21st Century Challenges

sustainability, China, ICT, Khan Academy, e-learning, Green Belt, rescources, globalization, Thames Barrier, benefits, water resources, renewables,, protectionism, Education, waste, black market, negroponte, Rainforests, Robert Winston, Environment

 Read more about our panel » 

DAVID DE ROTHSCHILD
Founder of Adventure Ecology and The Plastiki Expedition

DR SIMON BOXALL
Oceanographer, National Oceanography Centre, Southampton

PETER DAVIS  
Director-General, British Plastics Federation

DAVID SHUKMAN (chair)
BBC science and environment correspondent

In the last 60 years plastic has become one of the defining materials of the modern age. But the properties that make it so useful to us now pose a threat to the world's oceans.

Our throw-away society and the rise of one-use plastics is leading to the pollution of large areas of the world’s oceans with plastics, threatening marine life and the food chains that millions rely on.

- How did it get there?

- What are the possible solutions?

- Is it time we re-evaluate waste as a resource?

Join our expert panel and put your questions to them.

More on this issue

 Dr Sylvia Earle, renowned oceanographer,
talks to us about the importance of the world's
oceans and what she believes are the challenges
of the 21st Century

 What is the Great Pacific Garbage Patch?