Kate (St. Michael, 11th grade)

In my community, I would like to tackle overconsumption because of its impact on our environment. For example, in my and the neighboring town, there are three energy drink shops. Hundreds of students at my school buy drinks from these stores every day. To decrease my community’s use of plastic, I would like to convince the owners to give a discount of maybe $0.50 to customers who bring in a reusable cup and straw, or introduce legislation. Even if the government or owners don’t do anything about this issue, I can and do encourage myself and others to use reusable straws instead of plastic ones. 

Another thing I am passionate about is the overconsumption of clothing, which I am currently working on. I have started a Slow Fashion Club at my school to combat fast fashion, which is an increasingly shorter trend cycle leading to the overconsumption of clothing. My club crochets (and hopefully soon knits) garments for ourselves and others to involve ourselves in the clothing industry, and have more control over the origins of our clothing. We also have a direct, positive impact on our county because members can donate their garments to local shelters.