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Trash Trash Revolution:

Moving beyond litter cleanups

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Your Presenter

Angela Scapini

Extension Educator

Michigan Sea Grant/

MSU Extension

scapinia@msu.edu

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ABC Learning -

Activity Before Content

Don’t toss out trash
Sort it first!

Image credit: Ohio Sea Grant

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What is

marine debris?

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Marine debris is any persistent solid manufactured material that can end up – intentionally or unintentionally – in our rivers, lakes, and ocean.

https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/marinedebris.html

Michigan State University Extension | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration | University of Michigan

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Marine debris is any persistent solid manufactured material that can end up – intentionally or unintentionally – in our rivers, lakes, and ocean.

https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/marinedebris.html

Michigan State University Extension | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration | University of Michigan

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Connect back to…

River Runner: Follow the path water takes in the contiguous US

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20% of the world’s surface freshwater

11,000 miles of shoreline

Diverse Ecosystems:

Fish, wildlife, and habitats

+170 fish species!

The Great Lakes

MUCH REMAINS TO BE LEARNED ABOUT THE GREAT LAKES

Approximately 34 million people in the United States and Canada live in the Great Lakes basin — 8 percent of the U.S. population and about 32 percent of Canada’s population.
More than 3,500 species of plants and animals live in the Great Lakes basin, including 170+ species of fish.
Total length of Great Lakes shoreline, including islands: 11,000 miles
World’s supply of surface freshwater in the Great Lakes: 20 percent
Combined surface area of all the Great Lakes: 94,000 square miles (244,000 square kilometers).
The surface area of the Great Lakes is larger than: Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont combined
Gallons of fresh water: 6 quadrillion gallons (22.7 quadrillion liters), enough to submerge the entire continental United States in nearly 10 feet of water

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~10,000 metric tons of plastic enter the Great Lakes each year

~32

metric tons

~5,000

metric tons

~ 600

metric tons

~2,500

metric tons

~1,400

metric tons

1 metric ton = 2,204.62 pounds

https://www.rit.edu/news/researchers-study-plastic-pollution-great-lakes

https://phys.org/news/2019-09-million-pounds-plastics-great-lakes.html

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One study found it would cost $400 million annually to combat marine debris and plastic pollution in the Great Lakes (Driedger et al., 2015).

U.S. Department of Commerce | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration | Regional Collaboration Network

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Landfilling in Michigan

Source: Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy

In 2019, 56 million cubic yards of waste were landfilled in MI - with more waste imported from Canada.

8.5% increase from 2018

Learn more here: https://spark.adobe.com/page/bzYes5X90UTUx/

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In 2019, about 3,037 pounds of waste were landfilled for each Michigan resident.

How much waste do you think you make in a year?

Source: Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy

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The Importance of Collecting Data

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Using Data to Change Local Policy

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Community Science Monitoring Tools

NOAA Marine Debris Monitoring:

www.marinedebris.noaa.gov

Alliance for the Great Lakes Adopt-a-Beach:

www.greatlakesadopt.org

International Coastal Cleanup:

http://www.oceanconservancy.org/our-work/international-coastal-cleanup/

Great Lakes Great Responsibility: http://www.greatlakeslove.org/

Marine Debris Tracker App:

http://marinedebris.engr.uga.edu/

CleanSwell App: https://oceanconservancy.org/clean-swell-faq/#Clean_Swell_FAQ

Litterati Website and App: https://www.litterati.org/

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Trash Information and Data for Education and Solutions

Source for regional data

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Incorporating MATH back in the classroom!

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Don’t Just Toss It Out!

Image credits:

Ohio Sea Grant

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Classroom Connections: Trash Art

In partnership with the Detroit Zoological Society, ArtRoad collaborated with the Alliance for the Great Lakes to collect recyclable materials and debris from the shorelines of Lake Michigan. Using these items, more than 150 elementary school students spent two months creating five fish sculptures, one for each of the five Great Lakes. This effort aims to bring awareness about the effects plastic pollution has on freshwater ecosystems. Read more here.

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Taking

Community Action

Sphere of Influence

Who is the target audience, and what change do you recommend making based on the data and information collected?

School Board and/or Administration
City Council
Other students

What you can influence

Everything Else Out of your control & influence

What you can control

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Linking Your Standards!

Investigative questions	Grade Level Performance Expectations	Disciplinary Core Ideas	Science and Engineering Practices	Cross-cutting concepts
What is trash?	4-ESS3-1 Earth and Human Activity - Obtain and combine information to describe that energy and fuels are derived from natural resources and their uses affect the environment. HS-ESS3-2. Earth and Human Activity - Evaluate competing design solutions for developing, managing, and utilizing energy and mineral resources based on cost-benefit ratios.	ESS3.A Natural resources	1- Asking questions (for science) and defining problems (for engineering) 3- Planning and carrying out investigations 8 - Obtaining, evaluating and communicating information.	1- Patterns 2 - Cause and effect 7 - Stability and change

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This Marine Debris Prevention Best Practices Manual is a comprehensive guide to help establish lasting change on school campuses.

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Image credit: One Cool Earth

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Image credit: One Cool Earth

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Resource: Trash Trunk

Loanable Tote with 14 included lessons and activities that cover marine debris and its impacts

For more information on how to borrow a trash trunk scan the QR code or visit https://bit.ly/TrashTrunk

Developing a community of Great Lakes literate educators, students, scientists, environmental professionals, and community members, dedicated to improved Great Lakes stewardship.

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Resource: Great Lakes Literacy education

exploration (GLLee)

What is a GLLee?

Explore Trash Connections in the Marine Debris GLLee

Driving Question? How does marine debris impact our Great Lakes and animals (including humans) and plants that depend on this freshwater resource?

Learn more and register

www.cgll.org

Digital, asynchronous and FREE short course for educators to support youth engagement
Great Lakes literacy focus

Stewardship and hands-on learning
Career explorations with scientists
Educator community of practice

Developing a community of Great Lakes literate educators, students, scientists, environmental professionals, and community members, dedicated to improved Great Lakes stewardship.