Confronting Plastic Marine Debris Science & Collaboration as the Foundation for Action GEORGE H....

Confronting Plastic Marine DebrisScience & Collaboration as the Foundation for Action

GEORGE H. LEONARD, PHDWPA – June 19, 2014

OUR BLUE PLANET

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OUR OCEAN HEALTH EQUATION

PUTTING TOO MUCH IN: MARINE DEBRIS

A PREVENTABLE PROBLEM

OCEAN POLLUTION PERSISTS 4.5 cigarette butts/person

4.5 cigarette butts/person

PACKAGING IN THE OCEAN

A SHARED RESPONSIBILITY

8 Brands account for 50% of identifiable bottle caps

N = 561

Plastic beverage bottle caps from 6 remote Alaska beaches

PLASTICS SHOULDN’T BE IN THE OCEAN

WE MUST CONFRONT THIS CHALLENGE

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Koelmans et al., 2013

Scientific Inquiry Plastics Production

SCIENCE: BUILDING THE FOUNDATION

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• How much enters?

• Where does it go?

• What are the impacts?

National Center for Ecological Analysis and SynthesisUniversity of California, Santa Barbara

THE FRONTIER: PLASTICS TOXICITY

Rochman, 2013

TRASH FREE SEAS ALLIANCE

HARNESS MOMENTUM: CATALYZE ACTION

Workstreams

1. Bottle Caps: Material Flow and Redesign

2. Accelerate the Science

3. Island Intervention

HOLISTIC APPROACH: TRASH FREE SEAS

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ALL HANDS ON DECK

George H. Leonard, PhDgleonard@oceanconservancy.org

@GeorgeHLeonard

Ocean trash is not an ocean problem.

It’s a people problem.

That means WE are the solution.