Earth Action Team Goes Bananas On Plastic
In Summer 2023, Campaign Nonviolence launched its first-ever Earth Action Team as part of its affinity groups program. The small group supports each other in designing nonviolent actions and taking tangible steps toward climate justice in their local areas.
Hailing from different parts of the United States (Maine, South Carolina, New York, and Michigan), the group members bring experience with a range of different strands of community and culture. They share in common a love of the Earth, and a clarity that increased action to address the climate crisis is an imperative of our lives.
In July, they launched their first action. After brainstorming a wide range of ideas, they looked for something that would get them out of their comfort zone, engage with their local community, and include something tangible and concrete. One group member suggested an easy action: signing up for the #PlasticFreeJuly challenge to reduce or eliminate plastic in their lives. After all group members agreed that this was swift and simple, another group member had a specific idea for action.
“You know what bugs me?” she said. “How people put their bananas into plastic bags at the grocery store. They’re bananas! They come with a natural, disposable wrapper called a peel. People use these plastic bags for an hour. It takes them 15-20 years to decompose . . . and even then microplastics wind up in the soil, watersheds, and ultimately our bodies.”
The group spent some time talking about what they could do about this. They decided to make some small signs that they could stick in the produce display near the bananas—either with the store managers’ permission or without it.
In August, they shared photos and stories. One Earth Action Team member made hand-drawn signs, glued them to clothespins and talked the manager into letting her put them on the banana sign. Another printed out a stack of signs, glued them to clothespins and invited her congregation to join her in putting them up in local grocery stores. She then pinned one to the bag dispenser near the bananas. After posting the photo on Facebook, another resident of her town reported seeing the sign at the store. Mission accomplished!
A third member of the Earth Action Team collected some of the best ideas she’d seen in Europe—everything from edible to-go containers (that look like short, wide ice cream cones) to food waste composting to a 3-in-1 dispenser for shampoo, conditioner, and soap that eliminated small bottles at hotels. She then presented these ideas to the Earth Action Team, activating our imaginative understanding of what a world beyond plastic already looks like.
These types of actions may seem small . . . until you stop to count up their impact. At each grocery store, hundreds to thousands of customers saw these signs. It likely impacted not only their reach for a banana bag, but their consideration of other plastic bags they’re using. What the Earth Action Team realized through this action is how much change is at our fingertips, waiting for us to nudge it along.
In September, the Earth Action Team is collaborating on some poster designs they can print and put up at their town offices, local schools, grocery stores, faith centers, and community bulletin boards. The posters will focus on two themes: how to do autumn yard care in ways that help native species (like not raking leaves so bumblebees have hibernation spots) and DIY heat conservation tips that tenants and homeowners can do to save money and the planet. Some members of the Earth Action Team are also planning on participating in People vs. Fossil Fuels mobilization September 15 & 17, especially by putting up the climate justice posters created by Art To End Fossil Fuels. Others are also planning to participate in the Campaign Nonviolence Action Days, Sept 21-Oct 2nd, in either the Divest From Violence (including fossil fuels) or Sound the Alarm For Climate Action calls.
The Earth Action Team meets on the second Tuesday of each month from 4-5pm ET and is open to new members. If you would like to join the Earth Action Team, let the coordinator know here.