Gettysburg DFA, Gettysburg Rising, Green Gettysburg and the St. James Lutheran Church Creation Care Task force are sponsoring a panel on “The Plastics Problem: Where do we go from here?” on Wednesday, June 5 at 7:00 PM in the auditorium at Valentine Hall at the United Lutheran Seminary.  Bicky Redman, a senior analyst for the Adams County planning office  will be the featured speaker along with Jenny Dumont, chair of Rising Above Plastic, Gettysburg Rising’s effort to curb single-use plastics in the borough of Gettysburg, and Emily Kurtz, a Gettysburg College biology and environmental studies major who is serving as a summer intern with Green Gettysburg. 

As many people across the country and here in our own county have begun to realize, plastics break up before they break down and persist in the environment as smaller and smaller particles easily consumed by fish and birds. Toxic chemicals of all kinds are often hitchhikers on these micro-particles and end up in the food chain, potentially consumed by humans in fresh water fish and sea food of various kinds.

Among the questions we will be asking: How can we reduce the impact of single-use plastic—bags, cups, straws and more—on our streams, rivers, oceans and landscape?  Can a different approach to recycling help?  What role should government play? What can consumers and citizens do,  here and now, to keep harmful plastics out of the natural world?

After a brief presentation by each panelist, a discussion focused on next steps for action on the plastics problem will be facilitated by Gettysburg DFA Chair Will Lane.