When our oceans are healthy our world is healthy. Oceans play a critical role in regulating our climate and weather patterns, and provide a wide range of food and medicinal ingredients, and countless species. However, fossil fuels are threatening the health of oceans. Carbon emissions increase ocean temperatures and acid levels, and pollutants such as microplastics threaten marine biodiversity as well as human health and safety. 

Oceans also offer a variety of rapidly renewable plant resources that can support a petroleum-free future for design. Plants and algae that grow in or near water, such as eelgrass, kelp and seaweed, represent an exciting frontier in material science. Material innovators are discovering their potential to replace harmful, fossil fuel-based materials with carbon sequestering, healthy alternatives. 

Throughout their lifecycle, aquatic resources offer a variety of environmental and health benefits. They naturally absorb carbon dioxide while they grow and require far fewer resources than agricultural plants. Seaweed, also known as kelp or macroalgae, provides ecologies for aquatic animals and other marine life, while reducing ocean acidification. Due to their high oil content, microalgae can be harnessed as a replacement for petrochemical oil and are leading the way towards biobased replacements for a wide range of traditional plastic products. These products offer positive health benefits for end-users and can be fully biodegradable at end-of-use.

This virtual event brings together leaders at the forefront of innovative biobased materials using marine resources as ingredients to create market-ready products with a multitude of health and environmental benefits. 

Join us in conversation with these leading material innovators and a marine research scientist who will provide context for climate solutions from her perspective on the world's oceans.

Speakers: 

Abby Barrows, Marine Scientist, Researcher, Oyster Farmer at the forefront of global microplastic pollution research since 2013

Celine Sandberg, CEO Agoprene, a startup on a mission to reinvent furniture foam using seaweed and natural materials including crab shells and eggshells

Tobias Øhrstrøm, Co-founder and Head of R&D, Design & Creative Direction of Søuld, a Danish company pioneering the use of eelgrass as a building material

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