Hi Supporter,

My name is Logan Welde and I’m an Attorney at the Clean Air Council. I spend my days fighting to reduce plastic waste and advocating for a society that produces less waste. 

Will you donate to support my work to reduce plastic waste in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh?

After fulfilling my commitment to the Air Force, I worked in investment banking, and then Marvel Comics. Living in New York City and seeing the overwhelming amount of plastic waste on the streets, I became increasingly concerned for the future of our planet, and the immediate impacts of this unnecessary pollution in our environment. Very little of our waste is recycled or reused–most is buried, burned or dumped in poor countries.

I decided I wanted to commit my professional life to protecting the environment, but I was unsure how to start. My three career choices seemed clear –if I wanted to develop solutions to our dangerous waste management problem –I needed to become a scientist, an engineer, or an environmental lawyer. In order to get a better perspective, I quit my job and traveled, visiting many beautiful places. I was shocked that these places were all trashed with plastic.

Looking out on the beautiful waters of Thailand and seeing mounds of trash washing up on the beach, I decided that law school would provide me with the quickest path and the opportunity to work on policies, and legislation that would help solve the waste problem.

I came to work at the Clean Air Council both during and after graduating from Temple University Law school. I knew the Clean Air Council was an organization that aligned with my values and would strongly support my work developing policies and laws to reduce plastic waste. 

Clean Air Council Attorney Logan Welde has advocated and lobbied for Philadelphia’s plastic bag legislation since 2013. (Courtesy of Trash Academy)

Council Attorney Logan Welde has advocated and lobbied for Philadelphia’s plastic bag legislation since 2013. (Photo Credit: Trash Academy)

After almost ten years of working on the issue, I was thrilled when Philadelphia finally passed its single-use bag law that bans all single-use plastic bags. While the law, as passed, is not perfect, it is a tremendous start and will help Philadelphia drastically reduce the amount of bags used– over a billion a year.  The Council will continue to advocate to the Philadelphia City Council to amend the bill to include a fee on all other bags, like paper.

Unfortunately, the Pennsylvania General Assembly has opposed Philly’s bag ban from the start and blocked it by passing a preemption law that prohibited any municipality in Pennsylvania from adopting, or enforcing legislation that regulated single-use bags. The Council has been defending Philadelphia’s bag ban in court and your right as a local resident to take action on plastics in your community.

Although the Council does not have funding dedicated to reducing plastic creation and waste, I spend as much time as I can studying legislation and policies that could be adopted and implemented to mitigate the plastic waste problem in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and other cities and towns throughout Pennsylvania.

 

Can you chip in to support my work to reduce plastic waste and litter? 

The Council also works tirelessly to help other municipalities throughout Pennsylvania to pass their own single-use plastic legislation; I recently testified in front of the Pittsburgh City Council on the issue. 

The Council is not stopping with plastic bags– that’s just the tip of the plastic iceberg problem. We understand that many other products made from single-use plastic are dangerous to our environment; these products clog our waterways, kill our wildlife, and cost our cities billions of dollars in clean-up costs. Nearly all single-use plastic comes from dirty, non-renewable energy sources like fossil fuels, so plastics and the climate crisis go hand-in-hand.  

The most supportive thing you can do is to donate to the Clean Air Council to support our zero waste work locally. The first $10,000 donations will be matched $1-for-$1 by a generous Clean Air Council longtime supporter. Don’t miss your chance to give to our zero waste work before the year ends.

Thanks for helping to reduce plastic pollution, 

Logan Welde, Esq.

Staff Attorney

 

Clean Air Council
135 S. 19th Street, Suite 300 | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103
Question? Email us at members@cleanair.org or call (215) 567-4004

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