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Nat Geo, Wattpad Call for Stories About Global Plastic Crisis

The only positive side of the marine plastic problem is the growing tide of actions from the global business community to try and solve it — in the past year alone, the issue has spawned campaigns, documentaries, cross-industry collaborations, scientific breakthroughs,

By Sustainable Brands | Published 7 years ago | About a 2 minute read

Now, to build on its multiyear “Planet or Plastic?” initiative, aimed at raising awareness about the crisis and reducing the amount of plastic that reaches the world’s oceans, National Geographic has joined forces with Wattpad — a global multiplatform entertainment company for original stories — to raise further awareness of the global plastic crisis through a creative storytelling challenge.

National Geographic and Wattpad are asking writers to explore the alarming impact of plastic on the environment, with the aim of inspiring the next generation to do their part to protect the environment through creative storytelling and artistic activism.

By sharing stories with the hashtag #PlanetOrPlastic, Wattpad users will be able to inspire others to take the pledge to reduce the amount of single-use plastic in their lives. Participants in the contest will also get the chance to have their stories featured on NationalGeographic.com.

“Eight million tons of plastic flow into the ocean every year, impacting marine life and doing irreparable damage to our world,” said Jill Cress, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer at National Geographic Partners. “Storytelling is among the most impactful forms of advocating for positive change, and by partnering with Wattpad we will engage a passionate, global community of readers and writers to help inspire the next generation of stewards for our planet.”

“At Wattpad, we understand the power of storytelling to raise awareness for social causes,” said Chris Stefanyk, Head of Brand Partnerships at Wattpad. “Every day we see millions of writers use their creative voices to take a stand for social issues. We are honored to welcome National Geographic to our platform and use storytelling to further educate our community on ways to preserve the planet.”

You can find the new National Geographic profile at www.wattpad.com/user/NationalGeographic, and join National Geographic’s efforts by pledging your commitment to reduce their use of single-use plastic at natgeo.com/plasticpledge.