|  | April 19th, 2024Happy Earth Day! 🌎 | |  | | In this Special Earth Day Edition: Towards a Planet Beyond Plastic Earth Day Tips for Taking Action Today Encouragement for Anxious Children and Those Who Love Them Blue Communities and CFUW In the News Plastics and the SDGs CFUW Resolutions on Plastics Recommended Reading Living Lakes Canada’s “Lake Blitz” GWI-CFUW Earth Day Event
| | Towards a Planet Beyond Plastic | By Beth Junkins, CFUW Nepean |  | Photo: Peter Stackpole—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images | | ‘Throwaway Living’ read the headline; the photograph showed a young couple surrounded by disposable items, items that ‘would take 40 hours to clean – except no housewife need bother. They are all meant to be thrown away after use’. This article in Life magazine on August 1, 1955, promised ‘disposable items will cut down on household chores’.
In 1955, Canada was filled with modern young families who had more available income and a wish to move on from both the Depression and war years. Plastic allowed shelves to be filled with masses of low-priced products for a way of living like never before. No one in 1955 knew that in the lifetime of these newborn baby boomers, plastic would threaten our environment, our health, our food supply, our water, our climate – until today, as the Earth Day theme says, we are a ‘Planet vs Plastics’.
Ironically, ‘plastic’ was first developed because of environmental concerns. In 1869 there was growing unease about the slaughter of elephants for ivory, and turtles for tortoiseshell; human-made substitutes, like celluloid, could free manufacturing from the limits of natural resources and at the same time protect nature from destruction by human demands. Plastic was hailed as a way to save the elephant and tortoise.
The first fully synthetic plastic was created in 1907 but it was in WWII that innovation flourished. There was a need for lightweight and flexible materials as alternatives to heavier and scarce materials like metal, wood and glass. Plexiglass was lighter and safer with less sharding in plane windows; nylon was lightweight and cheap for parachutes; plastics formed core components for radar equipment. | Then in the 50’s and 60’s, plastic production exploded – it was everywhere, and the word ‘plastic’ became synonymous with ‘cheap’. Plastic pollution was beginning to be noticed on beaches in the late 60’s and in the growing environmental awareness of the 70’s and 80’s, concerns were raised. |
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| At this same time, plastic manufacturers proposed recycling as a way to address the mounting criticism. However, recycling has never become a significant part of the life cycle – only around 9% of plastic is recycled. This means that manufacturers continue to use virgin plastics for their products, primarily from petroleum, with all of the related negative impacts to our planet, health, and society.
But plastic is a valuable asset that has played a vital role in shaping our world; lightweight, flexible, sanitary, and waterproof, it has revolutionized health care, food safety, transportation, and communication. Its low cost has meant that people of all income brackets have been able to benefit from advances in technology, IT, and construction, and it has helped to raise the standard of living. | There is an essential place for plastic in our future as well. But to enjoy the extraordinary benefits from plastic, we must address the challenges of finding sustainable ways to manage the use, production, and disposal of this product. This means having a truly circular approach, starting with: reducing what we use, recycling back into the same product, producing new products in an environmentally conscious manner, and looking at innovative alternatives. | There are signs of progress every day as we learn about new technologies to recover plastic from the air/land/water, innovative nonpetroleum alternatives, and options to make recycling commercially viable at scale. There is also momentum to address plastic as the global issue that it is. Canada is hosting the 4th session of the UN Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee to develop a legally binding treaty on the full lifecycle of plastic in Ottawa from April 23 - 29. There is a lot at stake for our earth and this agreement would chart a sustainable way forward.
We are at a key juncture in the ‘Planet vs Plastic’ battle; we can avoid a ‘Planet of Plastic’ and build a ‘Planet beyond Plastic’.
|  | | Earth Day Tips for Taking Action | By Beth Junkins, CFUW Nepean | | April 22 is UN Mother Earth Day, focusing on sustainable global development that is in “Harmony with Nature’.
There are many areas in addition to plastic where our actions are needed if we are to be good stewards and live in harmony with nature. |
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| Whatever your level of environmental activism, April 22 is an opportunity to try something new. Here are some ideas that may give you a starting point.
♻️Before you toss something into the bin, take 3 seconds and ask yourself: Could I reuse/repurpose this? Could it be donated? Could it be recycled? Could it be composted? If you are unsure, most municipalities offer online support to help you know where items can go. If you don’t have access to recycling, see if family or a friend will take your collection. If it is tricky to get your compost/recycling out, perhaps a high school student needing volunteer hours would come and pick it up!
🥡Try to reduce your plastic use. Take your own cloth bags shopping, dig out the cookie tins and glass containers for storage, use parchment paper and wax paper instead of plastic wrap, try laundry sheets in the washer and wool balls in the dryer, look for organic natural fabrics, reuse plastic that comes into your house, and look for products with little or no plastic packaging.
🚰Ask for a reusable water bottle for Mother’s Day. There are a number of small stainless-steel versions available that are easy to carry in your purse. A great excuse as well to revive a vintage bag or purse that can hold it.
🧦Don’t reach for a paper towel every time. Make some clean rags from ‘holey’ socks, or worn-out towels, face clothes and t-shirts. Keep them handy for spills and then throw them in the washer. If a paper towel is needed, make sure to pop it in the compost.
🛍️Go shopping in your closet before you go to the mall. See what items might be given a second chance, perhaps with a bit of mending or some updating by a seamstress or tailor. Look for “new” clothes at vintage and secondhand shops or organize a ‘sweater swap’.
🧽Look in your kitchen cupboards for alternatives to harsh commercial products to help with cleaning, laundry and even your gardening needs. Baking soda, vinegar, lemon juice are good household cleaners. Ask your friends and you are bound to get many effective tried and true alternatives to commercial chemicals. Silver comes clean in a pan lined with aluminum foil, baking soda, and hot water. Fruit and wine stains often come out with some salt and a soak with milk. Coffee stains may lift with a bit of egg yolk and lukewarm water. For yellow on quilts, rub with lemon juice and let it sit in the sun (repeat if necessary). Gardeners have their own favourite recipes from the kitchen, such as: a mixture of garlic, hot peppers and onions for aphids; salt and vinegar or boiling water to tackle the weeds between the paving stones.
🌺Get a plant. Easy-to-care-for plants like spider plants and aloe vera give off oxygen and bring a bit of mother earth into our house! Plan for some pots or plants on the balcony or porch. Look for seedling exchanges or try starting your own. Even a small space can be home to a bit of green.
📙Try to use what you already have. Instead of buying a new item, see what you have around the house that could be repurposed: A china cabinet can be a bookcase, an old record cabinet is great for music books. Old pots and pans are good in the garden shed; old saucers go under plants; teacups can hold herbs on the kitchen window, old metal bread pans for candles, plants. Old teapots are great on the counter holding utensils and wooden spoons.
🚌 Look for ways to reduce your transportation carbon footprint. Save up errands to do in one car trip, see if public transit is an option for some errands, try to walk or bicycle for short trips, organize a carpool.
🍔At the grocery store, look at the origin of your food and try to choose products made closer to home. Every mile saved reduces carbon emissions. You may also consider replacing a beef meal with fish, poultry, or vegetarian products as more sustainable options and look for products with the least plastic packaging.
🌱 Look for local park cleaning initiatives this spring. Join with a few friends to tidy up after the winter – a great way to meet people.
👭Talk to your family, friends, grandchildren and show them what you are doing. When somebody we know makes changes, we are more likely to try something new ourselves. Your actions can help others see that there are easy concrete steps they can take. Start the conversation.
This April 22, you are invited to look around and see how you might live a bit more lightly on our Earth. | | Encouragement for Anxious Children and Those Who Love Them | By Alison Hobbs, Co-Chair of CFUW’s Environment and Climate Change Sub-Committee | Education at all levels is crucial to climate change adaptation and mitigation. Teachers need professional training and better resources — up-to-date information on climate science and a grasp of the economics and politics of climate change. Educators need to engage their students in specific environmental action, so that they feel less helpless or hopeless; action can give them a sense of empowerment. |  | If not taught carefully, lessons about climate change can instill confusion and “eco-anxiety” in children. Young people are often traumatized by talk of global warming, and their parents and teachers have to deal with this. Enjoyable individual action is key, for example by helping to plant “tiny forests,” vegetable- or pollinator-gardens on school premises. In Canada, the For Our Kids organization deliberately involves children in their actions and Fridays For Future groups in Canadian universities participate in rallies, which gives them a sense of purpose, resilience and solidarity. Adults too need encouragement to involve themselves in local environmental initiatives. Actively engaged parents, aunts, uncles and grandparents become role models for the younger members of their families. | In future elections, informed young people, who have been taught from an early age to appreciate the natural world, are more likely to vote for representatives who take climate change seriously. | Men and boys must also be engaged and kept informed. Young boys need male role models as well as motherly educators! Teachers in Canada, most of whom are women, show support for climate change education that focuses on behavioural change. However, a recent survey by Lakehead University and Learning for a Sustainable Future found only 32% of teachers feel they have the relevant knowledge and skills to do this. According to the feedback, the top barriers for integrating climate change education into classrooms are a lack of time during class, a lack of classroom resources and a lack of professional knowledge.
Climate change education is uneven from province to province, mostly found in Grade 11 and 12 elective courses. Some provinces include climate change in mandatory science or social studies courses, but it is not well integrated in various subjects or in the different grades. The focus tends to be on understanding the science, rather than on climate solutions or on taking climate actions.
Opinions about the importance of climate change education differ across Canada. According to the survey by Lakehead University and Learning for a Sustainable Future, “Quebec (69%) and British Columbia (66%) have the highest percentage of respondents who saw climate change as a high priority for schooling, while in Saskatchewan only about one-third of respondents agree that it is a high priority.” | Let’s empower our children rather than placing additional burdens on them. Nagging and fear-mongering are counterproductive — people of any age then feel overwhelmed and will give up trying rather than comply. It is important to take a solutions-oriented approach, giving both parents and children recommendations for specific actions. Hands-on demonstrations and information about access to eco-friendly products, sustainable resources and appropriate tools are the best ways forward. There are also many great children’s books on environmental topics, such as The Lorax by Dr. Seuss. |
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| | Blue Communities and CFUW | | | The Global Water CrisisWe live on a blue planet. Three-quarters of the earth is covered by water, but only 0.3% of this water is available for human use. That’s because 97% of the earth’s water is saltwater, and most of the remaining (3%) freshwater is locked far underground and in glaciers. The human right to clean water and sanitation is one of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. We are always connected to water, but our sense of connection is often missing. Our food, transportation, energy, housing, health, and manufacturing systems depend on water. |
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| The planet is experiencing a water crisis of frightening proportions. A quarter of humanity is facing looming water shortages. We are also creating a massive environmental catastrophe with our overuse of plastics. Every year, Canadians use 2 billion plastic water bottles - that’s 5.3 million bottles daily (Reader’s Digest Canada). | In Canada, many of us are more fortunate than others when it comes to access to clean water. However, we face significant challenges to our water quality and sustainability and do not have adequate laws to protect our water sources in the future. Studies clearly show that private water service companies employ fewer workers, charge much higher rates, cut service quality, and fail to protect source water. |
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| Fifteen years ago, in response to these threats, the Council of Canadians and CUPE launched the Blue Communities Project to protect water as a human right and public trust. Since then, 72 Municipalities and organizations in Canada have become Blue Communities. | | What is the Blue Communities Movement?From the Council of Canadians’ “Blue Communities” Website: “The Blue Communities Project encourages municipalities and Indigenous communities to support the idea of a water commons framework, recognizing that water is a shared resource for all, by passing resolutions that: Recognize water and sanitation as human rights. Ban or phase out the sale of bottled water in municipal facilities and at municipal events. Promote publicly financed, owned, and operated water and wastewater services.”
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| This YouTube video succinctly describes why the Blue Community Movement is so important. The status of Blue Communities in Canada ranges from 35 in Quebec to zero in 8 provinces and Territories. The Blue Communities movement has also grown internationally. There are 40+ municipalities around the world going “blue”. Check here for the status worldwide.
Like-minded organizations, schools, religious communities and faith-based groups have also adopted principles that treat water as a common good that is shared by everyone and is the responsibility of all. | What Does Being a Blue Community Mean for CFUW?CFUW has joined the local and global movement for water security and justice, which integrates with policies adopted by our organization, in particular the Resolution of 1999 on Canadian Waters, urging governments to “declare that water, being a non-renewable natural resource of paramount importance, belongs to the Canadian public and its use must be regulated in the long-term public interest.” A motion was passed by the CFUW Board of Directors on January 4th, 2024: “That CFUW, as a Federation, declare itself a Blue Community.” Committing the National Board to this pledge commits the individual clubs likewise. | Thank you to all members who, over the decades, have mobilized around water and the elimination of single-use plastic. In this unique moment, the Earth and her water resources need us to continue working together to protect it. Many Clubs have already been engaged in efforts that fit under the Blue Community framework. The ECC Sub-Committee is hopeful that other Clubs will become engaged so that together, we can put our shoulder to the wheel in a collective effort to ensure publicly-owned clean drinking water is available across Canada. We can ban single-use plastics in all CFUW meetings and events, e.g., AGMs and conferences, and educate and advocate for Blue Communities adoption to Municipalities, Universities, Colleges, Schools, Women’s Organizations, Religious Organizations, etc. Other active federated organizations have charted a helpful course. For example, please see the Federation of Sisters of Saint Joseph's progress on Blue Communities.
The Council of Canadians offers resources to assist CFUW in our Blue Community work. This Guide answers commonly asked questions about the Blue Communities.
Your Environment and Climate Change Subcommittee looks forward to hearing about your progress. | | In the News | | 🔬 February 7, 2024: A large study has found that 1 in 10 premature births are linked to phthalates (chemicals in personal care products and plastics).
🦅February 12-17, 2024: The COP14: Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals took place in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. A UN Report entitled State of the World's Migratory Species was released to coincide with this meeting. More than 100 Resolutions and decisions and concerted actions were adopted by representatives of the world treaty’s 133 member states and after 20 years of inconclusive negotiations, agreement was reached on a Central Asian Flyway spanning 30 Range States of migratory birds. Canada is a signatory to multiple intergovernmental treaties dedicated to the conservation of migratory species.
🔥 February 20, 2024: The wildfire season started early in Alberta.
⛽ February 21, 2024: Canada secured the surrender of the last remaining permits for oil and gas development off its Pacific Coast. There has been a federal moratorium on oil and gas exploration off the Pacific Coast since 1972; permits issued before that date were still valid.
🍃February 21-23, 2024: UNEA-6 Climate and Clean Air Conference (6th session of the UN Environment Assembly) was held in Nairobi, Kenya. The objective was to focus on the cost of inaction, highlighting ways to further scale up implementation of the Global Methane Pledge, Clean Air Flagship and Kigali Amendment, and collectively charting the course to 2025 and beyond.
🏢March 7-8, 2024: The Buildings and Climate Global Forum, a UN Environment Programme, was hosted in Paris, France, in an effort to spur the decarbonization of the buildings sector. The event was the first of its kind, following up on progress made at COP28.
🏛️April 9, 2024: The European Court of Human Rights ruled in favour of a group of elderly Swiss women who had argued that their government's inadequate efforts to combat climate change put them at risk of dying during heat waves.
🌎 April 23-25, 2024: Ottawa hosts the fourth international negotiating conference toward a global agreement on plastic pollution. | | Plastics and the SDGs | How plastic pollution relates to the Sustainable Development Goals, from Plastic Soup Foundation:
|  | SDG 3: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all agesChemical substances are added to plastic to give it the properties desired for commercial or industrial use; these include plasticizers and flame retardants. Some of these substances disturb the hormone balance in animals and humans. Toxic nanoplastics can penetrate the body, causing local inflammation and other physiological effects. |  | SDG 11: Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainableThe effective collection and processing of waste is indispensable. |  | SDG 13: Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impactsAlmost all plastic is made from fossil fuels, especially oil and shale gas. The production of plastic accounts for approximately 10% of the global annual usage of fossil fuels. If limits are not imposed, that figure could rise to 20% in 2050. |
|  | SDG 6: Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for allPollution of inland bodies of freshwater must be reduced. More water needs to be purified in order to increase the amount available for safe consumption. |  | SDG 12: Ensure sustainable consumption and production patternsMass production and consumption of plastic, especially of single-use packaging plastic, are major contributors to pollution in the sea and on land. Burning or recycling plastic is not the best solution. We need an absolute reduction in plastics. |  | SDG 14: Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable developmentPollution in the sea originates from poorly managed waste on land. |
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|  | SDG 15: Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity lossEcosystems in the sea and on land are threatened by (micro)plastics and chemical additives. A significant reduction in plastics and microplastics would quickly lead to the recovery of ecosystems and biodiversity. | | CFUW Resolutions on Plastics | Waste Management – 1989: This Resolution urges each member of CFUW to become environmentally responsible by taking an active role in reducing her use of paper products, products containing chlorofluorocarbons, plastics, disposable consumer products and toxic household substances and by consciously choosing to support environmentally sound alternatives.
Single Use Plastics and Plastic Packaging – 2021: This Resolution urges the implementation and follow-up of the Canada-wide Action Plan on Zero Plastic Waste.
A Clean Healthy & Sustainable Environment is a Human Right – 2022: This Resolution urges constitutional recognition that “A Clean, Healthy, and Sustainable Environment is a Human Right.” |  | | Recommended Reading | Ten resources to learn more about the environment and climate change: | Plastics Free: The Inspiring Story of a Global Environmental Movement and Why it Matters by Rebecca Prince-Ruiz and Joanna Atherfold Finn, 2020 What Can I Do About the Climate Emergency? by Rebecca Solnit, 2024, (online pamphlet) Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest by Suzanne Simard, 2021 Protectors of the Planet: Environmental Trailblazers from 7 to 97 by Jamie Bastedo, 2020 Hope Matters by Elin Kelsey, 2020 Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer, 2020 Climate Justice by Mary Robinson, 2019 The Future We Choose: Surviving the Climate Crisis by Christiana Figueres and Tom Rivett-Carnac, 2020 Embers: One Ojibway's Meditations by Richard Wagamese, 2016 The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate by Peter Wohlleben, 2015
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| | Living Lakes Canada’s “Lake Blitz” |  | Are you a lake lover who cares about the environment and wants to help track climate and other impacts? Living Lakes Canada’s 4th Annual National Lake Blitz is a citizen science program, where volunteers are equipped with simple tools and skills to monitor their chosen lake from May to September. Learn more about participating here. | | GWI-CFUW Earth Day Event |  | | | Interested in hearing what other clubs are up to, or keeping up with environmental news? | | | | | |
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