Presentation Type

Long presentation (faculty/staff) 15-20 minutes

Campus

Daytona Beach

Status

Faculty

Faculty/Staff Department

Honors

Student Year and Major

Camdyn Doucette, first year, AE; Regan Bossie, first year, CE

Start Date

12-4-2022 3:00 PM

Presentation Description/Abstract

On February 23, 2022, the UN agreed to start negotiating a world-first global treaty on plastic waste--since nearly 200 nations unanimously agreed to move toward a legally binding plastics treaty by 2024. In 2019 the UN Environmental Programme report highlighted that "our world is drowning in plastic." As with the climate change crisis (to which plastics production and disposal are also linked), the data resoundingly illustrate the imminent systemic threat that disposable plastics pose to the world's seas, freshwater sources, soils, food supply, air, and species. Nevertheless, plastics production is predicted to rise dramatically over the next 20 years, with yet more plastic added to the 6.5 billion tons of non-biodegradable plastic already amassed throughout the environment. Rather than wait for top-down measures (which are agonizingly slow in coming), the Plastic-Free Campus Initiative at ERAU, via the university's Honors Program, has organized to work toward a campus-wide end to procurement and distribution of single-use plastics. If we can't "control the world," can we at least curtail the problem right here, on our own rather small campus? What are the obstacles? Solutions? Members of the organization will discuss the issues and outline strategies for direct action.

Keywords

single-use plastic; plastic waste; social change

Share

COinS
 
Apr 12th, 3:00 PM

Let's Get Serious About It: Plastic-Free Campus Initiative

On February 23, 2022, the UN agreed to start negotiating a world-first global treaty on plastic waste--since nearly 200 nations unanimously agreed to move toward a legally binding plastics treaty by 2024. In 2019 the UN Environmental Programme report highlighted that "our world is drowning in plastic." As with the climate change crisis (to which plastics production and disposal are also linked), the data resoundingly illustrate the imminent systemic threat that disposable plastics pose to the world's seas, freshwater sources, soils, food supply, air, and species. Nevertheless, plastics production is predicted to rise dramatically over the next 20 years, with yet more plastic added to the 6.5 billion tons of non-biodegradable plastic already amassed throughout the environment. Rather than wait for top-down measures (which are agonizingly slow in coming), the Plastic-Free Campus Initiative at ERAU, via the university's Honors Program, has organized to work toward a campus-wide end to procurement and distribution of single-use plastics. If we can't "control the world," can we at least curtail the problem right here, on our own rather small campus? What are the obstacles? Solutions? Members of the organization will discuss the issues and outline strategies for direct action.

 

To view the content in your browser, please download Adobe Reader or, alternately,
you may Download the file to your hard drive.

NOTE: The latest versions of Adobe Reader do not support viewing PDF files within Firefox on Mac OS and if you are using a modern (Intel) Mac, there is no official plugin for viewing PDF files within the browser window.