🔦Raising Visibility of Plastic-Free Alternatives in NYC🪟
This month’s From the Grassroots article is written by Sharon Waskow, leader of Beyond Plastics affiliated organization It’s Easy Being Green.
Sharon Waskow, leader of It’s Easy Being Green, photo by Lynn Saville.
As the leader of a local environmental education group, I want to share a recent effort to reduce plastic in our community that could be reproduced anywhere. It’s Easy Being Green (IEBG) is a community group in the Upper West Side of Manhattan, which offers our neighbors useful information they can rely on as they consider personal actions they can take to help the planet.
As an affiliate of Beyond Plastics, we place emphasis on reducing reliance on single-use plastics. Our monthly newsletter (700 subscribers!) includes a popular column called, Let’s Be Plastic-Free that reviews plastic-free items for daily living.
Recently, we opted to step out on a limb and try something completely new to get our message across. We started a collaboration with a Columbia University student group called People of the Environment (POTE). POTE takes an “environmental humanities’ approach to engage students and the local community in the culture and nature of New York. To learn more check out their website and beautiful magazine, The Warbler.
Operating on the premise that it can’t hurt to ask, we decided to approach the owner of University Hardware, a popular housewares and hardware store near Columbia’s campus. We asked the owner, Bob, if he would let us dress one of his windows. “We'd like to showcase your plastic-free products and put up the message ‘Choose to Be Plastic-Free’ we said with smiles. Without missing a beat, Bob said “Sure!”
A week later, a team of us arrived to decorate and stock the window. One student brought a beautiful bluebird made of plastic bottle caps she had been saving for a year. Others went to work applying the message to the window using handmade lettering. As I walked around the store gathering plastic free items in a basket for the students to place on a display board, employees of the shop spontaneously joined the effort by bringing us items. Even Bob started calling out suggestions, “What about beeswax wrap and steel water bottles?” An unanticipated plastic free community had been formed!
Hundreds of students and locals pass by the University Hardware window daily. We hope our “Choose to Be Plastic-Free Message” is sinking in. Try it, the worst someone can say is no!
The Beyond Plastics Network consists of five volunteer groups which include Local Groups, Affiliates, Advocates & Organizers, Speakers Bureau, and Community Partners. The network is designed as an on-ramp to action, making it easier for people to get involved in ways that align with their interests, skills, and capacity. During the month of November, we are asking followers to support the work of the Beyond Plastics and the Network ahead of Giving Tuesday on December 2, when our book, The Problem with Plastic, is released. We appreciate your support! 🙏
