health

I’ve spent my entire life living in Rhode Island. I’ve grown up here, gone to school here, spent most of my time here, and ultimately been influenced by this place. Remaining in the state or leaving indefinitely both seem like equally plausible scenarios, considering my age and the line of thought that encourages young people to go out and find opportunities. However, this decision has been made more difficult for me because of experiences that have shifted my perspective on what it means to stay within the state.

Governments and municipalities all over the world are proposing bans on single-use plastic straws, from the U.K. to Monmouth Beach, New Jersey! Here in New Jersey, ReThink Disposable is excited to highlight restaurants who have changed their own policies on serving plastic straws in order to address the issues of plastic pollution in our oceans.

The number of plastic disposables produced has risen from 2 million tons to 380 million tons between 1950 and 2015, half of which has been produced within the last 13 years (The Ocean Conservancy). However, making small changes in our daily lifestyles can reduce our use of plastics.

We are still reeling from our conference that happened last weekend, Saturday, April 28th at The Wardlaw+Hartridge School, in Edison. We enjoyed sharing the work we are doing to protect New Jersey’s environment and appreciated learning about the organizing people are doing to make a difference in their communities. Check out the conference photos here!

If you have read the news recently, you have probably seen an article or two about a recent study of the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch”.

We're getting so excited for our 32nd Annual Conference, Rise Up, Persist & Win, happening next weekend, Saturday, April 28th, 2018, from 9 am to 5 at The Wardlaw-Hartridge School in Edison, NJ. Don't miss our Keynote Speaker First Lady Tammy Murphy, who also serves as Secretary and charter member of The Climate Reality Action Fund, an organization founded by former Vice-President Al Gore.

Here in New Jersey, we love our local restaurants and shops. Let’s take a minute and appreciate them just a little more because they are helping Clean Water Action take on a huge environmental issue: single-use disposables.

We're only 12 days into the New Year, and we've celebrated some major victories for our health and environment. It's all because Clean Water Action members like you took the time to take action! Whether you called, emailed, or wrote to your legislators, you helped us accomplish the following:

Did you know there is a floating patch of plastic and other garbage in the Pacific that's twice the size of Texas and 9 feet deep? Marine life and birds are eating this plastic and literally starving to death. As a consumer, it seems almost impossible to avoid plastic, however, there are easy ways to help cut down on the amount of plastic we use and throw away. 

Forest Gump once said, “Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re gonna get.” This quote is particularly true in the world of canvassing. Every single door is a new opportunity for someone to get involved in the work we do. You never know who’s going to open up the door you just knocked on.