After a lull the last few months, there are community actions shaping up for the fall and winter for our Beyond Plastics Ozarks group!

We have a February date for the show of the Plastic People movie sponsored by the City of Springfield and are gearing up to get the word out to the community and recruit some people for the panel discussion after the movie.

There are 2 reducing plastics presentations coming up – one in November and one in December…and participation in an interest/experience activity (plastics is one of six ‘tables’).

I am glad there are things to feel positive about locally since a headwind of a story came out in the Washington Post this week (“Leaked memo shows how US aims to weaken global limits on plastic pollution”).

The Plastic Detox (trailer) is a documentary that was released by Netflix on March 16th. This documentary follows the research of Dr. Swan and other experts in the field, covering the impact on human development and showing how we can take matters into our own hands. It’s so easy for the microplastics conversation to be doom and gloom ---- this movie hints at a path forward…a hopeful component even while we acknowledge that there is a lot that needs to be done.

As a Missouri Master Naturalist, I am concerned of the degradation of the environment for wildlife (plants and animals) by plastics. The documentation of plastic impact on human health has a huge audience…and I am hopeful that some of the actions we take to detox for ourselves helps the larger environment as well.

The movie is well-timed for the outreach work the Beyond Plastics Ozarks (the local group of Beyond Plastics that I am part of) will be doing in the next few months! Many people will watch it on their own…and we might plan showing/discussion group sessions several times this year.