Contact: 

Nate Drag, NYSG Great Lakes Literacy Specialist, E: nwd4@cornell.edu, P: 716-645-3610

Buffalo, NY, August 30, 2022 - New York Sea Grant has published “Plastic Pollution and You,” a 126-page, 15-lesson curriculum focused on a human-induced threat to the health of New York’s marine and freshwater aquatic ecosystems. The curriculum is designed to be appropriate for multiple grade levels, meets New York State and Next Generation Learning Standards, and aligns with state and federal marine debris program initiatives in New York’s Great Lakes and marine districts.

The “Plastic Pollution and You” lessons and activities urge students to think about what plastic is, how they use plastic, and about the consequences of plastic pollution in the environment. They learn the different types of plastics, their impact on marine and freshwater ecosystems, and about the recycling process and trash capture technology.

Skills developed through the curriculum lessons include data collection, charting, mapping, position statement preparation, and the design of technological solutions, behavior change campaigns, public policy, and community-level action to address the plastic pollution problem.

The curriculum is co-authored by Nate Drag, New York Sea Grant Great Lakes Literacy Specialist and Great Lakes Program Associate Director at the University at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York, and Kathleen Fallon, Ph.D., a Coastal Processes and Hazards Specialist with New York Sea Grant, Stony Brook, New York.

For more information, please visit www.nyseagrant.org/plasticpollution.

If you would like access to the NY Sea Grant educational resources, go to www.nyseagrant.org/gleee or www.nyseagrant.org/cyeducation. There's also a direct link to "Great Lakes Curriculum".

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More Info: New York Sea Grant

New York Sea Grant (NYSG), a cooperative program of Cornell University and the State University of New York (SUNY), is one of 34 university-based programs under the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Sea Grant College Program.

Since 1971, NYSG has represented a statewide network of integrated research, education and extension services promoting coastal community economic vitality, environmental sustainability and citizen awareness and understanding about the State’s marine and Great Lakes resources.

Through NYSG’s efforts, the combined talents of university scientists and extension specialists help develop and transfer science-based information to many coastal user groups—businesses and industries, federal, state and local government decision-makers and agency managers, educators, the media and the interested public.

The program maintains Great Lakes offices at Cornell University, SUNY Buffalo, SUNY Oswego and the Wayne County Cooperative Extension office in Newark. In the State's marine waters, NYSG has offices at Stony Brook University in Long Island, Brooklyn College and Cornell Cooperative Extension in NYC and Kingston in the Hudson Valley.

For updates on Sea Grant activities: www.nyseagrant.org has RSS, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube links. NYSG offers a free e-list sign up via www.nyseagrant.org/nycoastlines for its flagship publication, NY Coastlines/Currents, which is published quarterly.