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Teen activism leads to local laws banning single-use plastics: a two-year experiential learning journey
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High school students in Massachusetts spent two years petitioning their local government to ban thin plastic bags and single-use plastic water bottles under 1 liter, ultimately succeeding and demonstrating how youth environmental activism combined with civic education can translate global plastic pollution concerns into tangible local policy change.
Abstract This paper recounts the two-year journey of an eight-member public Massachusetts high school environmental club that set out to decrease their local community’s consumption of single-use plastics. In the academic years 2016–2018, launched by a presentation by co-author Dr. Kara Lavender Law, the students wrestled with the global problem of plastic environmental debris within their local sphere of influence. They petitioned town government to regulate against local merchants’ dispensing thin-film plastic bags or selling single-use plastic water bottles < 1 L in size. The journey called upon them to participate in the democratic process, and through it to inform the citizenry, entertain opposing viewpoints, counter strident opposition with facts, enlist allies, and build broad consensus. After a two-year process, the project arrived at a successful result. They learned through experience that with tenacity, they could make democracy work for their ethical ideals.
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When a large batch of papers lands in the Atlas, we read through it and send a short write-up of what stood out.