Plastic Free July Prayer
Dear God, Let us pray for our earth. Currently, it is not the perfect place that you meant it to be.
Give us the guidance to cultivate and nurture it, as stewards of Your creation.
Give us the power to cease polluting our waters with plastic, so that we can sustain the lives of our beautiful and diverse ocean creatures.
Give us the strength to fight for Your environment, as You intended. Amen.
From Matilda, Age 10
Through Iona Presentation College
Knowledge
July is around the corner. That means it’s time for Plastic Free July! Plastic Free July was started in Australia in 2011. By 2017, the global movement had grown enough to warrant the creation of the Plastic Free Foundation. Their vision is a world free of plastic waste.
As a society we have looked to recycling to save us from plastic pollution. Though recycling has its place in the plan, it should not be our focus. Our focus should be eliminating plastic wherever possible. I know, I know. I sound like a skipping record! (Remember records??)
Plastic Free July is a time each year where we can take stock of our own personal plastic use, decide where we can make changes, and commit to them for a year. Perhaps, you could start your plastic free journey in the bathroom with soap and shampoo in bar forms, hand soap in plastic free packaging (such as from Blue Land or Grove Collaborative) and switching cleaning products from plastic packaging to more natural alternatives.
The Plastic Free July website has a wonderful What You Can Do section to give you ideas on where to start.
You can take the Plastic Free July Challenge by clicking here! Pledge to change at least something in your daily practice that will eliminate plastic use. Small changes add up to big results. Don’t believe me? Check out Plastic Free July’s 2022 Impact Report.
As Ghandhi said, “We must be the change we wish to see in the world.”
Action
So many options!
Personal:
Take the Plastic Free July Challenge and change at least some of your personal and household habits.
Professional:
How can you reduce or eliminate plastic where you work? Do you have a plastic beverage vending machine? Make the switch to cans.
In the World:
Our personal choices are important. But, large scale change will come when corporations and politicians are on board. Pick your favorite store or restaurant and write to their corporate offices asking for less plastic. Extended Produce Responsibility bills are being proposed in states. Learn what this is and support.
Our own Plastics Taskforce is working on actions and solutions. Email us at [email protected]