From the Endangered Species Coalition (https://www.endangered.org/):
On World Oceans Day in June of this year, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland issued an order to phase out single-use plastics across the entire Department of the Interior over a 10-year period–including National Parks. While this is an important step in the right direction, a decade is far too slow! Other nations have enacted plastic bans in just a fraction of the time.
Wildlife and people will continue to suffer the impacts of single-use plastic unless Secretary Haaland stops this threat now. Your voice can help us protect animals from Denali to Everglades National Parks.
Please ask Interior Secretary Haaland to immediately ban the sale of single-use plastics on National Park Service and other DOI-managed lands at https://civicshout.com/p/tell-secretary-haaland-to-move-faster-to-ban-plastic.
You won’t be surprised to hear that plastic pollution threatens the health of people and wildlife. A recent study measured microplastics in 35 national parks and found concentrations of plastic in every sample that they measured.1
Nearly 80,000 tons of waste was generated on lands managed by the Department of Interior in 2020, including national parks.2 Much of that waste included plastic that can threaten the safety of wildlife and will take lifetimes to break down.
Phasing out single-use plastics on all Department of Interior lands including national parks is crucial, and it must happen much faster. A decade-long delay means that a future president could change or abandon this commitment much more easily. Please join us in asking Secretary Haaland to take this issue with the seriousness it demands and to immediately ban the sale of single-use plastics on Department of Interior lands.
- https://www.npca.org/articles/1862-small-plastic-big-problem
- https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/interior-department-to-phase-out-single-use-plastics-at-national-parks
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