[LRVieira]

In your opinion, what are the biggest challenges in engaging citizens in effective and responsible behaviours?

[PeterDJordan]

Mid- and Long-term effects of marine litter are not only an environmental problem but also a growing public health issue. Probably highlighting this can be a good start to engaging citizens, especially those with low environmental literacy

[LRVieira]

That’s a good point Peter. How do you suggest improving environmental literacy to tackle Marine Litter?

• This reply was modified 1 year ago by LRVieira.

[PeterDJordan]

From baseline information from schools to academia, activities with citizens and, of course, an increased engagement of policymakers.
All schools should organise at least one clean up per year.

[Tome Ferreira]

I think that is also important to engage the most polluting companies in a responsible concept of the circular economy, resolving at least part of the problem in the origin.

[olatz]

Hello, from my point of view the main challenge in engaging citizens in an effective and responsible behavior according to marine litter and responsible consumption is the lack of referents, and thus, the lack of awareness. That is why models such as big companies, politicians and famous people should be aware of the problem and try to involve the community.

[LRVieira]

These are all very interesting points of view. Can public figures be agents or ambassadors of this mission? What about the new generation of YouTubers?

[Mariana Vila do Conde]

I think there are different levels of challenges to act on. From a grassroots level we could engage society in the problem, by making it visible on actions such as clean ups and talks in schools or community events (that could highlight the consequences of marine litter and practical changes in habits of consumption to tackle this).
It would also be important to approach key organizations such as fishing associations to promote awareness, as fishing gear represents a large part of marine litter.
Policy makers should be also be involved/aware of these actions, as they will begin to change policies when they feel they have public opinion consent to prioritize the environment, sometimes at the expense of (short term) economy.
And yes, for the new generations, so connected to the social media culture of positive and fast content, it would help to have influencers communicating this in a way that is more appealing.

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