Join Us for a Free Screening of Plastic People: the Hidden Crisis of Microplastics
What: A free screening of the eye-opening and inspiring new documentary, Plastic People: the Hidden Crisis of Microplastics
When: Tuesday, September 17th at 6:30pm
Where: Upstate Films’ Starr Cinema at 6415 Montgomery Street, Rhinebeck (map)
With: Megan Wolff, PhD, MPH, Health Policy Director, Beyond Plastics; Shannon Roback, PhD, Science Director, Riverkeeper; and Jon Bowermaster, Filmmaker, Oceans8Films
Register: RSVP now to secure your free ticket.
Sponsored by: Upstate Films, Beyond Plastics, Riverkeeper, Third Act Upstate NY, Bard Graduate Programs in Sustainability, and Sustainable Hudson Valley
ABOUT THE FILM
The ground-breaking feature documentary Plastic People investigates our addiction to plastic and the growing threat of microplastics on human health. Almost every bit of plastic ever made breaks down into “microplastics.” These microscopic particles drift in the air, float in all bodies of water, and mix into the soil, becoming a permanent part of the environment.
Now, leading scientists are finding these particles in our bodies: organs, blood, brain tissue, and even the placentas of new mothers. What is the impact of these invisible invaders on our health? And can anything be done about it?
Acclaimed author and science journalist, Ziya Tong takes a personal approach by visiting leading scientists around the world and undergoing experiments in her home, on her food, and her body while collaborating with award-winning director Ben Addelman (Discordia, Bombay Calling, Nollywood Babylon, Kivalina v. Exxon) in an urgent call to action for all of us to rethink our relationship with plastic.
ABOUT THE EXPERT SPEAKERS
Megan Wolff, PhD MPH
Megan Wolff, PhD MPH, Health Policy Director, Beyond Plastics
Wolff is a medical historian by training, and enjoys digging at the historical roots of issues to explain how problems developed and look for policy solutions. Her decision to focus on environmental policy came from a growing sense that the most pressing public health threat we now face is climate change, a feeling increasingly shared by health practitioners. At Beyond Plastics, she trains volunteers to engage with policymakers and other audiences to take decisive action against plastic pollution. She served on the Minderoo-Monaco Commission on Plastics and Human Health, compiling a major report to demonstrate the health impacts of plastics, and teaches a course on the subject at Bennington College.
Shannon Roback, PhD
Shannon Roback, PhD, Science Director, Riverkeeper
Prior to joining Riverkeeper, Roback was the Associate Director of the Water UCI Center at University of California, Irvine and Environmental Health Science Faculty at California State University, Dominguez Hills. Her academic work is focused on characterizing sources of pollution, determining environmental health effects, and developing remediation strategies for a variety of water contaminants, particularly contaminants of emerging concern. When she is not studying water systems, she likes swimming in them. She is a surfer and paddle-boarder and is passionate about protecting our waterways to ensure that they are safe and healthy for recreation, for the many species that inhabit them and as a source of drinking water. Roback has M.S. and PhD. degrees in Environmental Health Science and Environmental Science and Engineering from University of California, Los Angeles and teaches in the Citizen Science Program at Bard College.
Jon Bowermaster
Jon Bowermaster, Filmmaker, Oceans8Films
Jon Bowermaster is a writer, filmmaker, adventurer, and six-time grantee of the National Geographic Society's Expeditions Council. One of the Society’s ‘Ocean Heroes,’ his first assignment for National Geographic was documenting a 3,741-mile crossing of Antarctica by dogsled. Bowermaster has written 11 books and produced/directed more than 30 documentary films, including several about the Hudson Valley, where he lives. He is the executive producer of Oceans 8 Films and president of One Ocean Media Foundation, chairman of the advisory board of Adventurers and Scientists for Conservation, and a board member of Mark Ruffalo’s Water Defense.