Laudato Si’ Action Platform- Eliminate Single-Use Plastic

One of the goals of the Laudato Si’ Action Platform is Ecological Education.

What’s New?

On April 17 we hosted Beyond Plastics speaker Suzette Munley. Her presentation was very enlightening (even to those who have been engaged in this issue for sometime now!) Suzette shared THIS LINK of Actions to take at the local level to help eliminate as much single use plastic as possible. Eliminating single-use plastic is key to slowing down the proliferation of plastic on the planet and the link to Actions is a great way to raise your voice on this issue.

We highly recommend “The True Cost of Plastics” (produced by Beyond Plastics) an on-the-ground video revealing the stories of East Palestine, Ohio, residents in the aftermath of the disastrous February 3, 2023 toxic train derailment.

On June 20, Canada banned six common single-use plastics! We applaud our Canadian neighbors who have enacted this comprehensive ban on these ocean-harming, plastics. If they can do it, why not us? Click here to read this exciting news.

And, at home here in the United States, the Department of the Interior committed to phasing out the sale of single-use plastic products in national parks and other public lands. Read about it here.

May the good news continue!

Laudato Si’ highlights the human and social dimensions of integral ecology. We reflect this in our growing need to understand the global impact of our choices. On this page, we will provide links to articles and videos that will serve as educational resources.

The Grey Nuns of the Sacred Heart are concerned about the damage done to Earth by our dependence on fossil fuels. Since climate change is created by human activity, most particularly our consumption of fossil fuel, then it must be changed by human behavior. Therefore, we are focusing our efforts specifically on single-use plastics. Their danger to the environment comes from production, which uses fossil fuel, but also our inability to effectively and efficiently recycle these products. We can learn to live without single-use plastics and we can help others to want to do so thereby contributing to the well-being of our planet.

Fighting Off a Petrochemical Future in the Ohio River Valley. This article is about fracking in Pennsylvania and nearby states. Although fracking is not economically feasible for gasoline and heating oil, it is finding a lucrative future in the production of plastics.

Take Action

The United States is the world’s worst plastic polluter. Every year, the U.S. generates 42 million metric tons of plastic pollution — the equivalent of 286 pounds of waste per person in America. It’s time we break free from the plastic pollution littering our environment and threatening wildlife. Join us in building support for a plastic-free future by calling on your U.S. House representative to support the Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act, which bans many of the worst single-use plastic products. Send a message to your U.S. House representative urging federal action on plastic pollution. (remove the information from the form and insert your own!)

If passed, the Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act will ban many of the worst single-use plastics, including plastic carryout bags and polystyrene foam take-out containers. It also places a moratorium on new plastic-producing facilities.

The Grey Nuns of the Sacred Heart, along with millions of others are concerned about the destructive forces that climate change has on our planet and all life on it. Each year we put more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than natural processes can remove. This means the net global amount of carbon dioxide rises and so does Earth’s temperature. The current warming trend is of particular significance because it is unequivocally the result of human activity since the mid-20^th century and proceeding at a rate that is unprecedented over millennia. ^{https://www.climate.gov/}

If climate change is created by human activity, most particularly our consumption of fossil fuel, then it must also be changed by human behavior. Therefore, we are focusing our efforts specifically on single-use plastics. Their danger to the environment comes from production, which uses fossil fuel, but also their inability to be effectively and efficiently recycled. We can learn to live without single-use plastics and we can help others to want to do so thereby contributing to the well-being of our planet.