Marine Researchers Discuss Plastic Debris in Our Oceans, its Health Risks, and Possible Solutions for its Clean-up
MEDIA ADVISORY/LISTINGS EDITORS
Marine Researchers Discuss Plastic Debris in Our Oceans, its Health Risks, and Possible Solutions for its Clean-up
New York University’s Sustainability Task Force and NYU’s Earth Maters! Club are sponsoring a lecture presentation of “Junk: A Plastic Odyssey” on Tuesday, October 21, 2008, at 5pm in Kimmel Center for Student Life, (60 Washington Square South) room 804. Join Dr. Marcus Eriksen and Anna Cummins of the Algalita Marine Research Foundation as they discuss the impact disposable plastics have had on our world’s oceans, the health risks to marine life and humans, and solutions for its clean-up.
The event is free and open to the public.
Seats are limited-RSVP to: http://www.nyu.edu/rsvp/event.php?e_id=1103
- WHAT: “Junk: A Plastic Odyssey”
- WHEN & WHERE: Tuesday, October 21, 2008, at 5pm in Kimmel Center for Student Life, Room 804,60 Washington Square South, NYC
Marine researchers estimate that in the North Pacific Gyre, north of Hawaii, there is now more plastic, by weight, than plankton. The Gyre, a huge region of circling currents, which concentrate the “plastic soup” of floating debris, is nearly twice the size of the United States, thousands of miles from land. Eriksen and Cummins have been gathering evidence of this problem on a research expedition aboard the Junk, a raft built from plastic bottles.
“No Impact Man” Colin Beavan will introduce the speakers.
For more information, visit: http://www.algalita.org or http://junkraft.blogspot.com
NYU’s Sustainability Task Force is an advisory body composed of students, faculty, administrators, and staff, who develop recommendations for new policies and practices that advance NYU’s long-term future as a sustainable university. For more information on the Sustainability Task Force, go to http://www.nyu.edu/sustainability