#SRUbeyondplastic update Oct. 21, 2019 Contents: 1. “Beyond Plastic: Can’t Reuse It? Refuse It!” Symposium & Alternative Products Expo Flyer and Event Description 2. Symposium Hourly Event Schedule 3. Educational Resource Links 4. The Facts About Plastic &“ How Sustainable Is Your Bag?” table 5. Petro-chemical Industry Facts & All About Bioplastics Summary Table 6. List of Alternatives to Single-Use “Disposable” Plastic Products and Links to Vendor Special thanks to our sponsors, the SRU President’s Commission on Sustainability and the League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania. Thanks also to Professor Barbara Westman’s Fiber Art class students, who volunteered to create the amazing art installations featured at the Smith Student Center for the Beyond Plastic event! The class’s individual art pieces, described below, will also be featured in the third floor lobby during this event. Students enrolled in Fiber Art class this fall, led by Professor Barbara Westman, worked in the assignment titled Unique Textiles. In this assignment students incorporated textiles, polyester, plastics, paper and other materials from our environment, creating a unique composition. The abundance of plastic has an impact on our everyday life but also on contemporary art, where upcycled materials are often used by an artist, giving them a second life. Student participants: Clowes, Daniel Demase, Devin Grata, Marian Long, Chase Matrone, Brooke Mosher, Karlee Oates, Avery Runas, Hannah Thomas, Caden Glath, Alina Thompson, Kiera Wick, Madison Slippery Rock University “Beyond Plastic: Can’t Reuse it? Refuse it!” Symposium and Product Expo America’s reliance on single-use “disposable” plastic products threatens our health, as well as our environment. While this has been an on-going issue, it is today’s students that will have to come up with innovative solutions to the many environmental issues that we, as a society, urgently need to address. This symposium is designed to empower our students to think of themselves as agents of positive change, and to equip them with the knowledge they need to be effective in doing so. With China and other developing countries no longer accepting our plastic trash, our ability to recycle plastics is even more problematic than ever. Recycling isn’t, and never really was, the best option to solve this problem anyway. In answer to these concerns, the Presidents Commission on Sustainability at Slippery Rock University is beginning a large-scale campaign to emphasize the overriding need to “Refuse and Reuse”, rather than to “Recycle”, single-use plastic products. The Beyond Plastic: Can’t Reuse it? Refuse it! Symposium and Product Expo is scheduled for Thursday, October 24, 2019 from 9:30 am to 4:45 pm on the third floor of the Smith Student Center. It is open to all SRU students, faculty and staff, as well as invited regional high school students and teachers. The day’s events will include the following: Guest Speakers - We are featuring people who have made great strides in the movement to reduce the use of disposable plastic products: Mark Dixon, filmmaker and environmental activist who, along with three friends, traveled across the U.S. for a year with the goal to produce only the amount of trash that could fit in one cereal box. Not only were they successful, but from their experience they produced the documentary film YERT- Your Environmental Road Trip. Mark will be presenting on the zero-waste lifestyle and on how the proposed ethane cracker plants (that will produce even MORE plastic) will affect our region. Sabrina Culyba, director of the “no plastic please” campaign in Pittsburgh, who will share her experiences in promoting a group movement to reduce the use of disposable plastics. Lisa Anne Hamilton from the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL), who is dedicated to addressing the environmental, health and social justice issues surrounding plastics through the power of policy and law, and will address the health impacts of plastic. Heather Benek, a local zero-waste advocate, who will share her tips on how to minimize the use of plastic in everyday life, whether you’re at home, traveling, or shopping for food! Alternatives to Plastic Expo – We are excited to offer an exposition of alternatives to single-use “disposable” plastic products! In the style of Consumer-Reports, college and high school students who have researched and evaluated the benefits of various alternative products will be demonstrating products that can make a difference. DIY Workshops - These workshops are designed to encourage personal steps towards a zero-waste lifestyle by demonstrating how to make products that reduce the use of single-use plastic products. Students will learn how to make reusable shopping bags from recycled T-shirts and how to make your own beeswax food wraps. Films and Documentaries -Throughout the day, a series of films and documentaries, including Bag It, and guest speaker/filmmaker Mark Dixon’s Your Environmental Road Trip, will provide information on the environmental and social justice issues related to plastic. Art Exhibition - The entrance of the event will feature a multi-story, experiential art installation created by SRU fiber arts students, in addition to displaying Fiber Art students’ individual art pieces and the artwork of SRU graduate and environmental artist Ben Bires. "Beyond Plastics" Schedule of Events Time Event Location 9:00 - 9:30 AM High School Registration Ballroom B 9:30 - 10:15 AM Zero Waste Living and “Fracking & Cracking in PA”, Mark Dixon, Ballroom B Environmental Activist/Filmmaker “Bag It” film viewing Room 321 10:15 - 11:00 AM Health Impacts of Plastic, Lisa Hamilton, Environmental Lawyer Ballroom B Pittsburgh’s “No Plastics Please Campaign, Sabrina Culyba, Room 320 Campaign Director Traveling Trash-Free & What You Can Tell Your Grandma About Room 321 Having a Trash Free Home, presentation & workshop by Heather Benek, Zero Waste Lifestyle Facilitator 10:00 AM - Noon Chancellor Dan Greenstein Public Meeting Theater 11 AM - 12:15 PM Alternatives to Single-Use Plastic Products Expo & Games Ballroom A (High School Groups only) Health Impacts of Plastic, Lisa Hamilton, Environmental Lawyer Ballroom B DIY Workshops - Beeswax Food Wraps and Making Reusable Room 320 Bags from T-Shirts “Bag It” film viewing with Mark Dixon Q&A Session Room 321 12:30 - 1:45 PM Alternatives to Single-Use Plastic Products Expo & Games Ballroom A High School Groups B.Y.O. Lunches Ballroom B, Theater, Rm. 321 “Bag It” film viewing Room 321 Traveling Trash-Free & What You Can Tell Your Grandma About Room 320 Having a Trash Free Home, presentation & workshop by Heather Benek, Zero Waste Lifestyle Facilitator Y.E.R.T (Your Environmental Road Trip) film viewing with Mark Dixon, Theater Filmmaker 2:00 - 3:15 PM Alternatives to Single-Use Plastic Products Expo Ballroom B Zero Waste Living and “Fracking & Cracking in PA”, Mark Dixon, Theater Environmental Activist/Filmmaker DIY Workshops - Beeswax Food Wraps and Making Reusable Bags Room 320 from T-Shirts Traveling Trash-Free & What You Can Tell Your Grandma About Room 321 Having a Trash Free Home, presentation & workshop by Heather Benek, Zero Waste Lifestyle Facilitator 3:30 - 4:45 PM Panel Discussion with Speakers, SRU Director of Sustainability Theater Special thanks to our sponsors, the SRU President’s Commission on Sustainability & the League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania! Eliminating single-use “disposable” plastic products: resources and links Educational Films and Videos The Story of Plastic (GreenPeace) 4 minutes videohttps://www.facebook.com/storyofstuff/videos/277990459744577/ Bali plastics ban (11 minutes) https://www.ted.com/talks/melati_and_isabel_wijsen_our_campaign_to_ban_plastic_bags_in_bali Zero Waste is not recycling more, but less video (12.5 minutes) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWnsmzSSgdI Why I live a zero waste life (13.5 minutes) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pF72px2R3Hg Living Plastic Free (12 minutes) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JXWRVrFiKs&feature=youtu.be TED talk by Van Jones on TEDXGreatPacificGarbage “The Economic Injustice of Plastics” (12.32 mins) https:// www.ted.com/talks/van_jones_the_economic_injustice_of_plastic#t-648511 The Problem Just Got Harder: China Refuses to accept scrap plastic (written article) https://www.greenbiz.com/article/are-you-ready-round-3-plastic-waste-trade-war? utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=2019-04- 01&utm_campaign=greenbuzz&mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiT0RJMFpHTmtZemRsWVdaaiIsInQiOiJsQUJ3RDEyNlV3SlpnRU9h ZFdwbG1qUTYxZ1hyYXUwd2lOZlRwMHliNjRKWFRIVkptZjMwSmNNSDQ0YnFzT250ZHozYnI5dEx6aG5CUW9GTUhIYX ArZFdVczEyTjc5U0Rlc2t0OUdjU2pCa1IxTmJqaU5iMmFLQUlUbGtEWXNxaCJ9 Preview of movie to be shown during Earth Days (on how the fashion industry is responsible for so much land- filled clothing) 2.5 minutes https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=QPMU1VHgmEo&utm_campaign=website&utm_source=realityhub.climaterealityproject.org&utm_medium= email&app=desktop On e-waste (20 minutes) https://www.fastcompany.com/90313043/how-design-led-to-overconsumption-and-how-it-can-help-stopit? WRITTEN ARTICLES AVOIDING PLASTICS IN THE BATHROOM https://treadingmyownpath.com/2019/06/27/waste-free-bathroom/ GUIDE TO REUSABLE PRODUCE BAGS https://treadingmyownpath.com/2018/07/05/reusable-produce-bag-guide/ WRITTEN ARTICLES Continued GUIDE TO REUSABLE COFFEE CUPS https://treadingmyownpath.com/2017/11/16/reusable-coffee-cups/ National geo on OCEAN PLASTIC https://oceanconservancy.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Final-2019-ICC-Report.pdf