Circle of consequences

Editor:
McPolin Elementary School is home to a budding group of young environmentalists. Five fifth-graders are on a mission to ban plastic bags in Summit County. And why you might ask are fifth-graders taking a step to protect the Earth? It is because they believe it is their moral duty to preserve the Earth we are all living on for generations to come. They believe in change and are asking you to join them in the fight for our planet.

Now let’s picture the future that would be if we didn’t take action. Our world would be completely covered in oceans of the material people call plastic. Plastic seems to be our staple material, used for almost everything. Plastic makes our lives less difficult but will complicate everyone’s lives long-term.

I am asking all of you to think about people’s and animal’s lives being affected every second by the consequences that occur when we use just ONE plastic bag. It may seem like an easier and cheaper option but for the person and animal affected, they don’t get an option. Just one plastic bag thrown away can be blown into the ocean, even from Utah. Our bad decisions are all just a circle of consequences that will end up back with us, humans, ultimately.

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I ask all of you to think of your children and your children’s children. Generations of humans are expecting us to leave the animals and leave the Earth protected. If we don’t ban plastic bags, the children will have no woods to play in, no fresh air during road trips, no swimming in the deep blue ocean, no vacationing at exotic beach locations. Now you might see how banning plastic would save the future of the Earth for the following generations.

I stand in unity with the group of fifth-graders, elementary students, that have come to a realization, as have I, that Summit County needs to be a role model for the rest of Utah and perhaps the entire United States as well.

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Naomi Smith
Park City High School

Spring cleaning

Editor:

Thank you to all those who helped us celebrate the Earth this April. This is one of the busiest months at Recycle Utah and it wouldn’t be possible without the support of the community. We hosted a sold out Earth Day event (Thank you Wasatch Brew Pub, Alpine Apothecary, donors and guests!) and then we rolled up our sleeves on Saturday for our bi-annual Household Hazardous Waste event. This event is in partnership with volunteers from the Park City Sunrise Rotary Club. We saw over 450 cars and collected an estimated 20,000 pounds of the most harmful materials, keeping those out of our water. Thank you to Summit County, Snyderville Basin Reclamation District, Park City Municipal, Summit County Sheriff and Park City Sunrise Rotary for your support of this event. Our next event to keep our town clean is Pride in Your Park on May 4. In partnership with Comcast Cares Foundation, Summit County and Park City Municipal, we’ll be picking up litter all over town from 9 a.m. to noon. Bring your own gloves, water bottle and coffee thermos. We will provide bags, T-shirts and a limited number of pick-up sticks. We have five meeting locations ranging from City Park to Pinebrook. Visit recycleutah.org for more information.

Carolyn Wawra
Recycle Utah executive director