Photo: Jackie Nuñez being interviewed by the STRAWS film.
During the month of April, Plastic Pollution Coalition invites educators, teachers, and students to dive into plastic pollution and learn about solutions. Together with STRAWS film, Plastic Pollution Coalition is offering free film shorts on plastic pollution geared towards teachers and students with live online Q&A and discussion.
Join us in helping to empower students to make strides in understanding the problem of single-use plastic and reducing its use. Check out the program here and sign up.
The goal of each online discussion is to help students craft individual or group projects to reduce single-use plastic pollution. These ACTION projects can be individual, in their home, or in their communities.
The sessions will be hosted by plastic pollution experts and frequent speakers Jackie Nuñez, Founder of The Last Plastic Straw and Program Manager, Plastic Pollution Coalition, and Sandra Curtis, Director of Innovative Projects, Plastic Pollution Coalition.
About Jackie Nuñez
Jackie created the No Plastic Straws movement when she founded The Last Plastic Straw in 2011 as a volunteer project for Save Our Shores. The Last Plastic Straw has been a project of Plastic Pollution Coalition since 2016.
She is a part time kayak guide, full time activist, and lives in Santa Cruz, California, where she teaches people of all ages how to speak truth to plastic and be an agent for change in their communities. She has advised on more than 20 local ordinances limiting single-use foodware including plastic straws.
Jackie has a BS in Health and a AS in Horticulture, and has a passion for travel, ocean sports, design, gardening, the environment, and community service. Jackie is a frequent speaker at international conferences, in the press, and was featured in the award-winning documentary Straws.
About Sandra Curtis, Ph.D.
Sandra is Director of Innovative Projects for Plastic Pollution Coalition based in Berkeley, CA. She brings a wealth of experience developing projects internationally at the intersection of business, entertainment, education, science, and health, and uses those skills to expand partnerships, programs, and projects at Plastic Pollution Coalition. She initiated collaborative behavioral intervention research to reduce the toxic health effects from exposure to plastics. As a co-investigator with Child Health and Development Studies, she conducted Rethink Plastic and is expanding the impact of the study with ESL communities, across generations and global communities.
She co-wrote numerous PPC guides including the Healthy Baby Guide and the Plastic-Free Campus Manual. Sandra advocates for applying pressure across a broad spectrum of society from the individual to legislation, EPR, and the development of new materials to solve the plastic pollution crisis.
Her most recent speaking engagement with youth was advising a team of 6th and 7th graders in Chicago on their entry into the Nat Geo Challenge.
She has a PhD in Education from UC Berkeley and a Masters and B.S. in Kinesiology from UCLA.
Caption: Jackie Nuñez speaks to Teacher and Activist Jacqueline Omania’s Heirs to the Oceans club of 4th and 5th grade students at Oxford School in Berkeley, CA. Photo by Jacqueline Omania.
For more resources on plastic pollution and curriculum for children of all ages, visit our Education Resources.
