Did you miss our Plastic Free July 2020 webinars, co-hosted by the Two Oceans Aquarium and Two Oceans Aquarium Foundation? If so, you can catch up here!
Each year, Plastic Free July is celebrated across the world. The month-long campaign aims to raise awareness about single-use plastic and its impact on the environment. The premise of the campaign is to encourage people to make a commitment to forego at least one item of single-use plastics for the entire month, specifically the Big Four: plastic shopping bags, straws, plastic bottles and coffee cups.
The Two Oceans Aquarium has been an active participant in Plastic Free July for a number of years. With this year’s challenges of not being able to “get out” and actively promote the campaign, the Aquarium, along with the Two Oceans Aquarium Foundation, presented four webinars. The webinar themes were: Inspire to Protect, Our Ocean Impact, The Story of Plastic and Towards New Solutions. Each hour-long webinar hosted two or more speakers who are all passionate about the environment and are campaigning and working within the “plastic pollution and the environment” framework. These speakers included Hayley McLellan, Environmentalist for the Two Oceans Aquarium Foundation and the Founder of the Rethink the Bag campaign; Aaniyah Omardien from the Beach Co-op; Jackie May of Twyg; 15-year old Jade Bothma, the Founder of Oceano Reddentes, and Cameron Service, CEO of the Litterboom Project, to name but a few.
The webinars addressed the problems associated with plastic pollution in the environment, looked as possible solutions, and provided inspiration for all who attended to continue the good work that is already being done, but also provided drive for new projects going forward.
If you missed any of the webinars, you can catch up by re-watching the recordings below.
Webinar 1: Inspired to protect
This was the opening webinar that took place on 2 July 2020 featuring Maryke Musson, CEO, and Hayley McLellan, Environmentalist, of the Two Oceans Aquarium Foundation, who provided an inspiring look at why the oceans need our help, right now.
Webinar 2: Our ocean impact
The second webinar in this series featured Two Oceans Aquarium aquarist Ayrton King, and Two Oceans Aquarium Foundation team members Talitha Noble and Brett Glasby in a deeper look into the effects that plastic pollution is having on marine wildlife, particularly in the context of the seals, seabirds and turtle that they work with.
Webinar 3: The Story of Plastic
Local heroes Aaniyah Omardien, Founder and Director of The Beach Co-op, and Jackie May, Founder and Editor of Twyg, will facilitate a discussion on the film The Story of Plastic which premiered on Earth Day this year. They will be joined by guests Hayley McLellan, Environmentalist for the Two Oceans Aquarium Foundation, and 15-year old Jade Bothma, Founder of Oceano Reddentes.
Webinar 4: Towards new solutions
Finally, we ended Plastic Free July 2020 on a high note featuring some exciting innovations and solutions happening right now in Cape Town. Guests include Cameron Service, CEO of the Litterboom Project, Jackie May of Twyg, Aaniyah Omardien of The Beach Co-op, and Pavs Pillay/Lorren de Kock from WWF-SA.
