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Global Plastics Treaty

Why It Matters Plastic pollution has reached even the most remote corners of the planet, from the Mariana Trench to Mount Everest. 460 million tonnes of plastic are produced annually.Only 9% is recycled; the rest leaks into the environment.By 2060, plastic waste is projected to triple, without intervention.

 A letter adapted from #BreakFreeFromPlastic’s campaign regarding the UN negotiations regarding a Global Plastics Treaty taking place in Geneva right now. 

Dear Minister Dabrusin
CC Leader of the Green Party, interim NDP leader, interim Conservative leader, local MP

This is urgent. Manitoba was under the highest air quality advisory yesterday after a summer of smog and cancelled activities. This isn’t just seasonal forest fires or silly accusations of arson. Drought and extreme heat are driving these wild fires – and those are caused by climate change, which in turn is caused by massive industrial extraction of fossil fuels. 

Plastic is driving climate change and polluting oceans, rivers, soil, air, impacting humans and other beings. Plastic is poisoning our communities, our homes, and our bodies.

Citizens should and must make better choices regarding how they manage the plastic that comes through their hands but we desperately need you politicians to make legislation that will reduce how much plastic that is. I can try to use less plastic but if it's impossible to buy products that I need without them being encased in layers of plastic, that’s your problem to fix, not mine. 

Here, I add my voice to the many – citizens, scientists, businesses – who are calling for ambitious and urgent action to address this threat. We have to stop producing so much plastic; it is the only way to end the impact of plastics on the environment and human health.

I call on your leadership to work towards the adoption of a strong legally binding Global Plastics Treaty and create a future free from plastic pollution, where our health and planet flourish, now and for generations to come.

*Crossposted to KFR 

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