California Plastic Crisis Conference Series: Impacts and Solutions at Home and Beyond

Join us for this 5-part conference series, hosted by the Newkirk Center for Science and Society and the University of California, Irvine (UCI), that will engage the community in a discussion about the scope of the plastic problem, the impact of plastic pollution in California and beyond, as well as plastic alternatives, and policy solutions.

Conference Series Themes

Participants will learn about:

Plastic Impacts and Solutions: An overview of the plastic pollution problem and impact on coastal ocean ecosystems, waterways, and public health.
Plastic Health and Community Impacts, at Home and Abroad: Impacts of plastics on front-line communities in California and how California’s actions affect the global community.
California Plastic Legislation: The landscape of current and newly introduced California legislation on plastic pollution, specifically plastic waste, recycling and reuse, and reducing plastic.
Debunking Common Myths and Best Solutions: Debunk common myths and present environmental justice, community-based and regional solutions, best practices, plastic alternatives, and case studies.

Conference Series Details

The conference series will be held throughout the month of May.

We will kick off the series with a special viewing of the film, The Story of Plastic, and a Q&A with Michael O’Heaney, Executive Director of the Story of Stuff, on April 29^th at 7pm PST.

Every Thursday in May from 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm we will host a virtual panel presentation and discussion on a topic related to plastic pollution.

May 6th: Plastic Impacts and Solutions
May 13th: Plastic Health Impacts
May 20th: Community Impacts, at Home and Abroad
May 27th: Debunking Common Myths and Best Solutions

On Thursday, May 27th there will be a 30 minute “mingle” session after the conference that is open to all speakers and attendees to have an informal discussion on topics covered throughout the conference series.

Conference Series Agenda

Download Agenda

April 29th, The Story of Plastic, Q&A

^{April 29th}

7:00pm – 7:30pm PST

The Story of Plastic, Q&A

- Michael O’Heaney, Executive Director, The Story of Stuff

May 6th, Plastic Impacts and Solutions

May 6^th

12:00pm – 1:00pm PST

Plastic Impacts and Solutions

Topic 1: The Plastic Problem: Higher level overview of plastic pollution and the threat it poses to human and ecological health.

- Joleah Lamb, Assistant Professor, University of California, Irvine

Topic 2: Microplastics and Other Forms of Plastic Waste: In depth look at microplastics, what it is, threats it poses, current impacts, and other forms of waste that plastic can take.

- Tom Dempsey, Oceans Program Director, The Nature Conservancy

Topic 3: Environmental Justice and Plastic Pollution: How and why plastic pollution disproportionately impacts communities in California and beyond. Steps to solve this problem.

- Carrol Muffet, President, Center forInternational Environmental Law

Topic 4: Approaches to Solve the Problem: A high-level view of various solutions to reduce or eliminate plastic pollution.

- Dianna Cohen, Co-Founder & CEO, Plastic Pollution Coalition

May 13th, Plastic Health Impacts

May 13^th

12:00pm – 1:00pm PST

Plastic Health Impacts

Topic 1: Plastics and Human Health Impacts: How plastic poses a threat to human health.

- Pete Myers, Founder and Chief Scientist, Environmental Health Sciences

Topic 2: The Plastic Food Chain: How plastic ends up in our food and our bodies.

- Anna-Marie Cook, Senior Engineer USEPA – Retired, Co-founder Kamilo, Inc

Topic 3: Policy Solutions in California: Review current legislation that is related to plastic impacts on human health.

- Angela Howe, Legal Director, Surfrider

May 20th, Community Impacts, at Home and Abroad

May 20^th

12:00pm – 1:00pm PST

Community Impacts, at Home and Abroad

Topic 1: Where Does Our Plastic Waste Go?: Science-based overview of what happens to our plastic when we dispose of it or recycle it. Where plastic waste eventually ends up in California and globally.

- Jenna Jambeck, Distinguished Professor in Environmental Engineering, University of Gerogia

Topic 2: Impact to Communities at Home and Beyond: Focus on how plastic waste impacts front-line communities in California. Focus on environmental justice and impact to DACs. How our plastic waste impacts the global community. Exported plastic waste sent to other countries and its impact there.

- Martha Dina Arguello, Executive Director, Physicians for Social Responsibility Los Angeles
- Von Hernandez, Global Coordinator, Break Free From Plastics

Topic 3: Community Scale Solutions: What communities are doing to reduce plastic waste, case studies.

Topic 4: Policy Solutions in California: Overview of proposed legislation in California.

- Ben Allen, California Senator, District 26

May 27th, Debunking Common Myths and Best Solutions

May 27^th

12:00pm – 1:00pm PST

Debunking Common Myths and Best Solutions

Topic 1: Common Myths about Plastic Pollution: An overview of common myths about recycling, bioplastics, packaging, chemical recycling, etc.

- Jacqueline Savitz, Chief Policy Officer in North America, Oceana

Topic 2: Plastic Solutions: Plastic Alternatives: Innovative solutions for recycling, reuse and alternative forms for plastic reduction.

- Daniella Russo, Founder and CEO, Think Beyond Plastic

Topic 3: Plastic Solutions: Stopping it at the Source: Innovative solutions for reducing plastic pollution at the source.

- Matt Prindiville, CEO and Chief Solutioneer, Upstream

Topic 4: Advancing Plastic Solutions in California: Present California Ocean Protection Council’s strategic priorities and solutions

- Holly Wyer, Marine Pollution Program Manager, Ocean Protection Council

California Plastic Crisis Conference Series: Impacts and Solutions at Home and Beyond

The Story of Plastic Q&A, April 29th

Plastic Impacts and Solutions Panel Session, May 6th

Plastic Health Impacts Panel Session, May 13th

Community Impacts, at Home and Abroad, May 20th

Debunking Common Myths and Best Solutions, May 27th

Conference Series Themes

Conference Series Details

Conference Series Agenda

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