Reporters-Only Briefings on Plastic Pollution Summer 2020
Every two weeks. On the record. Just for reporters.
Plastic pollution is an important issue with new information emerging almost weekly. Last summer, Beyond Plastics partnered with Break Free From Plastic to hold our first convening for reporters to brief them on the latest issues related to plastic pollution. We were poised to do it again this summer at Bennington College, but have pivoted to an online format due to the current global health crisis.
Please join us for the following FREE webinars to get the latest information related to plastic pollution. These are on-the-record briefings, only open to reporters. The webinars will be held on Zoom twice per day to allow for time zone variations. Hear from the experts and pose your questions. Pre-registration required (see below).
VIEW PAST REPORTER BRIEFINGS
Plastics Policy in the Age of COVID
Wednesday, July 15, 2020 // 11:00 AM–12:15 PM ET (US) and 9:00–10:15 PM ET (US)
Speakers:
Judith Enck, President, Beyond Plastics and Former EPA Regional Administrator
Dr. Ben Locwin, Epidemiologist / CDC Consultant
Moderators:
Shilpi Chhotray, Global Communications Lead, Break Free From Plastic (11:00 AM ET US)
Von Hernandez, Global Coordinator, Break Free From Plastic (invited) (9:00 PM ET US)
Speaker Bios
Judith Enck is a Senior Fellow and Visiting Faculty member at Bennington College, where she teaches classes on plastic pollution. She is the founder of Beyond Plastics, an initiative that works with community leaders and trains college students to engage on plastic pollution issues through diverse avenues ranging from advocacy and legislative work to research and public engagement. Judith also serves as Senior Advisor at the Center for Climate Integrity. She was a Visiting Scholar at the Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University in the Hudson Valley. Appointed by President Obama, Judith served as the Regional Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency overseeing environmental protection in NY, NJ, eight Indian Nations, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. Working with a staff of 800 and managing a $700 million budget, she secured a number of environmental accomplishments during her tenure at EPA. She also worked on environmental and energy issues related to Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands, serving on the Governor’s Hurricane Recovery and Resiliency Advisory Committee in the US Virgin Islands. Judith previously served as Deputy Secretary for the Environment in the New York Governor’s Office and served as a Policy Advisor to the New York State Attorney General. Prior to that, she was Senior Environmental Associate with the New York Public Interest Research Group. She also served as the Executive Director of Environmental Advocates of New York. She is a past President of Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, former Executive Director of the Non-Profit Resource Center, and a designer of her town’s rural recycling program. She is a commentator on WAMC, a National Public Radio station and a panelist on the “Roundtable,” a public affairs radio show. Judith serves on the Advisory Board of Climate Action Now, The Institute for Health and the Environment at the Albany School of Public Health and Sustainable Westchester. She is active with the Hoosick Falls Support Network, working to bring clean drinking water to a region impacted by toxic contamination.
Dr. Ben Locwin is a healthcare executive bringing new and innovative medical treatments (drug therapies, vaccines, and medical devices) to patient populations with unmet needs across a variety of indications and health conditions. He has also been involved in improving clinical care for better patient outcomes. Amid his work during the outset of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, he has been deeply involved in the epidemiological modeling, as well as public health planning via various Task Forces, and created early recommendations for face coverings, and other preventive protocols. He has also been involved in assessing current COVID-19 drug therapies and vaccine candidates, which will help put an end to continued population transmission.Ben has been concerned about the global morbidity associated with increased levels of pollution stemming from public panic, and the drive toward disposables. Dr. Locwin has observed, “We can’t mortgage our future for the current pandemic. Because we will have future pandemics, and the lessons we learn now will help us infrastructurally to be better-prepared so that we don’t re-commit these widespread ‘errors of thinking.’”
Tiny Pieces, Big Problem: Microplastics In Our Air, Our Water, and Us
Wednesday, July 29, 2020 // 11:00 AM–12:15 PM ET (US) and 9:00–10:15 PM ET (US)
Speakers:
Dr. Scott Coffin, Research Scientist, State Water Resources Control Board, California EPA
Dr. Janice Brahney, Professor of Watershed Sciences and Director of the Environmental Biogeochemistry and Paleolimnology Lab, Utah State University
Moderator: Judith Enck, President, Beyond Plastics and Former EPA Regional Administrator
SPEAKER BIOS
Dr. Janice Brahney received her doctorate from the University of Colorado, Boulder from the Department of Geological Sciences. Her doctorate examined the potential for dust to transport nutrients and base-cations to freshwater ecosystems. During her MSc she spent time at both Simon Fraser University and the University of Waterloo where she examined climate impacts on watershed hydrology and lake level fluctuations. Janice also holds a BSc in Environmental Science with a minor in Geology from Simon Fraser University. Most recently, Janice was a post-doctoral scientist at the University of British Columbia, Okanagan, where she led projects on the water quality and quantity issues in the Canadian Columbia Basin.
Dr. Scott Coffin serves as the technical lead for California’s efforts regarding microplastics in drinking water in the State Water Resource Control Board. Scott completed his Ph.D. in Environmental Toxicology in 2018 at the University of California, Riverside, in which his research focused on plastic as a vector for endocrine-disrupting chemicals to marine and estuarine biota. Scott’s research has focused on endocrine-disrupting chemicals in water and their interactions with humans and the ecosystem.
The Dirty Business of Making Plastics: Impacts on Frontline Communities, Environmental Justice and Climate Change
Wednesday, August 12, 2020 // 11:00 AM–12:15 PM ET (US) and 9:00–10:15 PM ET (US)
Speakers:
Sharon Lavigne, Founder and President, RISE, St. James Parish, Louisiana
Lauren Packard, Staff Attorney, Center for Biological Diversity
Dr. Neil Tangri, Science and Policy Director, GAIA (Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives)
Moderator: Shilpi Chhotray, Global Communications Lead, Break Free From Plastic
SPEAKER BIOS
Sharon Lavigne is the founder and organizer of Rise St. James. Sharon is a recently retired special-ed teacher born and raised in St. James Parish and a staunch advocate for her community that sits in what’s been dubbed as “Cancer Alley” although she prefers to call it “Death Row” since residents are trapped in their homes. Sharon founded Rise St. James, a local community organization, to stop the $9.4 billion petrochemical complex proposed by a Taiwanese company, Formosa Petrochemical Corporation, what many believe to be the largest proposed industrial facility yet.
Lauren Packard is a Staff Attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity where she works with the Climate Law Institute to keep oil and gas in the ground and promote sustainable energy. Prior to joining the Center, she was a legal fellow in the California Attorney General’s Office, where she helped represent state agencies that administer public lands. She earned her law degree from Columbia Law School and her bachelor’s from Harvard University.
Dr. Neil Tangri is GAIA’s Science and Policy Director. A founding member of GAIA, Neil has worked on international environmental policy, climate and development finance, and provided technical support to GAIA members. Neil has a captain’s license from the U.S. Coast Guard and a PhD from Stanford University.
There Is No Away: Plastics End of Life Issues and the International Waste Trade
Wednesday, August 26, 2020 // 11:00 AM–12:30 PM ET (US) and 9:00–10:30 PM ET (US)
View Recording >>
Speakers:
Mageswari Sangaralingam, Research Officer, Friends of the Earth, Malaysia
Prigi Arisandi, Executive Director, ECOTON, Indonesia
Magdalena Donoso, GAIA Latin American Coordinator/BFFP Node
Martin Bourque, Executive Director, Ecology Center, Berkeley, CA USA
Moderators:
Shilpi Chhotray, Global Communications Lead, Break Free From Plastic (11:00 AM ET US)
Von Hernandez, Global Coordinator, Break Free From Plastic (invited) (9:00 PM ET US)
SPEAKER BIOS
Mageswari Sangaralingam has a Masters degree in Environmental Management and a BSc in Human Development. She oversees projects promoting sustainable agriculture, sustainable fisheries, natural resource management, zero waste, minimization of exposure to toxic chemicals, and ensuring environmental health and justice. In the past few years, her work has focused on campaigning to ban single-use plastic products, packaging, microbeads and toxic additives that undermind safe recycling; documenting the plastic waste trade and recycling industry in Malaysia; assisting local communities affected by pollution from the dumping, burning and illegal recycling of plastic waste. She’s also advocated for relevant authorities to restrict plastic waste imports and close down illegal and polluting plastic waste recycling plants and lobbied to help stop the dumping plastic waste at Basel COP14 in May 2019. Mageswari has contributed to international publications including Discarded: Communities on the Frontlines of the Global Plastic Crisis (https://wastetradestories.org/).
Prigi Arisandi is an Indonesian biologist and environmentalist. He graduated in biology from the Airlangga University. He was awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize in 2011 for his efforts to reduce industrial pollution of the Surabaya River that he grew up near. With a deep commitment to the communities living along the river, he founded Ecological Observation and Wetlands Conservation (Ecoton) while still at university. Prigi created the first experiential environmental education program in the region, educating the public through river tours that bring children and local residents closer to the river’s rich biodiversity and devastating pollution. His River Detection Program, now in more than 50 schools, teaches children how to monitor the river’s water quality and report their findings to the government. Ecoton has also developed a national school network for river protection that promotes student participation in water quality monitoring and is partnering with the East Java Provincial Education Agency to introduce environmental curricula in schools across the province.
Magdalena Donoso is the focal point for the Break Free From Plastic movement in Latin America based in Concepcion, Chile. She is also the Regional Coordinator for GAIA. Magdalena has worked on waste issues and just transition for waste pickers in the region for 14 years, focusing on building and strengthening organizations, grassroots and waste pickers´ networks in the region in order to stop false solutions such as incineration and promote zero waste systems at the local and national levels.
Martin Bourque is a renowned environmental expert who has led the Berkeley Ecology Center since 2000. Under Martin’s leadership the Ecology Center operates the Nation’s first and longest-running curbside recycling program and pioneers Zero Waste policy solutions at the local level that have national and international implications. Martin has spearheaded innovative efforts such as the Berkeley Food Policy Council, the Berkeley Climate Action Coalition, California Alliance of Farmers’ Markets, Market Match (electronic food stamp access and incentives at farmers’ markets), and the nation’s first Soda Tax. Martin connects the local with the global and has advised on public policy at the local, state, and national levels and is engaged with international partners fighting plastic pollution across the globe. Martin pioneered GPS tracking of scrap plastic exports and has been part of international policy processes including the Basel Convention on Waste Trade. By linking local grassroots grit with highly competent program implementation, and effective policy advocacy, Martin has led the Ecology Center to become a high impact engine for change. Martin is a co-founder and spokesperson for the Alliance of Mission Based Recyclers (AMBR) and has been featured in numerous films and documentaries including Bag It, The Story of Plastic, and the Netflix Series Broken: Recycling Sham. He is a trusted source for news agencies from the Los Angeles Times and the Sacramento Bee to the New York Times and The Guardian.