Marine Debris Program Participates in Scripps-Rady Ocean Plastic Pollution Challenge
February 1, 2021 — On January 15th, the Scripps-Rady Ocean Plastic Pollution Challenge kicked off its 6-month accelerator program focused on identifying effective, evidence-based approaches to curb the flow of plastic into the California Coast.
The Scripps-Rady Ocean Plastic Pollution Challenge is a partnership between the Center for Marine Biodiversity and Conservation, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and the Center for Social Innovation and Impact at the Rady School of Management, UC San Diego. The Marine Debris Program’s California Sea Grant Extension Fellow, Tanya Torres, is one of the 29 individuals worldwide to be accepted into the challenge, where participants will engage in a series of virtual short courses, team-based research, and a final two-day challenge to pitch solutions.
In addition, the Marine Debris Program’s California Regional Coordinator, Sherry Lippiatt, was an invited panelist at last week’s inaugural course and presented an overview of California’s plastic pollution problem as well as the current NOAA-funded projects aimed at addressing those issues. Tanya and Sherry are excited to be a part of a program that is bringing together multidisciplinary expertise and a systems perspective on the plastic pollution problem to spark innovative ideas and strategies.
For more information, please contact Tanya.Torres@noaa.gov.