Plastic-Free Please

Many people understand the environmental costs of plastic but still drink from plastic water bottles, use single-use plastic bags and fail to take simple steps to reduce reliance on the environmentally costly material. Educate your peers on the health and environmental consequences of plastic. Then start a campaign at your school where people pledge not to use plastic for a week. Get community members to donate rewards, and motivate your peers to exert pressure on one another.

How do I get started? We’ve included some useful tips in our Stand Out from the Pack - Campaign PDF. Research the impact of single-use plastics, and create an online or offline campaign. Educate people on different choices they can make, including through displays of re-usable and non-plastic products. Make stickers or buttons for people to wear to indicate their participation in the effort.

How do I expand this narrative arc? There are many great projects that are feasible for a motivated teen. Building on the success of Plastic-Free Please you should consider one or more of the many other climate-related interventions. For example:

• Attend a summer program where you help design plastic-eating bugs!

• If you live in a dry climate, launch a Xeri-scaping awareness campaign to promote the use of drought-resistant plants in landscaping.

• If you live in an urban area (or one that has issues environmental contamination), Save the Earth with Sunflowers (which draw heavy metals from the soil).

• Promote energy conservation through a campaign to paint the dark roofs of buildings white with The White Roof Project.

HOT TIP: This is a hot topic these days, and you don’t want to look like a copy-cat. Spend some time thinking about your brand, and the best way to educate and motivate people. There’s a lot of noise out there, and room for some effective communication. Don’t be afraid to deviate from the catchy messaging that prior anti-plastics campaigns have used!