Darebin City Council is hosting free screenings of two short films that explore the impact of plastic pollution on our oceans to mark World Environment Day on Thursday 7 June.
The screenings will take place at Preston Town Hall at 6.15pm and will be followed by a Q&A session with a panel of three local experts discussing how to ‘beat plastic pollution’ – which is the theme for World Environment Day this year.
The first film, The Smog of the Sea, documents a week-long expedition through the North Atlantic by a group including musician/surfer Jack Johnson and ocean researcher Marcus Erikson who explore the vast scale of plastic pollution in our oceans.
The issue will then be explored at a more local level with the award-winning documentary Baykeepers which follows Neil Blake on his journey to investigate the far-reaching impact of plastic waste on Melbourne’s Port Phillip Bay.
Darebin Mayor Kim Le Cerf, who will join the discussion panel, says both the film screenings and the Q&A session will be a great opportunity for people to learn more about the issue of plastic pollution and what we can do about it.
“The plastic waste our modern consumer societies produce is having a calamitous impact on eco-systems all over the planet, and nowhere is this impact more pronounced than in our oceans.
“While we don’t have a shoreline here in Darebin, even our plastic waste often ends washed out to sea via our creeks and rivers – so as citizens of the Earth we all have a responsibility to minimise our reliance on single-use plastics and carefully manage the plastic waste we do produce,” said the Mayor.
The film screening and discussion panel will run from 6.15pm – 8.45pm on Thursday June and while it’s a free, bookings are essential.
For more information, including details on how to book your place, visit darebin.vic.gov.au/worldenvironmentday or call 8470 8888.