Plastic Swear Jar Challenge & Earth Day Festival 2021
Beginning on Earth Day, we held our fifth annual, week long, Plastic Swear Jar Challenge. During this challenge, participants are asked to track all the single-use plastic waste they use for one week. By doing so, this increases awareness of usage and the plastic footprint we’re all contributing to.
The challenge is quite simple. Each time a single-use plastic item is utilized, it counts as one “swear” that goes into the jar. For the sake of our challenge, one “swear” is the equivalent of $1. Upon completion of the week-long challenge, we urge participants to count up their contributions to their swear jars and donate the amount to Changing Tides Foundation.
Our participants joined the challenge by decorating a jar and deeming it their Plastic Swear Jar. The rules of the challenge included committing to keeping accurate track of your “swears,” utilizing the jar when necessary, and posting a picture of your challenge, tagging @changingtidesfoundation and/or #plasticswearjar for a chance to win some plastic-free sustainable goodies.
For the 2021 Plastic Swear Jar Challenge, we are proud to report that we had hundreds of individuals participate from around the world.
Our goal, annually, with the Plastic Swear Jar Challenge, is to truly bring further awareness to just how much single-use plastic we consume on a daily and ongoing basis. Mother Earth’s surface is covered in plastic. If we don’t take the steps to fix it, then who will?
Did you know that our rain now carries enough microplastic to make over 100 million water bottles in a year? And this is in the U.S. alone. The negative effects of plastic worldwide are even more significant.
So, how do we solve this? The first step is awareness, which is what we hope to create each year with the Plastic Swear Jar Challenge. The next step is to reduce our use and find sustainable alternatives, which is a habit that takes time, education, and work. None of this can happen without awareness first!
We understand how challenging it is not to use plastic as we are truly surrounded by them in every direction we look. Still, it’s our responsibility as residents of Planet Earth to stop the damage done and work to the best of our abilities to reverse the effects already being made. Future generations deserve better. Our home deserves better.
If you’re interested in joining next year’s Plastic Swear Jar Challenge, prepare to begin on Earth Day 2022. If you’re ready to make a change today, you can hold a challenge of your own following our rules and guidelines, too! You don’t have to wait.
If you’d like to check out photos from this year’s challenge, you can view them here.
We also want to highlight our Earth Day Festival that was held on April 6th of this year that helped us kick off our Plastic Swear Jar Challenge. We had tons of amazing vendors with sustainable products and delicious foods and drinks. We are so excited that over 150 people joined us in this festival to celebrate (face-to-face!!!) our home planet and gear up to make a positive impact.
We were grateful to host several amazing brands, musicians, and partners, including: Helia Brewing, JuneShine, Guayaki, Her Waves, Marissa Quinn, eMpulse, Ponto Footwear, Mizu, Campana Studios, KateBoards, Kind Humans, Bristlecone Market, Athleta SoCal, Little Cups & Cones, SOULMUCH, and Mojo Plant Foods.
We can’t express just how excited we are to have held such a successful festival and weekly challenge. We already can’t wait for next year!