The Weight of Our Shoreline: Microplastics and the Long Game of Care

Yesterday, I walked into a room full of brilliance- The University of Chicago students ready to talk about something many still dismiss as a buzzword: microplastics.

I came solo, but not empty-handed. I carried with me the weight of our shoreline, the legacy of South Shore, and the commitment of the Rainbow Beach Park Advisory Council to protect both.

Because Rainbow Beach & Park isn’t just a stretch of sand-it’s part of a vast, living system. A Great Lake. A drinking source for over 40 million people. A mirror for what we value-or what we’ve chosen to neglect.

Did you know the average person now ingests the equivalent of a credit card’s worth of plastic every week??

That’s bottled water, fish, even the air we breathe. And in Chicago-where plastic pollution isn’t even monitored by law-most people don’t realize it’s already inside them. In our lungs. Our blood. Our children.

Studies now link microplastics to strokes, heart attacks, cancers, respiratory illness, and inflammatory diseases. And we’re still only scratching the surface of what this means long term-especially for already overburdened communities like ours.

Here’s the hard truth:

We can organize beach cleanups every weekend, and still miss the point.

If we don’t build a shared understanding-of why the beach is dirty, how these plastics got here, and why they keep coming-we're not really solving the problem. We're sweeping around it.

That’s why yesterday’s session wasn’t about picking up trash. It was about strategy. Systems. Community imagination.

Together, we explored what it would take to reduce plastic pollution in a way that fits South Shore's reality. Not copy-paste solutions-but tailored, grounded, intergenerational approaches like:

Installing garbage cans where they’re actually needed

Partnering with South Shore International’s environmental club, local science teachers, and high school leaders

Engaging After School Matters, Green Corps, and court-ordered community service as forces for stewardship

Hosting volleyball tournaments, youth-driven festivals, and competitions that make care contagious

Offering financial incentives for young people to lead

And launching The Rainbow Beach Plastic Hub: a community-powered initiative to recycle, repurpose, and reimagine waste using the Precious Plastic machines we’re now bringing in

This isn’t charity. It’s infrastructure. Culture. A long game for dignity and health.

We may not have the power to rewrite federal policy today-but we can still shift behaviors, reclaim neglected space, and show people-especially our youth-that caring for a place is a form of power.

And that’s where transformation begins.

 If you have ideas for how we can reduce litter and microplastics-or if you simply want to listen, learn, and be part of this slow revolution-please take a moment to respond to our survey:

 https://tinyurl.com/2nwb9se4

Whether you’re a teacher, student, elder, athlete, artist, or neighbor-your voice belongs here.

 Let’s build something useful.

Something lasting.

Something beautiful, together.

Ana Marija Sokovic

Rainbow Beach Park Advisory Council, president