How We Can Help End Plastic Soup
Barbara McChesney
Regional board member, End Plastic Soup
A Rotary-founded organization
Saturday, November 23, 2024 eClub Meeting
7:45 am Alaska time - Coffee/Social
(8:45 am Pacific/9:45 Mountain/10:45 Central/11:45 Eastern)
8:00 am Alaska time – Meeting
(9:00 am Pacific/10:00 am Mountain/11:00 am Central/12:00 n Eastern)
Please join us and invite your colleagues for this important discussion about the health of our local and world environments.
Meeting Log in
Join by Computer or Tablet
Join by Phone
USA: 1.646.558.8656
Canada: 1.647.558.0588
Plastic soup is an exploding worldwide problem that:
- Threatens human health
- Kills animals and marine life
- Reduces biodiversity on land, in the air and in the sea
- Contributes to climate change: 10% to 13% of the CO2 emissions are due to the production and burning of plastics. (more than the airline and shipping industry together)
During disasters, microplastics can spread diseases as bacteria can grow on plastic waste. Plastics never go away. Weathering, sunlight and wave action break down large pieces into small bits. Because plastic is non-biodegradable, the plastic soup kills marine life. The plastic is degenerating into ever smaller pieces that we cannot see anymore. Microplastics are entering our food chain, the fish we eat, the water we drink, the air we inhale, and the plastics industry plans an increase of 4x to 5x more new plastics in the next 10 years.
End Plastic Soup started in 2018 in District 1580 when a number of Amsterdam Rotary Clubs took the initiative to reduce plastic pollution in the world. EndPlasticSoup is an official “Stichting” (Public Benefit Organization/charity) in the Netherlands. Rotary clubs and districts around the world are conducting projects to end plastic soup in their own regions and internationally.
Barbara McChesney is a regional board member for End Plastic Soup. Her profession is as a special educator and she has always been passionate about protecting the environment. She is also president of the Rotary Club of Windsor and chair of the environmental committee for District 5130, and is especially passionate about the environmental crisis created by the abundance of single-use plastic. Barbara, along with her sisters Beverly and Frances, are founders and authors of McSisters Tackle Plastic (www.mcsisters.org), a blog that shares information about the plastic crisis and inspires others to make a difference.