Meet Wren Kilian. A woman with a vision. A vision to be a ‘catalyst for change’; to shift the nation’s views, and most importantly, laws, on sustainability and recycling. Wren is a busy woman, a mother of three and a grandmother of one, that a few years back spent her time and energy engaging the local community in educating and gathering of 8,000 signatures for her proposed ‘National Bottle and Bag Bill’. This bill would implement a nationwide law, one that would set in place a container deposit law in every state. This basically means that the law would require a set refundable deposit on soda, beer, and other containers to guarantee more recycling or reuse.

Currently, there are only ten states that have the bottle deposit law in place, and Wren wants that to shift. The ‘Bag Bill’ would make it so that a single use bag would have a tax set at $.25. The break down goes like this: $.05 goes back to retailers, $.10 goes back in to the community in the way of a fund to be distributed via grants to bolster programs for nature, arts and mentoring youth that are generally under funded; and the remaining $.10 would go to ocean clean up efforts. There are many positive things that a national bottle law would create, including job creation, increasing recycling, and reducing landfill waste. Wren suggests checking out two documentaries that may heighten awareness on the mountain of litter that humans amass. “Midway” and “Addicted to Plastic” aim to educate and incite passion for the sustainability causes that Wren is such a proponent for. She states, “Taxing an industry that is creating a burden on society is not rocket science, and a national bottle deposit law is a no-brainer, too.  These are common sense steps our nation needs to take without delay.  I do not believe this is a final solution, only a step in the right direction.”

These days, Wren has a new online petition circulating. She is asking local businesses to display fliers and placards on their counters as well as posting in support of her cause on Facebook, directing clientele to go to SignOn.org and sign her petition entitled “A Simple Stepping Stone to Sustainability”. Dozens of local businesses are already on board, but she needs more to sign on. Wren is a woman with a mission, and a lofty one it is, as after she receives the required number of signatures for her petition, she plans to do an “electric-assisted bike trip from Bozeman, MT to Washington D.C. to deliver the signatures in person.” This ride stems from the fact that she had no response to her last petition endeavor and wants to make a bigger impression. Wren envisions the petition growing and ultimately culminating on a Mother’s Day March on Washington with “many to join (me) to petition our corporate and political leaders to take swift and clear action to lead our nation to a more sustainable and peaceful path.” She needs an astounding 100,000 signatures to get that much coveted White House hearing. The plea to the local community is to take a stand and make a change now.
Wren also has a passion for myriad of social programs to promote the bettering of our communities. For instance, she supports changing our school lunch programs with the farm-to-school program, helping animals with animal therapy programs, and promoting youth in nature programs. Wren wants to emphasize that she is a proponent for these programs to include “ALL kids. Not just the at-risk or disabled”.

Being so active within her community, many may wonder why Wren doesn’t start a grassroots campaign in her own backyard to implement change locally instead of taking her cause all the way to Washington. To this, Wren will respond that she indeed has worked for more than a dozen years, along with several other concerned citizens, to try and implement change at the local and state level. But, “no state has been able to pass a bottle bill due to powerful corporate lobbies.” Most recently, Delaware’s law was repealed because of mega powerful beverage industry lawsuits that charged the bill as an ‘illegal scheme’. They went so far as to falsely claim that the prices would spike for customers just to gain momentum against the bottle bill. This, Wren explains, should not be a problem even if prices do rise a bit, as “shouldn’t those who produce and consume a product be responsible for the packaging instead of the burden of cleaning up bottle and bag waste being shouldered by the taxpayer?” Even the World Bank warns that ‘bold and immediate action is required to address the growing accumulation of carbon in Earth’s atmosphere and the need to live more sustainably.” Wren suggests watching the video “World Could be Four Degrees Hotter by the end of the Century” for further insight on this matter.

Wren’s causes are important and crucial in moving forward and creating a healthier Earth for all of us now, and for our future generations. We need to move toward a more sustainable way of life and look at the amount of waste we produce in our communities and in our own lives. We can start small with taking a look around our own homes and making sure that we do everything we can to create a healthier environment. Recycling, using reusable bags while shopping, and displaying conscious conservation methods can go a long way in the fight for more sustainable living for us all.

Please help Wren’s cause go viral by liking “Wren’s Ride, Mission: Sustainability Petition” on Facebook and sharing your contacts on other social media.

“Thank you for your work to help create a better world.  Together we are making a difference.”

Stacey Faldetta is a freelance writer currently living in MT with her four children. She is working on her first book of compiled poetry called ‘A Thousand Little Sparks’ and enjoys travelling extensively around our breath taking state enjoying all that the Big Sky Country has to offer. She can be reached at mtcinnamon73@gmail.com