First Wednesdays: Lecture, Cocktail Hour, and Music

Microplastics: The Little Big Problem

Shelly Moore

Plastics are a versatile, affordable, and long-lasting material that enrich our lives every day. They have essential uses in building and construction, transportation and are used in medical devices that save people’s lives. But the single use plastics that we use for convenience such as plastic bags, food containers and packaging, bottles, and caps, end up in our landfills or as unregulated waste. They can take hundreds of years to break down into microplastic and do not biodegrade. Fibers from textiles and synthetic clothes we wear, break down into tiny microplastic pieces. Even the tires from our cars break down into small particles. These microplastics find their way into our oceans and waterways and food web chain where they dominate our marine debris and become increasingly toxic. Learn about plastics in California and how they impact our environment and our health, and how the industry is investing in recycling and new recovery technologies to help reduce our global pollution and waste.

This presentation with Q&A will take place in the Aquarium’s Honda Pacific Visions theater from 7:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. Following the talk, there will be cocktails and other beverages available with music and crafts in the Pacific Visions Art Gallery, where guests can mix and mingle and partake in Paint-a-Fish.