By minimizing our use of petroleum products, MMU and its students can help to make a positive difference in the world. The production of plastics is an impending environmental concern that can not be ignored. Emissions from refineries pollute our air, their products contaminate our waterways, and the toxin-laden consumer goods that they produce harm our health. In fact, carcinogens such as styrene can leach out of styrofoam when heated, a process which is set up perfectly by serving hot lunch on styrofoam trays.

But it's not just about us here in Vermont or the United States. Work in refineries around the globe is often dangerous, and the health of people who work closely with petrochemicals is at a much greater risk than ours. If, as is the case in many places in Africa and Southern Asia, an already impoverished oil worker becomes injured or sick, and therefore unable to work, escaping poverty by saving up income becomes a near-impossibility.

The consequences of global climate change (a very real and pressing matter) on these impoverished communities are also worth noting. Extreme heat waves make unbearable work conditions worse (here's a relevant article: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/30/climate/record-heat-waves.html?module=inline), destructive weather systems destroy infrastructure that is already lacking, and rising sea levels pose a threat to millions of coastal residences around the world.

Reducing MMU's economic support of the plastics industry is a health benefit for our students and staff, and if we lead other schools in this movement, we can make an improvement to the Earth's environments and her people's lives.