Dr. Katharine Owens will share how she melds science, policy, and the arts in her work on plastic pollution. A researcher and artist, Dr. Owens has led teams in collecting marine and river debris in the United States and abroad. She has spent the last year creating a series of forty-six life-sized portraits of animals harmed by marine debris. She creates most of the pieces herself by hand-sewing film plastic onto canvas, but the largest pieces (including several life-sized whales) are being co-created with the public. In this course you will learn about the problem of plastic pollution, Dr. Owens's work to address it, and broader policy solutions being proposed throughout the world. Course participants will be invited to collaborate voluntarily in hand-sewing a portrait of a large whale.