Climate SOS Rally, Showing up for Climate Justice, & Changing the mess of plastics

We gathered to ask our political leaders to right the ship of good policy by implementing strong, just legislation before we sink further into the climate crisis. Artistic waves that will appeared to engulf the State House. People brought their own flotation devices, and became one of the “swimmers” seeking rescue from the climate emergency. Inspiring speakers, Valentine making, and lifting our voices with friends and fellow community members in determination to chart a new course forward.

We sang & moved like the motion of the ocean to a Climate Justice Sea Shanty and to “More Water’s Rising” by Saro Lynch (video of her performing “More Waters Rising” at the bottom of this page)

Climate SOS rally at the State House – Coverage by Seven Days

Below: Artivism messages to legislators to curb the flood of plastics

Community_Art_Interventions_for_Corporate_Responsibility.png

First wave experiment with the VPIRG team after delivering the 10,000!!! signatures they gathered in support of modernizing the bottle Bill

Rising Tide, Sea Change for Climate on 1/8/22

Hands on creating

Make your own plastic art intervention to let lawmakers know the time is now to make change.

There is Hope, END PLASTICS

Baby's Mobile

“This is your future” created by a community member.

Ill Zone

Looking at the labeling on plastics can say it all.

Facts about plastics on a ‘flower’ of plastic. What are we making bloom? What do we pollenate with plastics?

sign up to join aN Online crafty for climate session

YOUR ARTIVISM TOOLBOX

Imagery & color
Words / phrases / facts & sources / persuasive writing / blackout poetry / collage poetry from the marketing language on plastic packaging
Humor & playfulness
Theatre, engagement – holding, wearing, moving, speaking – connecting the piece to others

HANDS ON TOOLS AND MATERIALS
• A rainbow of plastic trash (from your street or kitchen) Use caution for people with peanut allergies.
• Scissors
• Permanent markers, acrylic paint
• Tape – clear plastic, duct, choose tape based on scale (and maybe color). Vegetable & bread bag wire ties work too!

Tips:
• Rubbing alcohol (or hand sanitizer) on a rag will erase sharpie.
• If your piece is detailed, draft a letter on clear plastic or on newsprint to trace or lay over another layer.
• Plastics are made from oil so are slippery. Try small experiments to test out ideas.

IMPORTANT
• Keep it easy to transport: stackable, foldable, rollable, collapsible, lightweight, mail-able. Large scale is feasible, and could make a beautiful spectacle, but not if it is too difficult to move.
• Show your words: use permanent markers, taped on words / phrases / letters, etc. as a petition or letter to express how you feel, and what you want.
• Sign it to make it official: First and Last names, Town & State.

DELIVERY OPTIONS
• Mail (snail mail or email) to your legislator. Find your Vermont Reps contact information https://openstates.org/find_your_legislator/
• Reach out to arrange hand delivery on the day of action along with other petitions to create a beautiful spectacle and help raise awareness about the potential for these important new laws.

Be sure to use your first & last name along with your town if not your full address

ASKS
350VT link to legislative priorities & concerns.
Modernize the Bottle Bill. Set up Systems of Reuse and Refill. Climate is Justice & Health! (or whatever is meaningful to you!)

SEND TO
People who can influence your issue: Oil companies, banks that fund fossil fuel extraction, etc.

For Vermont legislative issues here are some key 2022 people
• Senate Natural Resources Committee chair, Senator Christopher Bray, or the full committee listed below:
• and /or to Becca Balnit, Senate President Pro Tem, bbalint@leg.state.vt.us
Vermont Statehouse, 115 State St, Montpelier, VT, 05633
• Sen. Christopher Bray, Chair cbray@leg.state.vt.us
• Sen. Richard Westman, Vice Chair rawestman@gmail.com
• Sen. Mark A. MacDonald mmacdonald@leg.state.vt.us
• Sen. Brian Campion, Clerk bcampion@leg.state.vt.us
• Sen. Dick McCormack rmccormack@leg.state.vt.us

HAVE FUN!
Perfectionism is the enemy of good. Just create and put it out there!

BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON PLASTICS

Why Huge Amounts of Plastics Are Foolish

Environmental Degradation – Plastics are made from oil, and release greenhouse gasses and harmful emissions. Bio plastics are not a solution – they rely on massive cropland. Compostable plastics are not a solution – they don’t necessarily break down, and mess up what can be downcycled. Downcycling is a more accurate word than recycling for plastics – plastics cannot be re-used more than a few times. Unless we get big plastic producers under control there will be more plastic than fish in the ocean by 2050. Plastic does not biodegrade, it just breaks into smaller and smaller pieces, often finding its way into the water, and is mistaken as plankton and moves up the food chain. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/01/more-plastic-in-sea-than-fish-3-strategies/
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-environment-plastic-ocean-pollution/plastic-pollution-flowing-into-oceans-to-triple-by-2040-study-idUSKCN24O2RK
https://www.beyondplastics.org/fact-sheets/bad-news-about-bioplastics

Economic & Racial injustice – Production and disposal of plastics are nearly all in low-income communities where people of color bear the worst effects of ill health and poor work. Profits from big oil are enormous, and are not distributed equitably. https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/st-james-louisiana-plastic-petrochemicals-buy-out/
https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/reports/fossil-fuel-racism/

Plastics in Food Systems. We are eating plastics and they are toxic – making us and other species sick. Microplastics, and other petrochemicals are moving up the food chain as they are eaten. We consume a credit card of plastics each week. Almost half of paper food wrappers were found to have PFAS chemicals that lead to medical conditions such as high cholesterol, cancer, and thyroid disease. Health impacts from plastics are linked to outcomes including cancer, cardiovascular diseases, inflammatory bowel disease, diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, chronic inflammation, autoimmune conditions, neurodegenerative disease and stroke.

False Advertising – The same advertisers who sold us on tobacco, oil, and climate change denial sell the idea that pollution is because of the consumer, when companies are selling their products wrapped in toxic trash. All along industry has known that “the future of plastics is in the trash”. Plastic is Big Oil’s next profit approach as we reach peak oil for transport and fuel, they are betting on their 4 fold increase in plastic production to keep their profits going. If we allow this to happen there will be three times more plastics going into the ocean in 2040 as there is now. By 2050 there would be more plastic than fish in the oceans.

We Can Change This

Transition off of fossil fuels with Justice for All – 350Vermont has outlined legislation that will build a transition off of fossil fuels with justice for all. Visit the 350VT site for information and ways to take action.

Circular Economy – Sustainable Policy. Less waste, more value. Making it work for people, regions, and cities. https://ec.europa.eu/environment/pdf/circular-economy/new_circular_economy_action_plan.pdf A Regenerative Economy.

Fossil Fuel Subsidies Must End – Paying billions of dollars to support the dying, unhealthy, and unsafe oil and gas industry must end. Supporting clean renewable energy is key to bringing down carbon emissions and other pollution, and good for jobs and our economy. https://grist.org/politics/biden-is-eliminating-fossil-fuel-subsidies-but-he-cant-end-them-all/

Right to Repair – Push back against planned obsolescence. This bill would make the documentation, parts, and tools used to diagnose, maintain, and repair equipment available so farmers can fix their tools and equipment. https://legislature.vermont.gov/Documents/2022/Docs/BILLS/H-0058/H-0058%20As%20Introduced.pdf

Bottle Bill – “Thanks to the (original) Bottle Bill, we recycle more than 75% of covered beverage containers, while only recycling about 36% of other containers.” Modernizing the bottle bill to cover most bottles will increase collection, leading to less plastics pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, and waste. Producers – not taxpayers – cover the cost throughout its lifecycle. https://www.vpirg.org/recycling/

EPR Extended Producer Responsibility. “EPR for Packaging has proven to steadily increase recycling rates over time, led to changes in packaging design, and saved a lot of taxpayer money.” Makes companies accountable for what they produce and pushes them to move toward Circular Economic principles. Read about Maine’s exciting new law here. https://www.nrcm.org/blog/how-extended-producer-responsibility-for-packaging-will-benefit-maine/

WHAT IS EPR?

Laws mandating that manufacturers take back their products for recycling are called extended producer responsibility (EPR) laws. Vermont currently has five EPR laws for paint, mercury lamps, electronic waste, mercury thermostats, and batteries. EPR is product stewardship to minimize health, safety, environmental and social impacts, and maximize economic benefits of a product and its packaging throughout all of its life-cycle stages. Product stewardship programs may be either voluntary or mandatory.

Sign a digital version of the petition to let Vermont lawmakers know that you support legislation that will hold corporations accountable!

Crafting for Climate

Hold an artivism party or join a Crafting for Climate Session Make messages to your representatives demanding laws that create positive systemic change for greater health for all. Connect with your community to share the word that holding big corporations responsible for packaging and goods can be the law.

Tell Vermont lawmakers you want new laws to grapple with the interconnected issues of health, climate, economy, and planet. Place the responsibility for the plastics mess on large producersof packaging and waste. Demand the Right to Repair (H.58) an updated Bottle Bill (H.175) and Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) (H.142) to hold big corporations and brands accountable.

• OPTION 1 Keep It Simple – write a quick note to legislators. Use permanent marker on non-recyclable packaging, card size to giant size. See the #breakfreefromplastic fact sheet for why breaking free from plastic is important. Deliver or mail your message to your legislator, share it!

• OPTION 2 Make It Awesome – Go big with your imagination!! Some ideas: collage with plastic packaging, make a big art petition that lots of people from your community sign, maybe it is shaped like a big ‘wave’ or ‘river’ that can ripple along the statehouse steps. Maybe make a love letter to the planet, or sculptures, props, and puppets such as trash monsters that call out corporate greed, or show the mess of ocean plastics and microplastics….

• OPTION 3 Show up the Vermont Statehouse– February 18th, 2022 at noon

Maybe make a wave banner from packing materials & packaging that would otherwise go in the trash. Write messages of Critique or Vision on a wave banner. Climate Action is Justice, No more Private Profits-Public Debt, Plastics is a Fracking Problem… Sign up Below for Crafting for Climate sessions for more ideas and support.

HOSTING AN ARTIVISM PARTY

• Choose a location that you will feel comfortable in: a living room, a community space like a church or classroom, an online video call, etc.
• Invite people who may be interested. A small or large group such as a book club, environmental club, neighbors, close friends, family members, etc.
• Share background information on plastics. Many people do not realize they are made from oil. Links to informative and inspiring articles and videos are at the bottom of this page.
• Set up an Artivism Station
- Rainbow of plastic trash for people to choose from
- Sample language for a letter and petition
- Hands on art tools: sharpies, tape, and scissors.
• If you are working in a tightknit group, decide if you want to make something bigger together, that could be animated at the day of advocacy, or individual smaller projects, or individual smaller projects that build into a larger whole. For instance if everyone in a group made a ‘fish’ out of plastic and wrote to their representative on their fish, and the fish were delivered as a school of fish swimming up the statehouse steps. or if everyone connected their plastic trash into a ‘wave’ or ‘river’ that can be written on as a petition. etc. If you create a larger piece consider making it a petition that others in your community sign. Be sure to gather names (first and last) and towns legibly on paper.
• Remind people to sign their piece with their first and last name, as well as their town and state to make it an official petition to their legislator.

POST ABOUT IT ON SOCIAL MEDIA TO BUILD AWARENESS #EndPlasticPollution #ControlCorporatePolluters #KeepItInTheGround #BigOil #PlanetOrPlastic connect with me on facebook or instagram

FOR TEACHERS 💚

Subjects engaged through artivism: art, well-being, personal agency, complex relationships, responsibilities, social interactions, engagement in argument, community engagement
K-12 PROFICIENCIES Engages Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy In History / Social Studies, Science, Technical Subjects

Equity
• Who Benefits and Who Suffers – where and how

Science
• Where do Plastics Come From
• How do Plastics Effect the World

Literacy
• Media Literacy - Understanding how advertising and media manipulation by oil companies has manufactured doubt about the facts that processing and burning fossil fuels is raising global temperatures and changing climate patterns.
• Critically Evaluating Multiple Sources of Information
• Persuasive writing and oratory - How to communicate a convincing argument

Global Citizenship
• Actions or Inaction Have Worldwide Effects
• How Laws are Formed
• Engaging the Civic Process - building agency

UNITED NATIONS SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS: 3-Good Health and well-being, 8-decent Work and Economic Growth, 11-Sustainable cities and Communities, 12-Responsible Consumption and Production, 13-Climate Action, 14-Life Below Water, 15-Life On Land, 17-Partnerships for the Goals

PLASTICS ISSUES
Toxins, Pollution & Health
Climate Change
Oil
Racial Injustice
Economic Injustice
False Advertising & Media Manipulation
Corporate Colonialism Capitalism
Plastics in the Gallery – on the Environmental Impact of Art Exhibitions

Interested in an artist led session on environmental art and activism for your group or organization? Video calls or in person (masked) sessions. Be in touch for information on sliding scale fee.

PROJECT BACKGROUND

The project grew out of an Artist in Residency at the makerspace, Generator. A great way to work with different tools and audiences, and connect more with people and ideas. I am grateful to be a part of the Generator community, learning from other people, learning about the materials I work with, and learning how to bring the work into better alignment with my goals for creating more health and beauty. https://generatorvt.com

For Art Hop I made a large ‘underwater’ plastic seascape to explore and phtograph to spread the word about Extended Producer Responsibility – new laws to grapple with and soothe the interconnected issues of health, climate, economy, and planet. Plastics are one part of racialized violence – where they are produced, and disposed of, and where they leak out, polluting spaces that are almost always in non-white communities. Climate change, economic injustice, toxins… we can do better by regulating the mess of plastics.

Maine and Oregon just passed EPR legislation that makes big corporations accountable!! Vermont can too!!

During Art Hop on September 10th 12th people signed on to this petition in giant art form (the blue dot on the black sky), played with selfie props in an underwater plastic landscape, and made their own art pieces to be delivered to legislators. Support EPR in Vermont (H.142) to make large producers accountable for the trash they make. Also support an expanded Bottle Bill (H.175) and the Right to Repair (H.58) to help change the tide on plastics.

For more about the residency visit here.

Below: Plastic petition.