Throughout the month of November, Planeteer Alliance funded 10 global Meetup Events focused on the WIND Element. These events brought together over 100 young people from across West Africa and the United States to explore how they can reduce and reimagine waste in their communities.

For Captain Planet Foundation’s Planeteer Alliance, the WIND element represents circularity and promotes reusing and recycling materials to reduce waste. This theme guided this month’s Meetup hosts to focus on reducing plastic pollution, upcycling clothing, and finding creative ways to reuse discarded materials.
One host, Hawa Sanyang, gathered her community members in Ndemban, The Gambia to explore how they can transform plastic bottles into useful materials. The group found that by washing recycled plastic bottles and gallons, they could use the bottles for agricultural purposes to water and fertilize fruit-bearing trees to promote reforestation.
Meanwhile, Emmanuel Lyam hosted his WIND Meetup to engage his community in Langtang, Nigeria. Emmanuel used this opportunity to engage young people in his community in meaningful discussions about the environmental, social, and economic impact of plastic waste, including pollution, climate change, and waste management challenges. This event aimed to increase community members’ overall awareness of pollution and discuss how young people have the agency to influence local plastic policies.

“The meetup inspires community members to make changes in their daily lives such as reducing single-use plastic, using reusable bags, and promoting recycling,” shares Emmanuel while reflecting on the Meetup, “We also discussed policy and advocacy and encouraged participants to work towards exploring policy and advocacy to reduce plastic waste… including extended producers responsibility, plastic bags ban, provisions of trash bins and deposit refund system.”
Planeteer Alliance offers four opportunities a year for Planeteers to host a Global Element Meetup. These events not only gather community members to educate, inform, and empower young people to take action, but they also help to develop hosts into informed climate leaders. Planeteer Alliance provides tools and resources to Planeteers on how to build a budget, host a successful event, and develop campaigns that tackle local climate issues.
Through these Meetups, each of these hosts engaged young people, increased overall understanding and awareness of the plastic pollution crisis, and inspired their peers to take action through various avenues.