Clean Our Patch Talk
Earth Alliance welcomed their guest speaker, El Clarke, from Clean Our Patch on the 26th of June. El spoke to students about the issue of plastic pollution, ideas for future policies we can introduce to the school, and ways in which we can further support Clean Our Patch with the work that they do.
Article by Lucy and Ella, Earth Alliance Group
We had an open discussion about ways in which anybody can make small changes to everyday habits to lend a hand to our environment. Students who were attending the speech enthusiastically expressed opinions on actions they have already taken to be more environmentally friendly and didn’t hesitate to contribute ideas for plans and policies that Earth Alliance can introduce to the school in the future.
One focus was put on the use of vapes and how the initially beneficial purpose of vapes has now become one of the most detrimental causes of plastic pollution. Also highlighted was the non-biodegradable nature of plastic; how plastics take hundreds of years to break down and, when they have broken down, never fully disappear, but instead separate into micro-plastics and nano-plastics, which can then be easily ingested by marine life and can also end up in our food too!
Advice was given on how to safely carry out litter pick especially outside of school and we were educated on how to report litter that we can not safely pick up. Students were enthusiastically listening and absorbing the information, ready for September where we, Earth Alliance, hope to carry out litter picks with some environmentally passionate students outside of the school grounds to improve the environment surrounding school.
There was a great sense of community accumulated during the discussion, which highlighted the importance of litter picks, not only because of their positive impact on our environment and our efforts to decreasing plastic pollution, but also because of the positive impact that going on litter picks has on people’s mental health and wellbeing.
We are incredibly grateful for being able to host this insightful talk and will continue to advocate for small changes which will hopefully have a positive impact on our world’s environment. We continue to follow and spread awareness about this amazing organisation that is endeavouring improve everybody’s environment and educating young minds.