Microplastics are Everywhere

Sarah Dudas

We live in a world of plastic. From the clothes we wear, the electronics we use to the food we buy, our lives our surrounded by, and depend on, plastic products. Over time, all of these plastic products break down into smaller and smaller pieces to become ‘microplastics,’ or plastics smaller than five millimeters. As we study microplastics, we are learning that they are everywhere – in the air we breathe, the water we drink and the food we eat. In this talk, Dudas will lead us through a day of plastic use, how and where we use and generate microplastics, and what we can do about it. Sarah Dudas is a biologist at Fisheries and Oceans Canada, a biology professor at Vancouver Island University and an adjunct assistant professor at the University of Victoria. For the last seven years she has led the Ecological Interactions Research Program, working with federal and provincial governments, industry and non-profit organizations to study the effects of human activities on coastal ecosystems. Her research includes investigating marine biodiversity across regional and local scales and the effects of historical and contemporary shellfish farming practices on surrounding ecological communities. Recently, she has focused on the issue of microplastics and their presence in the marine environment and our seafood. Dudas’s professional affiliations include the Hakai Institute, Canadian Society of Ecology and Evolution and the Aquaculture Association of Canada. She is also a member of the United Nations-led Joint Group of Experts on the Scientific Aspects of Marine Environmental Protection microplastics working group. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community.

Removing Microplastics from Waters - Challenge Accepted

Katrin Schuhen

Dr. Katrin Schuhen stands with her team at Wasser 3.0 (www.wasserdreinull.com) for a completely new approach to remove micropollutants sustainably from our water. Waters contaminated with micropollutants are highly complex systems. Wasser 3.0 meets them with a maximum of interdisciplinary expertise, innovation and idealism. As part of research projects, marketable solutions have been developed since 2012 to eliminate microplastics, pharmaceuticals, industrial chemicals, heavy metals, pesticides, hormones, X-ray contrast media and other pollutants. The methods made by Wasser 3.0 can be flexibly applied wherever micropollutants contaminate the water. The solutions are cost-effective, sustainable and the result of the overriding concern: improving water quality and protecting the ecosystem worldwide. Since July 2019, the team of Wasser 3.0 have been successfully operating the first pilot plant at a wastewater treatment plant in Germany, which is able to remove microplastics from urban wastewater. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community.

Microplastics: Knowns, Unknowns, and Actions 

Sheila Hemami

Plastic in the ocean is increasingly in the public eye, and often conjures thoughts of “The Great Pacific Garbage Patch.” But floating, large pieces of plastic in the North Pacific Gyre are only a small fraction of the much broader problem of plastic pollution in the environment. Importantly, becoming microplastic is the ultimate fate for nearly all plastic that escapes the solid waste management pipeline – and we can’t even see it. This talk describes the origin of microplastic, its pathways into the world’s oceans, and effective (and ineffective) ways to mitigate this type of pollution. It provides a framework by which we can start to understand and act to impact this environmental challenge. Dr. Sheila Hemami is the Director of Strategic Technical Opportunities and joined Draper to launch its Global Challenges initiative in 2016—applying Draper’s capabilities and expertise to challenges for humankind and the planet. She has built Draper’s Global Challenges program through the strategic selection of projects, partners and funders to design solution-oriented programs for impact, deployability and sustainability. Current projects in her environment and conservation-oriented portfolio span a broad range of cross-sector partners and include coral conservation, microplastic measurement, and counting hippos from space. Sheila’s experience in developing interdisciplinary teams for impact was gained in her roles as a professor of electrical and computer engineering and academic leader at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., and more recently as Chair of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Northeastern University, Boston. She has also served in various leadership roles for the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the world’s largest technical professional organization. She is an alumna of the University of Michigan and Stanford University. In her spare time, she enjoys spending as much time as possible outside in all seasons with her beagle Sam. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community.