Plastics Crisis – Earth Day Music Festival

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My second Earth Day Festival for 2026 was Springfield’s Earth Day Music Festival - a plastic-free, leave-no-waste sustainability-driven live music festival. For Beyond Plastics Ozarks, it was our first tabling event. Our goal was to talk to festival goers about reducing plastics in tangible ways…hand out donated reusable bags to those willing to use them rather than taking the store-provided single use plastic bags…and develop a list of people willing to join our efforts.

I started the day early since I was bringing the materials for the table: tables, banner, camp chairs, umbrella with weighted base (and extra weights), info sheets from Show-me Less Plastic, and a mind map I created for what individuals can start doing at home. I had started adding rocks to make sure papers did not blow away but, once I looked at the forecast and saw it was going to be very breezy, I added decorative bookends to the bins….and there were 55 donated bags of various sizes/colors to hand out. The collapsible wagon I had recently purchased from Costco held everything which meant I didn’t have to carry anything more than a few steps. I was at the venue early enough to park in a nearby garage so I simply loaded my wagon after I parked and walked across the street with it rather than unload at the curb before I parked the car.

Our assigned space was under a tree! I had an umbrella that I set up for a few hours but took it down after the wind got too gusty; the tree provided plenty of shade. Other than the wind gusts, the weather was perfect for the festival.

The rocks and bookends worked great. After I got them arranged well, there were no papers blowing from our table. The indoor plants vendor next door was challenged to keep smaller plants on the shelves. They kept blowing off and landing in our booth! A booth further down that was doing a craft (nature stamps on cards) occasionally had cards flying.

I was at the table most of the time from about 9:30 to 6…setting up initially for the festival to open at 11…and packing up at 6 when the evening musicians were just setting up. I appreciated being able to leave before the crowds…just as I had arrived before the crowds.

It was a good first tabling – over 100 people stopped to talk and over 25 people indicated there were interested in learning more. Of course – this event being plastic free was probably a friendlier audience than we will find generally. I learned more about tabling on a windy day (bookends worked great…the umbrella did not)…and that the wagon was a great purchase for this type of event.

I did browse the other tables at mid-day…came home with a free smooth sumac to plant in a back corner of my yard. Lunch was 3 tacos in the compostable container from one of the food trucks. I refilled my water bottle at the water wagon a few times! Overall – a productive day for Beyond Plastics Ozarks…and enjoyable too with music and dancing just down the hill for our booth.

Earth Day Tabling

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I volunteered for two Earth Day events last week. The first one was on the grounds of a church; several Master Naturalists and I volunteered at two tables contains skulls and pelts….and exploring rotten logs. That’s not my favorite tabling topics…because with skulls and pelts the question about where they came from always come up; my standard answer is that they are provided to us by Missouri Department of Conservation to use for public or school outreach events. I like to contrast skulls/teeth of carnivores and herbivores with omnivores in-between. I had a coyote and red fox representing carnivores, white-tailed deer and beaver representing herbivore….then racoon as an omnivore.

It was a cold morning so there were not many children at the celebration for the first few hours. The rotten logs did not get a lot of attention from the adults that braved the cold. Shortly afternoon, we had some children start to peel off layers of bark and rotting wood looking for critters --- finding some and having a good time looking at the textures of wood and fungi while they worked.

Our tables were under a large tree with a good view of a neighboring sweet gum tree with lots of last fall’s gumballs still on the ground. I was pleased to see that even the decoration of the bathroom inside the church was nature themed!

My shift lasted for 3 hours and it was just warming up enough to shed my coat when I left; I figure that the shift from 1-4 had a lot more traffic!

Stay tuned for a post on my second Earth Table tabling experience where the topic was plastics.

Plastic Crisis – Show-me Less Plastic

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I participated in 2 Show-me Less Plastic events this past week. Both were learning experiences!

The first one was a Clean Water Day at the Missouri Capitol building in Jefferson City. It is over 2 hours driving from where I live so I had an early start to the day to get there around 9. I was a little later into the building since I hadn’t anticipated the parking situation when the legislature is in session; I got my steps for the day! On the way in I took a picture of the building (notice that my walk was up hill on the way in). There was a bridge across a stream as I go closer – and I noticed plastic on the bank and hung up in a tree. On the plus side, I noticed good sized fish in the water and birds flitting in/out of drainage holes in the abutment on the way back to my car at the end of the day.

The table for Show-me Less Plastic was on the 3rd floor of the building. It was already set up when I got there. I added my mind map of what individuals can do in the curve of ‘Cut Plastic from your Plate’ display.

The people stopping by to talk at the table was often slow…but full of variety – a few representatives, school groups, reporters, lobbyists. As usual – most people were aware of microplastics….and were primed for conversations about how to reduce exposure enough to avoid adverse health implications…few realized how pervasive plastics are in everything around us.  

The second event was a few days later and within 15 minutes from my house…at a local library. It was a regional roundtable of non-profits and local governments – primarily water and waste focused.

Lunch was from Chipotle – unfortunately with a lot of plastic containers although the Show-me Less Plastic group provided reuseable (metal) forks, plates, and serving spoons. It was a lesson of how difficult it is to purchase take-out food in non-plastic containers in Springfield MO!

It started with a slide show presentation. I photographed the chemicals in plastic chart; most people are surprised that 26% of the chemicals in plastic are known to be hazardous! It’s one of the background things to keep in mind when considering actions.

My favorite parts were the strategy prioritization exercise and the final group discussion. The conversation was around outreach to increase awareness…encouraging individual actions toward taking baby steps at the community level. Most participants seemed to agree that once people become convinced that there are health consequences for the ubiquitous current and projected plastic….that there will be increased demand for community action…and beyond.

Plastic Crisis – So Many Reusable Bags

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I have started sorting through the reusable bags I’ve gotten from conferences and as gifts after a donation…realizing that there are quite a few of them. One of my sisters did the same thing and I brought them back last time I went to Dallas. There are some that were brought to the last Master Naturalist meeting that I still need to retrieve from the person that collected them; they said there were quite a few. It is good to have a collection for our “BYOB (Bring your own bag)” campaign to reduce single-use plastic bags. Our plan is to hand them out to anyone wanting one when we are tabling at events and farmers markets.

While I was going through the bags, I realized how many were from birding events….they usually have the name of the event on the bag but not always the year. Sometimes the charities broadcast their name on the bags they send as gifts, other times it is just a pretty bag.

It will be interesting to see how people respond to the idea. I’ve been using my own bags for more than a decade but it’s obvious when I go to the store that most people have yet to make the transition.  To me -  it was one of the easiest ways to reduce single-use plastic entering my home! And it has long become habitual rather than something I think much about.

Plastic Crisis - Actions at the Community Level – February 2026

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At the end of January, it seemed like my community level activities about plastics had started out at a bit faster than I anticipated….and I wondered if it would continue. February was a month of preparation for things that would happen in April and beyond; I didn’t anticipate that there would be plastic-related legislation to begin tracking too!  

There currently are two plastic-related bills filed in the Missouri House. Neither is on the House calendar but they both had ‘read second time’ action in February:

  • HB 3193 - Phases out the use of single-use plastic products at Missouri State Parks and Historic Sites

  • HB 3357 - Prohibits the sale of intravenous solution containers and intravenous tubing products intentionally made with DEHP

I will be following both; it will be my first experience with tracking something through the Missouri legislative process. Beyond Plastics Ozarks will have to decide how we want to include information about these in upcoming outreach activities.

Beyond Plastics Ozarks’ first tabling - outreach event will be in April – associated with an Earth Day music festival. I’ve requested copies of information sheets from Show-me Less Plastic and have ideas for additional handouts that are more locally focused. We’ll probably make a sign to advertise our ‘bring your own bag (BYOB)’ initiative that we’ll start at local farmer’s markets. I’m collecting rocks to keep handout pages secure on the table even if it is breezy.

I’ve been asked to do a presentation at the state conference for Master Gardeners on microplastics in June. I’ve gathered some presentation materials from others and will facilitate a brainstorming session that will develop some gardener specific ideas on reducing microplastics.

Having a plastics movie showing and lining up tabling at farmer’s markets is still on the Beyond Plastics Ozarks ‘to do’ list. It looks like the first 6 months of 2026 are going to be busy!

Plastic Crisis: Creating a ‘Reduce your Microplastic Exposure’ Mind Map

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One of the first mind maps I worked on after purchasing the MindNode app was about reducing microplastic exposure. It was a good way to collect my thoughts and learn the tool. I am gearing up for spring and early summer tabling and talks on plastics – feeling the need to get organized and hone the way I deliver the message!

The mind map is still a work in progress – I still don’t have anything about household cleaners or water filtering (for drinking and maybe for shower). The things I feel are the biggest issues (heat/plastic/food and synthetic textiles) are there, but they may get more detail over time. I haven’t figured out where to put ditching the plastic cutting board. My goal is to create one page mind maps on various perspectives of the plastics issue and either use them directly as conversation starters or translate them into other forms for presentation.

It feels good to be creating mind maps again and I like MindNode. Years ago – during my career (over 15 years ago) – I created a lot of mind maps using MindManager but it is now too expensive for individuals (and overly complex for what I need)!

Homeschool Fair 2025

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I provided a Missouri Master Naturalist table at an annual Homeschool Fair; the year it was held at the Springfield Botanical Garden. Our original location was not available (a delay in a renovation) so we were on a grassy area under a canopy. I shared my tree table with another Master Naturalist doing a soil filtration demo! The image below is what the table looked like before the crowd.

While we were setting up, it was very foggy, and we wondered if we would get some rain. Fortunately, it didn’t rain although here was a brief time that was blustery, and we had to grab things on the table and legs of the canopy! That was all before the event started.

The event was from 10-2 with a short break for lunch (for me it was only enough time to eat a protein bar). There were over 400 people that came by our table and I gave out all my copies of Missouri Department of Conservation booklets on trees.

Between the Homeschool Fair and the Native American Heritage Celebration, our chapter of Missouri Master Naturalists interacted with about 1000 people! There are some lessons learned to apply to future events:

  • Have at least 2 volunteers per table during peak times

  • Assign the person not doing as much talking to use the clicker…get a good count of people visiting the table

  • Tie the 2 corners of the tablecloth together at each end of the table; the table clothes are extra-large so this helps keep them from dragging on the ground plus reduces the impact of breezes on the tablecloth.

  • The table signs for the chapter take too much room on the table. We need an alternative type of sigh…maybe something that could hand from the canopy.