At the Academy of Natural Sciences, we believe that individual actions can truly make a difference. Each month of 2022, we’ll guide our community in a conversation about how everyday choices can affect the health of our environment. Follow along with us here, on our Blog, on social media @acadnatsci, through email and in the museum to join the conversation!

Spark July 2022: Let’s Be Plastic Free!

There’s no denying it, we’re drowning in plastic. About 18 billion pounds of it ends up in the ocean every year. Americans alone purchase and discard about 50 billion plastic water bottles annually, averaging 13 bottles per month per person, according to Green Cities. Scientists have even found plastic waste in the stomachs of birds and sea creatures that have ingested microplastics in remote corners of the Arctic.

It is time to reduce our plastic waste and make clean water a priority. Join the Plastic-free Philly movement and pledge to reduce your consumption of single-use water bottles. Then, check out our blog for more simple tips to help ease off plastics in your day-to-day life. Let’s all be plastic free and keep our environment healthy!

• Join the Plastic-free Philly movement!
• Get inspired by art and make a change via WHYY
• Millions of people reduce their plastic waste via Plastic Free July
• Plastic pollution: take-out food is littering the oceans via BBC News
• The big problem with plastic via Consumer Reports
• Seven Solutions to Ocean Plastic Pollution via Oceanic Society