The Faculty of Marine Sciences (FCM) of the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ULPGC) joined the celebration of World Ocean’s Day, organizing the Informative Day: “For a Plastic Free Faculty” last Friday, June 7th.
A number of associations and initiatives participated in the Informative Day sharing a common concern: the environmental threat posed by single-use plastics. As such, several actions and initiatives were presented with the aim of raising awareness and unveiling local alternatives for change.
The Microtrophic and MARCET projects, both developed by ULPGC research groups that work with on microplastic research, were also presented as part of the day. On the latter, the work carried out by the research group in Technologies, Management and Environmental Biogeochemistry was briefly explained, in collaboration with the Institute of Animal Health and Food Safety (IUSA), and other entities in the Macaronesian Region, such as the Museu da Baleia and SailingLivingLab.
Photographs of Ethel Bartrán (“Vigilia to the Ocean”) and Carlos Reyes and Teo Lucas were exhibited in the entrance hall of the faculty. In addition, the children’s book “Si lo peces hablaran” by Sandra Santa Cruz, as well as the project “Conscious Diving”, from the Buceo Norte Diving Centre, were presented.
The documentary ‘Hondar 2050: Our Waste, Our Problem‘, an independent medium film of the director Cesare Maglioni on marine litter on the Basque coast was presented by the NGO Muévete por el Clima. After the screening, a series of brief “anti-plastic pollution” initiatives were presented, all of them based in the Canary Islands. The action through activism was presented by the NGO Ecologistas en Acción, and some alternatives to single-use plastic were proposed by Oceanográfica and Latitud Azul. Finally, plastic cleaning and recovery actions, were presented by the Canary Islands platforms Canarias Libre de Plásticos and Precious Plastic Canarias.
Thanks to the support of the Vicecouncil of the Environment of the Government of the Canary Islands and the University’s Sustainability Office, reusable bottles were delivered to everyone of the attendees, who enjoyed a vegan snack prepared with local and plastic-free products, by Vegamundo.
(*) More information and photographs are provided on the website of the Marine Sciences Faculty and its album on Flickr.