How to end plastic pollution like this 10-year old activist

May 13, 2019

Photos of Lilly Platt promoting Lilly's Plastic Pickup

Written by Marion Owen

If trends continue, by 2050 there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish.* A sobering thought. But 10-year old Lilly Platt is attacking the world’s plastic problem. She began by launching Lilly’s Plastic Pickup to educate the rest of us. No small task. And to think it all began one day while she was walking with her Grandpa Jim…

Cans and plastic bottles littered the park. “Grandpa, this doesn’t look right,” she said. “We should start picking this stuff up.'”

Grandpa turned and said, “Everything that falls on the ground eventually makes its way to the ocean. Even over here to Holland.”

Lilly was stunned.

So she decided to do something about it.

Lilly Platt leads with action

Lilly began posting photos of trash on her Facebook page (@lillysplasticpickup). Her posts went viral.

As for Lilly, well, she’s been busy: meeting with Jane Goodall, appearing on TV and in National Geographic Kids, influencing world leaders.

Just call her a cheerleader for the planet!

A special birthday for a special girl

And then, on April 18, 2018, Lilly celebrated her 10th birthday by creating #LillysGlobalCleanUpDay, a campaign to encourage people all over the world to pick up litter for one day and help make Earth a cleaner place.

But it’s more than that, she says.

“You don’t have to be a grown-up to do something”

“I try to get as many people to listen to me. It is my mission to clean the plastic and save the animals. Farmers have sent me letters telling me that some of their animals have eaten plastic, even balloons and they die.”

Dear reader, I don’t know about you, but when I was 9 years old, the idea of starting a global campaign of any kind was the farthest thing from my mind. Not for Lilly Platt. “You don’t have to be a grown-up to do something,” she says.

“Refuse to use plastic!”

I think it’s human nature to gravitate toward upbeat people and good projects.

Speaking of upbeat stuff, read these super-charged messages from/about this young environmentalist:

“If children aren’t allowed to help the environment, they won’t have a future. They won’t have anything to go to school for.”
—5 things I learned from a 10-year-old climate activist, from Megan Herbert’s blog about climate change and other positive-ness.

“She [Lilly Platt] is on a mission to not only help clean up the area where she lives but also convince her peers to join in and show them why it is so important. As it turns out, cleaning up trash can also be fun.”
—From One Green Planet, Meet the 9-Year-Old Who Is on a Mission to End the World’s Plastic Problem!

Listen to Lilly in this podcast

I was excited to come across this excellent podcast, an interview with Lilly and her mum. You can listen to it on Your Positive Imprint. From it, I harvested a few gems of inspiration:

“Please refuse to use plastic and please pick up rubbish.”

“The best education is the university of life.”

Here is one of my favorites:

“There is No PLANet B.”

“There are people who say that the animals die because of survival of the fittest. Those who don’t eat the plastics survive. The way I see it is that it is not survival of the fittest when it is a man-made disaster. Pollution is man-made.”

“Think before you throw.”

“Have a green heart.”

“Everything is connected to the Earth.”

“So, get a bag. Get a grabber. Clean up the world. Who’s with me?”

I hope you’ve enjoyed learning about Lilly Platt. She would love it if you applied her enthusiasm to your daily doings. For example, cut down on single use plastics. Be an example for others. Like Lilly.

Cheers and blessings to you,

Kodiak, Alask

How to end plastic pollution like this 10-year old activist