Captain Charles Moore, founder of the Algalita marine research foundation, will be giving a free guest lecture at the University of Puget Sound on March 3rd.
Widely known as the man who discovered the "Great Pacific Garbage Patch" in a routine sea voyage in 1997, Moore has since dedicated his life to trying to stop the flow of plastic trash into the world's oceans. His discovery and subsequent groundbreaking research has spawned international advocacy and awareness of marine plastic pollution.
His most recent edition of Plastic Ocean (which he will have available to purchase at the presentation) was released 2011 to chronicle his experience and discoveries with important information on how plastic, society, and the oceans interact.
You can learn more about the current extent of marine plastic pollution by attending his presentation at 5:30 pm at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington.
University of Puget Sound's website provides additional information, including directions and the specific location here. Here is an excerpt explaining what will be covered:
My presentation will be “A Month in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch” –the 2014 voyage was my tenth and longest research voyage aboard Oceanographic Research Vessel Alguita. We discovered an island of plastic that I walked on and I will show video of my tour of the island. We also took blood from various fish species to determine the effects of living in a plasticized habitat. I will discuss the difference between samples of plastic and plankton taken at the surface and at 10 meters depth. I will also discuss the use we made of drones to survey the tremendous increase in plastic in the garbage patch.
