The Story of Plastic Screening (on Your schedule) and Panel Discussion on 7/28

On our panel:

Andy Mele  | Environmentalist Running for FL State Representative                                                                            

Andy is a Vietnam veteran, and has a master’s degree in environmental science, with his thesis in environmental economics and policy.  He is the author of Polluting for Pleasure, the book that led directly to the extinction of twelve million two-cycle outboard motors, ending discharges equivalent to 5 Exxon Valdez oil spills each year into American waterways.  He was Executive Director of Clearwater, the Hudson River environmental group formed by folk singer Pete Seeger in 1966, and won the 30-year battle with General Electric over its massive PCB spill in the Hudson. Until recently, he was ED of Suncoast Waterkeeper, working for protection of coastal ecosystems, to halt phosphate strip mining and untrammeled development in Florida, and to bring red tide back to pre-development levels.  He is currently forming the Peace/Myakka Waterkeeper and is running for the FL statehouse in district 71.

Sadie Chawkins |  STOP                                                                                                                         

Sadie discovered her passion for reducing plastic pollution as a 3-year-old on a trip to the beach, when a wave washed away her plastic shovel. The experience left her wondering (and concerned) about the fate of plastics in the ocean. She attended the 2017 Youth Ocean Conservation Summit at age 11, developing a plastic pollution- related service project. A year later, the project blossomed into her organization, STOP (Stop Toxic Ocean Pollution), which aims to educate the community on the impacts that plastics have on the marine ecosystems, while working with local restaurants and businesses to help reduce their plastic and carbon footprint.

Randy Sleet  | Community Organizer and More                                                                                                     

Randy received his PhD in Fisheries and Wildlife from Oregon State University, Corvallis. His major was comparative toxicology. He also has a MS degree in nutrition from University of Maryland at College Park. He has done physiological and toxicological research with invertebrates, avian and teleost species and appreciates interactions in the environment between the physical and biological domains. For a majority of his post-graduate career, he has held positions in contract research evaluating commodity chemicals for adverse effects on embryo-fetal development of mammals (rats, mice and rabbits) as well as in the pharmaceutical industry. For the last 20 years, his focus has been pre-clinical drug safety profiling drug toxicity before administration in the clinic. Randy has a strong interest in having communities and residents reduce their plastic footprints for events that include food and drink. He is also a strong advocate for recycling, but realizes that recycling is not the answer to an individual’s simple, mindful reduction in plastic use including single use plastics like utensils, cups, table clothes, beverage bottles, plates, etc.Implemented ‘Bring Your Own’ to community events.

Anastasia M. | Founder, CEO at Lean Orb                                                                                               

Lean Orb Co. is a compostable foodservice packaging company. It has been developing and distributing eco-friendly take-out containers, cutlery, cups, plates, and straws since 2018 focusing on both material and design innovation to create products with a minimum environmental impact. Today the team is building compostable packaging products for a variety of hospitality clients along with music venues, schools, and corporate HQs. Besides building physical solutions, their team offers analytics on plastic reduction which helps many corporate clients better understand the impact behind compostable packaging and use the data to communicate the sustainability performance with employees and customers. In 2019, the company eliminated 6.5 million plastic disposables from circulation in the Miami-Dade county. They were named "Top 10 Start-Ups to Watch" by Miami Herald and featured by networks such as NBC6.

Sheila Siegel  | Leaf & Lentil Restaurant                                                                                                                                

Sheila Siegel & Chef Michael Schoening, created Leaf & Lentil, a 100% Vegan, family owned, fast-casual restaurant in Sarasota, FL. They hope to help change the world through awesome tasting vegan food - making it easier for people to choose meals that are better for the planet, better for animals, and better for their health. Changing the world through food also means being mindful about packaging. Leaf & Lentil uses plant-based paper to-go packaging, offers cooler drinks that are in glass or aluminum containers, and works with our vendors (like Vegan Love Ice Cream) to offer their products in non-plastic packaging. Sheila passionately believes that everyone, through individual actions and collective action, can truly make the world a better place.

RSVP & Register at Eventbrite

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-story-of-plastic-screening-on-your-schedule-and-panel-discussion-tickets-113205494682

Attendees will receive a link to stream this film. The link will be delivered to you at the email address you use to RSVP at Eventbrite. We will reconvene at 7pm on July 28th (World Nature Conservation Day) on  Zoom, for a panel/discussion/Q&A session. You will receive a separate link for that Zoom discussion, alongside the streaming link.