Friend, there are just six hours left in our September Drive. We're taking on the plastic waste crisis at the local, state, federal and corporate levels -- but we can't do it alone.
As a citizen-funded organization, PIRG doesn't take donations from corporations. Instead, we rely on the support of people like you who know that commonsense solutions exist to problems that we should no longer tolerate -- problems like our growing plastic waste crisis.
And it's going to take all of us to turn the tide on this problem. According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, by 2060, people will discard more than 1 billion tons of plastic waste per year.1
Thank you for your support,
-- Faye
1. "Global plastic waste set to almost triple by 2060, says OECD," OECD, March 6, 2022.
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: U.S. PIRG <[email protected]>
Date: Tue, Sep 27, 2022
Subject: We need to turn the tide on plastic pollution
To: Friend <[email protected]>
Corporations are flooding our environment with plastics, and we need to convince them to get on board with our efforts to stop the pollution. PIRG is committed to moving our country beyond plastic, and we know that we have what it takes to get the job done. |
Friend,
Plastic pollution is widely recognized as a danger to the environment and wildlife -- but now researchers have uncovered another hazard that comes along with plastic production.
More than 2,400 chemicals involved in plastic production are potentially harmful to human health.1
Corporations are flooding our environment with plastics, and we need to convince them to get on board with our efforts to stop the pollution. PIRG is committed to moving our country beyond plastic, and we know that we have what it takes to get the job done.
That's why generous donors will match gifts dollar for dollar until midnight, Sept. 30 -- doubling your impact up to $10,000 nationwide.
Will you donate to help us move beyond plastic?
The predictions are dire: According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, by 2060, people will discard more than 1 billion tons of plastic waste per year.2
Already, bags, straws, containers and other plastic trash clog our rivers, fill our landfills, and collect in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in the ocean.
Not only do these plastics harm sea life -- plastic is found in 43% of all marine mammals -- the materials are also a significant contributor to climate change.3 Plastic production requires huge quantities of the greenhouse gases that are warming our planet.4
And studies have found that plastics release toxic chemicals throughout their entire life cycle, with many of them identified as potentially causing cancer or damaging human organs. Others may cause memory loss. The list goes on and on.5
We need to turn the tide on plastic pollution. Here's how we're going to do it:
- Convince major companies such as Costco, Whole Foods, Amazon and Keurig Dr Pepper to phase out single-use plastic packaging, starting industry-wide shifts to keep unnecessary plastic from ever even being produced.
- Build critical support for powerful federal legislation like the Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act to protect our world from plastic pollution.
- Pass the strongest measures possible at the state and local levels to move our country beyond plastic.
PIRG has a decades-long track record of winning effective, pragmatic solutions to our country's biggest challenges -- but we can't do it without grassroots supporters like you.
Thank you for standing with us,
Faye Park
President
1. Catherine Boudreau, "Norway and Rwanda are leading a coalition working to eliminate plastic pollution. The US isn't a part -- for now." Business Insider, August 26, 2022.
2. "Global plastic waste set to almost triple by 2060, says OECD," OECD, March 6, 2022.
3. Jose G.B. Derraik, "The pollution of the marine environment by plastic debris: a review," Marine Pollution Bulletin, September 2002.
4. Brooke Bauman, "How plastics contribute to climate change," Yale Climate Connections, August 20, 2019.
5. Elizabeth Segran, "There are thousands more toxic chemicals in plastic than we thought," Fast Company, June 24, 2021.
Your donation will power our dedicated staff of organizers, policy experts and attorneys who drive all of our campaigns in the public interest, from banning Roundup and moving us beyond plastic, to saving our antibiotics and being your consumer watchdog, to protecting our environment and our democracy. None of our work would be possible without the support of people just like you.
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