Saints joined hundreds of activists and faith leaders at the NYS Capitol to advocate for the support of key environmental legislation.
New York Is Not Disposable Advocacy Day was held January 28 in Albany to urge state legislators to pass the Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act. This state bill, which Beyond Plastics said is “the strongest state bill in the nation to address planet-warming single-use plastics by reducing them at the source,” calls for New York to gradually reduce plastic packaging by 30 percent over the next 12 years; require 70 percent of the remaining packaging to be reused and/or recycled over 10 years; and prohibit chemical recycling from counting toward recycling targets. It would also prohibit use of a number of toxic chemicals and materials from packaging that are known to be harmful to human health and the environment.
Isabelle Rowley ’26 and Grace Barber ’28 joined Br. Jacek Orzechowski, associate director of Siena’s Laudato Sí Center for Integral Ecology and the Rev. Kathryn Beilke a part-time Siena MBA student and interfaith coordinator for Beyond Plastics, which took the lead in organizing the event. The group started with a demonstration at the Capitol’s interior Million Dollar Staircase (the site of many rallies and demonstrations held throughout each legislative session), then visited individual members of the state Legislature to advocate directly for support of the bills.
“We should start putting planet above profit,” said Rowley. “This is a fight not only for the people, but for our planet, which is suffering right now. It doesn’t have a voice, so we must use our voices to help future generations and to help mitigate plastic use and what it’s doing to our environment.”
Barber added that she enjoyed the conversations about “how people of all different faith traditions and beliefs can come together for this common goal.
“I believe it’s something that can unify us all as a society,” she said.
The advocates also support passage of the Bigger Better Bottle Bill, which would increase the refundable beverage container deposit from 5 cents to 10 cents, add a refundable deposit to most beverage containers, and reduce single-use beverage bottles 25 percent by 2030.
“As a person of faith, I feel a deep sense of interconnection with the planet and its inhabitants,” said Rev. Bielke. “Plastic pollution - the most pervasive form of pollution in the world - brings harm to the sacred web of life. To have microplastics now in the water we drink, the food we eat, the air we breathe, and major organs of the human body demonstrates the prophetic words of Chief Seattle 'what we do to the earth, we do to ourselves.' I don't want to live at the expense of the health of people and planet. My deepest spiritual yearning is to live in harmony with these.”
Siena community members who are interested in advocating for reduced plastic use and passage of the Package Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act as well as the Bottle Bill can click here, scroll down, and you’ll see a list of ways you can make a difference.
Br. Jacek, who helped coordinate Siena’s Symposium on Integral Ecology last October, noted climate activism’s connection to St. Francis of Assisi.
“Eight hundred years ago, Saint Francis heard the call to rebuild God’s house that was falling into ruin,” he said. “Today, God calls each one of us to use our gifts and talents, our hands and voices to help build a civilization of love. It is God's dream: a world where we could all live in a nurturing, healthy environment that is clean, just and sustainable. And it begins with you and me – now.”
