Do you ever feel that you are the only one in your circle of friends who takes the plastic pollution problem seriously? Maybe you sometimes feel over whelmed by the immensity of the problem and how small your individual effort seems. The good news is that you are not alone. In addition to your local friends at Viroqua Plastic Free, let us introduce you to just two of the many national and international organizations fighting to reverse this man-made disaster. Beyond Pla

Plastic item floating in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch - Photo credit: The Ocean Cleanup It all began when a young man scuba diving in Greece was shocked to see more plastic bags than fish in the water. He turned his concern into a high school science project and when he was 18, Boyan Slat of The Netherlands founded The Ocean Cleanup. He crowd-funded $2 million in support of the project. His first target was the Great Pacific Garbage Patch discovered by Captain Charles

Life-course exposure to environmental hazards and chemical pollutants such as plastic can cause accumulation of toxic substances in the body and increase the risk of developing chronic health conditions. Plastic is a particularly problematic material at every stage of its lifecycle, from the extraction of its fossil fuel feedstocks, through manufacturing, use, and disposal. Grave environmental health hazards are created at each stage. The health impacts have been seen in al