The Cultura Garden Club canceled its Jan. 12 meeting because of the surge of COVID-19 and inclement weather. Officers considered this as the best course of action to protect our members.

In place of an in-person meeting, a newsletter was sent to the members. The newsletter included an update on garden club projects, business and program.

The program for January was “Ways to Clean Up the Earth,” which highlighted four main ideas:

BRING YOUR OWN BAG

More than 1 million plastic bags are used every minute. Just bringing your own reusable bags to the grocery store is a huge step toward helping our planet.

USE REFILLABLE WATER BOTTLES

Stop buying water bottles. Your own refillable water bottle is easy, more cost-effective and one step closer to making this world a better place.

SKIP THE STRAW

Straws are so easily used and dropped into the garbage. Down the road they are often ingested by animals, which can kill them, or they become a pollutant.

RECYCLE

Recycling might not be the No. 1 solution, but it is definitely a step in the right direction.

The average American throws away approximately 185 pounds of plastic per year. That’s 88,000 tons of plastic thrown away each day in just the U.S. alone, according to plasticpollutioncoalition.org. This is equivalent to the weight of about 16,000 elephants!

All of this plastic ends up in landfills and our oceans. The ocean has collected so much plastic waste that five massive plastic islands have formed in our surrounding oceans, one of which is twice the size of Texas.

Many animals are harmed and killed because of this deadly pollution.

This plastic affects not only animals and the environment but spoils our groundwater and poisons our food chain.

It’s time to clean up our act – literally.

In the business session, club members approved continued membership in the Franklin County Chamber of Commerce. Annual membership dues will be mailed. The Chamber’s Partnership Awards Banquet is scheduled for March 25, 2021.

As 2021 progresses, the format of the monthly club meetings will be based on the COVID-19 pandemic status. Our next meeting is tentatively scheduled for Feb. 9.