Thread by @StefSimanowitz

1/. QUESTION: Would you buy grapes that were individually wrapped in plastic?
#EarthDay #EarthDay2021 #ClimateAction #plasticpollution #ClimateLeadersSummit

2/. You’d probably be outraged, like my friend Diane was! #EarthDay

3/. CONFESSION...

The ‘individually wrapped grapes’ in the video aren’t real...

But this footage from Haiti is...

And so was Diane’s reaction...

And so too was the outrage you perhaps felt....

It’s time to channel that outrage into action. #EarthDay

4/. Are individually plastic-wrapped grapes really that much worse than the other fruit & veg we see in wrapped in pointless plastic every day?

Plastic can sometimes reduce food waste, but wrapping bananas?!!

(P.S. The passion fruit wrapped in plastic in the footage 👆are real)

5/. We cannot plead ignorance

We can no longer afford apathy

In the UK, each of us discards about 100kg of plastic per year

There’s a ‘trash vortex' / ‘plastic soup’ the size of Texas in the Pacific where there are 6 kilos of plastic for every kilo of plankton. #EarthDay @AOC

6/. Before #COVID19 hit, it felt like the world was starting to wake up to the harm of plastics

But the last year, has seen an explosion in single use plastic combatting coronavirus

Millions of masks & gloves end up in our oceans
@GelarehDarabi #EarthDay

7/. Plastics swallowed by marine mammals, seabirds & fish clog their digestive system causing them to starve

Millions die each year

An autopsy on one whale revealed 88lbs of plastic in its stomach: almost equivalent to a whole @ArianaGrande! #EarthDay

8/. But the problem doesn’t just come from plastic we can see

Microplastics have turned up pretty much everywhere that scientists have looked for them – from the bottom of the deepest parts of our oceans to plankton, seabirds & even humans! #EarthDay2021

9/. It’s time for each of us to act

WHY NOT:
Plant a tree 🌳
Cut your food waste 🍝
Recycle ♻
Buy local 🏘
Clean a beach🌎
Join an organisation✊@Earthjustice @Greenpeace, @NRDC, @friends_earth, @SierraClub @RnfrstAlliance, @ExtinctionR @GreenAllianceUK

10/. Getting active isn’t just important. It’s also fun

Why not join the #MillionMileBeach?

This time lapse video shows how much plastic we found on a beach in just 2 hours

We’re also launching the #RainforestIsland campaign soon. DM me to get involved

11/. It was ME that wrapped the grapes in plastic!

It was a stunt, but it was no joke!

Supermarkets need to urgently reduce single use plastic #EarthDay
@Safeway @marksandspencer @Morrisons @kroger @Walmart @LidlUS @7eleven @AldiUK @AldiUSA @tesconews @costco @CarrefourGroup

12/. “That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, every human being who ever was...the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known." (Carl Sagan)

Everyday should be #EarthDay!
#ActOnClimate #EarthDay2021 #EarthDayEveryDay @aoc