Reducing Plastic Waste through Art and Activism

The Arlington Commission for Arts and Culture recently sponsored a year-long residency with artist Michelle Lougee to call attention to the environmental dangers of plastic. People across the planet are producing over 300 million tons of plastic a year, and half of this plastic is used only once. Then much of it enters the world's oceans. Lougee worked with community volunteers to create a public art installation from thousands of plastic bags.

Now people want to know: what can they do?

A May 12 panel, organized in conjunction with Arlington's annual EcoWeek, offers some suggestions. At 7 pm, a dynamic group of speakers will present innovative projects in Mexico, Philadelphia and Arlington via zoom. In addition, U.S. Congresswoman Katherine Clark will share her work crafting federal legislation to advance systemic change. Panelists include:

• Environmental artist/photographer Alejandro Durán, who transforms global ocean trash into gorgeous installations as part of beach clean-ups in Mexico;
• Ron Whyte, Project Coordinator with Trash Academy, a “collaborator” within Mural Arts Philadelphia’s Environmental Justice Department that designs innovative creative projects to complicate the issue of trash and shift attitudes from passive acceptance to proactive responses to the waste stream;
• Ceilidh Yurenka, who built on her personal mission to reduce waste by launching a small retail shop – Yes! Plastic Free – to help raise community consciousness while improving access to products that lower home trash output.
• Moderators Cecily Miller, Arlington Commission for the Arts and Culture, and Rachel Oliveri, Arlington Public School Green Teams, will briefly discuss Michelle Lougee's public art installation Persistence and an interpretive signage project developed by Arlington Public School Green Team youth activists.

Congresswoman Clark will join via pre-recorded message to explain the Break Free from Plastic Pollution Act she co-sponsored in 2020 and the innovative strategy of “Extended Producer Responsibility” which holds corporations responsible for the environmental impact of plastic packaging.

Register for this zoom panel at: https://tinyurl.com/ecoweekfightplastic