Now, more than ever, we need to take strides forward in global environmental awareness. The way Connecticut can do this is by following Maine and Maryland in the banning of polystyrene usage. Polystyrene is commonly known as Styrofoam; which is a substance used to save us three minutes, but ultimately stays in our environment for hundreds of years. I grew up and still live in Connecticut today and throughout this time I have seen so many young people try to fix the mistakes we previously made with our environment. Collectively, we need to take accountability for the stress we selfishly put on our environment to stop the drastic crisis.

The way to take accountability is to ban the use of foam cups, containers, and all other single-use foam. Something that would do just that is the Foam Free CT bill. The bill was introduced a year ago by Christen Cohen, however, due to COVID-19, the session and the bill were never completed. Connecticut needs to act out now in the interest of public health, the climate, and conservation of natural resources.

Ava Lee

Kent