The National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW) is alarmed by the increase in violent hate crimes targeting the Jewish community in New York.

We have all suffered from them, maybe liked some, and certainly discarded plenty. The bane and blessing of every childhood are those school meals that generally get little public attention. However, for over 30 million schoolchildren, many of whom may be getting 50 percent of their daily calories from school meals, and 14 million of them who are already obese, school meals are a critical component of their daily lives.

This question was not on the radar before China stopped taking our plastic trash. The Chinese ban has been copied by other countries and the US is left with an enormous supply of potential recyclable material. We are motivated to put our plastics in the recycling bin because we want to protect the environment, but whether that plastic bottle is recycled to become something else not only depends on us but on market changes and business cycles.

Photos of seals struggling to survive with plastic rings around their necks, and turtles pierced by plastic drinking straws or drowning in discarded fishing nets are horrific and have spurred efforts to clean up the plastic pollution that exists worldwide. Many of us are making changes to reduce our use of plastic, but we have been too complacent and now plastic pollution impacts us directly.