DIVIDE IN CONCORD (Film Screening)

Thursday, April 136:30—8:00 PMGoodwin ForumMain Library129 Main Street, Concord, MA, 01742

Jean Hill

Photo by Gretchen Ertl for The New York Times

In April 2012, Concord residents voted to ban the sale of single-serving plastic water bottles, and the measure went into effect in January 2013.

A recent donation to the William Munroe Special Collections includes a collection of materials that document the life and work of Jean Hill (1927-2017), a Concord resident for 50 years who led Concord's plastic bottle-ban effort. Drawing international attention and inspiring imitators across the country, Jean Hill, a self-proclaimed warrior, inspired by her grandson, who showed her images of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a circulating gyre of plastic the size of Texas, succeeded in 2013 in leading Concord to become the first community in the nation to ban those disposable bottles despite pressure from the International Bottled Water Association and opposition from some residents and merchants.

Jean Hill started the campaign on her own in 2010, and the following year was joined by her neighbor and attorney, Jill Appel, her friend and campaign manager for the ban, and they started an organization called Concord on Tap. Jean presented a bylaw to ban the sale of single-serve plastic bottles at the 2010 and 2011 Town Meetings. Concord approved a ban at Town Meeting in 2010, but the state attorney general's office rejected the measure because of its wording. A rewritten version narrowly failed, defeated by seven votes, at Town Meeting in 2011. However, in April 2012, Concord residents voted to ban the sale of non-sparkling, unflavored, single-serving PET water bottles of one liter or less. The Water Bottle Bylaw went into effect in January 2013. Since then, the Town of Concord has installed several drinking water fountains in Concord's athletic fields, parks, and public spaces. Concord on Tap provides a handy Tap Water Map of the location of Concord's outdoor and indoor drinking fountains, including at the Main Library and Fowler Branch Library!

Jean Hill's campaign inspired Divide in Concord, an award-winning 2014 documentary about Concord's bottle-ban battle. Hill and Appel shared an Environmental Merit Award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency the following year.

Jill Appel will join us on Zoom for a brief discussion following the film screening. 

CFPL CORP LOGO 150th

This event is being co-sponsored by the Concord Free Public Library and the CFPL Corporation's William Munroe Special Collections.

Read about the Library Corporation Sustainability Planning here.

Registration for this event has now closed.