Seaweed Stories for a More Sustainable Future (Film screening and Panel)

When: April 9, 5pm-6:30pm

Where: CU Boulder, CASE Building

As the ocean faces the triple threat of plastic pollution, biodiversity loss, and climate change, many are turning to the power of seaweed to help solve these challenges. Seaweed Stories is a short film including insights from a Silicon Valley startup creating plastic alternatives from macro-algae, to the Indigenous Shinnecock Kelp Farmers using seaweed to prove their sovereign right to coastal land, and a scientist in South Korea supporting seaweeds’ sexual reproduction to create new species that can withstand the effects of a changing climate. We will discuss what students can do on our campus and what community can do in our backyard, as well as critically think about proposed solutions and our planetary imagination for a more sustainable future.

Seaweed Stories is a 30-minute film featuring the wonders of seaweed, and some of the extraordinary stories and unique characters whose lives have been entangled by this too often overlooked marine plant that may hold answers to some of humanity’s biggest challenges. The panel afterwards will prompt a discussion about science, storytelling, and marine life—as well as our hopes and fears for a more sustainable future. Emy Kane (CU Boulder ‘13 and Executive Director of the NGO Lonely Whale) will be joined by Dr. Emily Yeh (Geography), Dr. Paige Hoel (Oceanographer), Vicki Nichols Goldstein (Executive Director of the Boulder-based Coalición del Océano Interior), and Clementine Clyker (CU Boulder sustainability student leader). The event is co-hosted by the Sustainability and Storytelling Lab, NEST, and the CU Environmental Center with Jo Marras Tate hosting.