According to the University of California, Santa Barbara, 40 percent of plastic produced is made for packaging and is used just once then threw away. Other statistics from BYU- Idaho shows that if every subscriber for the single run of the Sunday New York Times would recycle, it would save 75,000 trees. Little differences can make a big difference in our planet’s livelihood. Educating our local citizens about our impact on the planet is how we can make a big difference.

The Whitley County Cooperative Extension Office provided a unique opportunity to the community by providing an educational celebration of conserving our planet. We had 150 attend from the community. Each person went around to 13 different vendors made up of Whitley County Extension Staff, University of Kentucky specialist, community and park services. The vendors had information on conservation methods and local educational opportunities. They were educated on reusable food storage choices, impacts on using plastic bags, growing home plants from seeds, and more! Hands on activities were provided, like making your own shopping bags and a tree giveaway.

Every participant in attendance received a tree from the forestry service, given by Whitley County Agriculture and Natural Resources Agent. This was to increase the amount of trees grown in the county. Ninety-nine percent of people stated they use the plastic zipper bags and were extremely interested in the reusable option. They were unaware of the impact of plastic to our health and environment. We are gladly offering this program next year on Earth Day because it is such a needful and impactful event.