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Course Description

Summary

This class will provide the latest scientific, economic and policy information to students and marry that information to public action strategies that each student will be expected to lead. With guidance from the faculty, students develop and then implement their strategy for public action. Special attention will be paid to strategies that can be replicated. With over 8 million tons of plastic pollution entering oceans each year, we can’t recycle our way out of this growing problem. There has not been a comprehensive response from national or state governments, worldwide, but there is growing interest in addressing this problem from local governments, from a handful of businesses and from a spattering of entrepreneurs that are embracing innovation. Fierce opposition from the chemical and fossil fuel industries present formidable obstacles to environmental protection initiatives. There are parallels to how the anti-tobacco issue emerged in the 1980 and 1990’s. Absent state or federal leadership, change started to take place at the local level, with essential support from the medical community. Students will examine how that policy change took place, while formulating a new set of strategies to tackle plastic pollution.