The North-5 group’s No Butts action has been passed down for six years now, with the youth and teen divisions advancing side by side. When an action takes deep root, change happens slowly but surely.

Beyond being a great partner in the alliance, one of our youth leaders committed, as a personal action, to connect the group with international resources. He found the Dutch NGO No Plastic Filter, whose mission is to help the world recognise that cigarette filters are plastic — releasing microplastic pollution into land and sea — and to advocate banning plastic filters. Each year on July 4th they co-host “No Butts Day” to draw global attention.

This year he joined in, reached out to No Plastic Filter, and hosted a No Butts Day at the Yilan Wetland Arts Festival on July 4th. About to travel to Japan to share the action with peers from many countries, he said in an interview:

“It was my first time responding to No Butts Day and I hoped to find more people to join. Because I’d taken part in the festival’s immersive drama for years, I knew there would be crowds. With the organiser’s permission I decided to host it here. A Hakka TV crew was also filming us, so I combined the resources — bringing the host along to pick up butts and advocating on the old street with a megaphone.”

Watching our young members connect environmental action to international resources, reflect and improve, and internalise world-changing action into daily life — as a mentor, it is truly moving.