass container, not plastic.
Use metal cookware and metal or wood cooking utensils.
Drink water and other beverages from glass or metal.
Don’t put plastic in the dishwasher.
Avoid using plastic grocery bags; switch to reusable cotton, hemp or canvas bags.

In the bathroom

Use bar soap and shampoo or conditioner bars. Try to find personal care products sold in glass, metal, ceramic and/or paper packaging.
Swap your plastic shower curtain for cotton or linen.

In the laundry room

Try to choose clothing made from natural fibers like cotton, wool or linen. Fabrics like polyester, Spandex, Lycra, nylon, or fleece, as well as all blends include microplastics.
Line dry clothing and other linens made from synthetic materials.
Consider a powdered laundry detergent or a concentrated tablet instead of liquid detergent packaged in a big plastic bottle.
Skip the fabric softeners and dryer sheets. Use wool dryer balls to make your clothes softer.

Resources for Adults

Articles:

Everything you should know about microplastics, UN Environment Programme
What’s the deal with microplastics, the material that ‘never goes away’? Stanford Report
Microplastics are everywhere and can harm human health, say experts, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Twenty years of microplastic pollution research—what have we learned? Science
Tracking microplastics from sea to body, Stanford Report
[Good news!] Algae is a ‘little vacuum’ for microplastics. Midwest scientists think it could clean up the problem, St. Louis Public Radio

Book:

A Poison Like No Other: How Microplastics Corrupted Our Planet and Our Bodies, Matt Simon

Videos:

What Do Microplastics Do To My Body? National Geographic
Microplastics Are in Our Brains. What Does That Mean? New York Times

How Microplastics Infiltrated Our Food (And One Way To Get Them Out), PBS Terra

Resources for Kids

Books:

Microplastics and Me, Anna Du
Snurtle and the Oceans Hurdles “Nurdles”, Kristy Craigle
Kids Fight Plastic, Martin Dorey

Short Videos:

What are Microplastics? Science for Kids. National Science Foundation
Single-use plastic, microplastic are an environmental disaster, CBC Kids News
How microplastics affect your health, UN Environment Programme

Activities:

Beach sand sorting. Collect sand, sift it using a colander, and sort through the debris on a baking tray to find colorful plastic fragments and fibers.
Microfiber laundry lab. Wash fleece in a container, then filter the water to observe how many microfibers are released, simulating laundry pollution.

“Plastic soup” feeding game. Use tongs (representing animal mouths) to try and pick “food” (rice) out of a container filled with “plastic” (lentils), demonstrating how animals accidentally consume plastic.

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Organizations to get involved with to take action on this topic.

Beyond Plastics

Health Impacts

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Resources for Adults

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Resources for Kids

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The Youth Movement

Children today understand the climate crisis because they have been living it their entire lives. And it’s no surprise that many are at the forefront of climate activism, mobilizing for global change to protect people and the planet. Globally, youth are advocating for a future free from fossil fuels and the unnecessary plastic waste driven by the oil industry while creating more circular systems in their communities.

From hosting Plastic Free Lunch Days at schools here in St. Louis, to advocating for children everywhere at the Global Plastics Treaty discussions, young people are movement leaders in the fight against plastic pollution. Read more below to learn how adults can contribute and support the youth climate movement. And if you’re a kid who cares about the climate, check out the resources below to learn more and begin shaping the future you want to live in.

“I have learned you are never too small to make a difference.”
– Greta Thunberg

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The Global South

Our modern global economy created an unequal waste system with countries in the Global South being on the receiving end of the Global North’s soaring plastic waste impact. Since 1988, more than 250 million tons of plastic waste has been exported to the Global South; one third of which originated in the USA, Germany, and Japan. The EU is also one of the biggest culprits.

This reality of “waste colonialism” puts the burden of toxic plastic waste on the environment, communities, and waste sector predominantly in the Global South. But that’s not the end of the story and plastic-free policies are gaining momentum across Asia, Africa and Latin America as communities push back against extraction and dumping.

When looking for equitable solutions to the Plastic Pollution Crisis, those of us in the Global North should be looking to the leadership of those most impacted and supporting a more equitable and sustainable waste system. There are organisations and individuals fighting for systemic solutions across the Global South, offering actionable solutions and inspiring change. Learn more below.