National Geographic just asked all of us one simple question, “Planet or Plastic?” A profound and obvious answer, this May, the world-renowned storytelling and scientific powerhouse launched a multi-year initiative to tackle one of our time’s most pressing challenges: plastic pollution. Asking individuals to pledge to take a few simple steps to reduce consumption of single-use plastic, the positive impact is immense and growing by the day. Beginning with highlight articles “10 Shocking Facts About Plastic”, “We Know Plastic is Harming Marine Life. What About Us?”, “We Depend on Plastic. Now We’re Drowning in It”, and “You Can Help Turn the Tide on Plastic”, Nat Geo is also featuring a series of short films on plastics.
The focus of the Planet or Plastic? initiative is that “Every Action Matters”, and Recover is honored to be featured as a co-brand partner of National Geographic in their action to be part of the solution rather than the problem. In “This Shirt Was Made From Plastic”, National Geographic highlights the Recover co-branded National Geographic Student Expedition shirts describing, “Partnering with companies like Recover is part of a global National Geographic initiative to reduce plastic pollution in the Earth’s oceans.”
A unique and life-changing program, National Geographic Student Expeditions offers middle and high school students opportunities to get out into the field and follow in the footsteps of National Geographic’s photographers, writers, and scientists. Whether snorkeling with marine biologists in Belize, going on photo shoots in Yellowstone National Park with a National Geographic photographer, or helping out with a community project in Nepal, National Geographic Student Expeditions (NGSE) is creating the next generation of explorers, researchers, and change-makers.
Now, these student explorers will be wearing Recover. Describing why National Geographic chose Recover’s 100% recycled sustainable apparel, they wrote, “This year, we’re unveiling a stylish new design, and we can’t wait to see our travelers rock the yellow border out in the field. To produce the shirts, we enlisted Recover, a North Carolina-based apparel company that shares Nat Geo’s strong commitment to sustainability, using only recycled materials in their clothing. Each NGSE t-shirt is made from eight plastic bottles—waste that would have otherwise ended up in a landfill.”
Learn more about co-brand opportunities with Recover and take National Geographic’s simple and easy pledge to reduce single-use plastic. With a trillion plastic bags used worldwide every year, nearly one million plastic beverage bottles sold every minute, and 9 million tons of plastic waste ending up in the oceans every year, it all comes down to one simple choice. We choose the planet.
