🥳Ain’t No Party like a POSTCARD Party!📫
Members and friends of Beyond Plastics Greater Boston gleefully gathered at First Parish in Watertown, Massachusetts on January 15th for a party. Not just any party— a legislative postcard party in support of plastic pollution reduction legislation! Activists were joined by three elected officials —MA State Representative Steve Owens, Watertown City Councilor Caroline Bays, and Newton City Councilor Alison Leary.
130 postcards designed by Leslie Evans of Seadog Press were written out while activists sipped tea and enjoyed plastic-free snacks. The postcards urged legislators to support a suite of plastic reduction bills including beverage container deposit system modernization, single-use bag ban and packaging reduction.
Postcards distributed to legislators at the Massachusetts State House on the Plastic Free Mass Advocacy day, held January 22, including Governor Maura Healey, Lt. Governor Kim Driscoll, Climate Chief Melissa Hofer, Massachusetts Speaker of the House, Ron Mariano, Senate President, Karen Spilka, in addition to other state senators and representatives. In the days leading up to the event, Beyond Plastics Greater Boston proactively set up meetings with Senate President Pro Tempore William Brownsberger and Senate President Karen Spilka to discuss plastic reduction legislation.
During the advocacy day Beyond Plastics Greater Boston members met with their representatives and senators. Group lead Eileen Ryan met with Representative Steve Owens who supports all the plastic pollution reduction bills and is a member of the Zero Waste Caucus.
Over 100 people attended the event and were riveted during a screening of Rory Fielding’s We’re All Plastic People Now. Eileen then spoke as part of an engaging panel of speakers, including Dr. Ana Soto, Mary Lou Nicholson of Be the Solution to Pollution (a Beyond Plastics Affiliate) and Kirstie Pecci, executive director of Just Zero.
Eileen spoke about the toxicity of plastics and the urgent need to regulate the petrochemical industry— “Plastic pollution is an environmental, ecological, and human health crisis. We must take action to curb the petrochemical industry before it's too late. Our health and the health of the planet is more important than the profits of the plastic industry. Plastic is toxic from manufacture, to use, to disposal. Massachusetts urgently needs to legislate the use and disposal of plastics and update our bottle bill.”
If you are in Massachusetts, consider joining Plastic Free Mass, a coalition of environmental and political groups working to end plastic pollution in Massachusetts that officially launched in September 2023. The coalition has been a very powerful force for the anti-plastics movement. Reach out to Eileen Ryan of Beyond Plastics Greater Boston with questions: beyondplasticsgreaterboston@gmail.com
Coalition work is powerful and necessary in the movement to end plastic pollution. If you need help connecting to other groups, join our growing network today by submitting a simple form to affiliate your group and let us help you grow the movement in your state.
Good snacks in reusable dishes make a postcard-writing party much more appealing and effective.
Pro Tips!
If your organization is considering hosting a similar event, check out the tips below:
Come up with short examples to help people get started, including things like: “Bottle bills work to reduce litter, increase recycling, and save State’s taxpayers money - please support the Expanded Bottle Bill,” or “Many so-called “chemical recycling” facilities amount to burning plastics. Unfortunately, burning plastic releases toxic air pollution and greenhouse gases. Please support the bill to stop “chemical recycling” in State.” or “Did you know that if plastic were a country, it would be the world’s fifth largest greenhouse gas emitter?! Please co-sponsor the Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act to protect our climate and address the growing plastic pollution crisis.” etc.,
Create a list of the bills you want the recipients of the postcards to support, including their names, bill numbers, and primary legislative sponsors.
Print out enough copies of each of both the postcard “scripts” and the legislative details to have at least one copy for every two people who attend to ensure that they can easily consult these critical references as they’re writing their postcards.
Provide snacks and drinks!
Provide stamps as you don’t want the cost of postage to be a barrier to participation.
Take photos and share them on social media to help build some buzz and encourage more people to join your next event.