🎓1,000+ Advocates Trained In The U.S.!🥳
As the adage goes, “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” The volunteer advocates Beyond Plastics has trained are going far! Since February 2022, we have held 11 virtual trainings and graduated over ONE THOUSAND effective grassroots advocates for legislative change on plastics in communities across the country. These remarkable volunteer advocates are creating a groundswell of energy that goes beyond what we could have ever hoped for when we kicked off that first training, and they are definitely something to celebrate! 🎉
Who are our trainees, and what brings them to us? Often, individuals sign up after realizing just how much plastic is in their lives and how little choice they have in the matter.😡 Kathleen Moniz, the lead at Beyond Plastics Alexandria, VA shared what motivated her to take the training:
“I noticed an increase in beverages being packaged in single-use plastic (posing as a recyclable container) rather than being bottled in glass or canned in aluminum, which had been the way of the world. I wondered why this trend towards plastic was becoming the new norm. This trend was especially evident on the sides of highways, hiking trails, and where creeks emptied into larger bodies of water. Most of the trash was now plastic, and there was a lot of it.
All of these trends of the past 40 years (since I was about 30 years old) have gone in a negative direction, towards more and more use of plastics in our everyday life & towards less & less use of recyclable products…I took your grassroots training to better understand how we got here (plastic dependence) and how we can address this challenging issue. Part A, which you call Plastics 101, helped me understand the former issue. Part B discussed the tools we have at our fingertips as activists for reducing single-use plastic proliferation, another VERY HELPFUL topic…”
During the training, new and seasoned activists, alike find camaraderie with others who share their passion for ending plastic pollution. After graduating, many advocates choose to put their enhanced organizing skills and deepened understanding of the plastics crisis to use by joining an existing group in our network or affiliating their non-profit group with Beyond Plastics. Some even decide to create brand new Beyond Plastics Local Groups, like the recently founded Beyond Plastics groups in Alexandria, Virginia and Madison, Wisconsin. As Zero Waste Ithaca lead and founder Yayoi Koizumi shared, “I really appreciated the practical tools for activists that we were able to put to use right away. The primers on plastic pollution were also useful for some of our new members".
These trained volunteers also become part of the growing Beyond Plastics grassroots network and find strength in numbers as well as a powerful community of collaborators and supporters.
There is urgency. Plastic is a driver of the climate crisis, and emerging research indicates that it may pose a grave threat to public health. However, getting new laws and policies passed is a marathon, not a sprint. 🏃 That is why Beyond Plastics offers ongoing support to everyone in the Local Groups & Affiliates network through monthly Zoom meetings, individual support, a thriving forum where activists can share ideas to challenges along the way, and access to useful technology, campaign tool kits, organizing guides, and other resources. In April 2025 we will hold our first regional grassroots conference in New York City to connect in person!
If you are feeling outraged at the recycling lie sold by the plastics industry, the siting of plastics-related facilities in environmental justice communities, and the associated negative health impacts, register now for the next upcoming virtual grassroots advocacy training in December. This two-part training is held via Zoom, is completely FREE of charge, and is open to everyone with a working internet connection and a passion for reducing plastic pollution. We also offer both sections at two different times in hopes of making it accessible to all.
During the training, Health Policy Director Dr. Megan Wolff, National Organizing Director, Alexis Goldsmith and Senior Community Organizer, Christina Dubin will take you through:
Plastics 101 – Your background and guide to the plastics crisis, how it evolved, and what changes are necessary to solve it (spoiler alert: those changes are regulatory!)
Ready, set, action! – How ordinary people can make legislative change. Figure out who your elected representatives are, what powers they hold, and how to meet with them;
Essential media skills, such as how to hold a press conference, draft a strong news release, and write a letter to the editor that will get published;
Grassroots organizing skills, including organizing constituent meetings and call-in days;
Community education, such as how to host a virtual panel event; and
Many more skills and strategies you can use to make any campaign more effective.
Join us to learn practical and powerful ways to end plastic pollution and engage your larger community. Let’s go far, together.
