Endowment Offers $1 Million for Tech to Get Plastic Out of Oceans
*By Madison Alworth*
Ocean pollution is a problem only [expected](http://web.unep.org/unepmap/un-declares-war-ocean-plastic) to get worse, and the Endowment for Clean Oceans is hoping to find viable solutions to our plastic problem. So the organization is offering big money to citizens who want to clean up the environment.
"We have two contests," Daniel Perrin, the agency's founder, said Wednesday in an interview on Cheddar. "One is for $1 million for the best idea or technology to remove the plastic that's in the ocean now. And the second contest is for $5 million to create an economically viable, workable, biodegradable alternative to plastics."
There are [5 trillion pieces](https://www.forbes.com/sites/niallmccarthy/2017/03/21/the-worlds-oceans-are-infested-with-over-5-trillion-pieces-of-plastic-infographic/#159e83adab76) of plastic floating in the ocean. Interestingly, ocean pollution is one cause many voters seem to rally behind, regardless of political alignment. According to a recent survey from Zogby Analytics, [81 percent](https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180829005005/en/Finally-Divided-America-81-Agree-Poll-Commissioned) of voters polled were concerned about the plastic in the ocean.
ECO wants to encourage all inventors to get involved in solving that problem.
The competition and prizes will be divided among three groups. ECO is calling for submissions from "corporations and universities," "garage inventors," and "lower-school students." ECO anticipates that the corporation-university solution group will take home the $1 million prize, the garage inventor will receive a significant investment in their company, and the student will win a full scholarship to a school of his or her choice.
Pierre-Yves Cousteau has been tapped to be a judge for the ECO Science and Technology Committee. The son of world-renowned conservationist, author, and filmmaker Jacques-Yves Cousteau is [continuing](https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2011/09/a-conversation-with-pierre-yves-cousteau-conservationist/244867/) his father's legacy of studying and protecting oceans.
"I've been diving all over the world for the past 15 years, and I have yet to do a single dive where I don't encounter plastic," Cousteau told Cheddar Wednesday.
Cousteau and Perrin hope the [competition](https://www.endowmentforcleanoceans.org/) will inspire inventors to think more creatively.
"The plastic technology hasn't changed for 50 years. It's about time we upgraded to a ceramic or something that, when it gets in the ocean, it will not stay for 600 years like some of the industrial fishing lines are now," Perrin said.
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/finding-a-solution-to-plastic-pollution).
On this episode of Cheddar Innovates: Omorpho Co-Founder explains the innovation driving gravity sportswear; Cool Beans CEO breaks down the science behind 'good mood food;' A look at Curiosity Stream's 'Building The James Webb Telescope.'
NASA's Perseverance Rover unexpectedly has discovered volcanic rock on the surface of Mars. Scientists initially had thought the rocks were sedimentary in nature.
The deadly tornadoes that devastated Kentucky and five other states last weekend have brought climate change back to forefront of the conversation. Scientists say no single weather event can be pinned to climate change alone, but this December has been unseasonably warm, and warmer temperatures can make extreme weather events more likely. Jana Houser, associate professor of meteorology at Ohio University, joined Cheddar to discuss what role climate change might have played in these deadly tornadoes, and what can be done to prevent severe weather events like this from getting even worse in the future.
Even as tech giant Google implements a vaccination mandate, charging its employees to declare their vaccine status within a time frame or risk dismissal, the federal government is tangled up in the court system trying to impose one of its own. Cindy Cohn, the executive director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and Harry Nelson, founder and managing partner of Nelson Hardiman LLP, joined Cheddar to debate the ethics, efficacy, and legality surrounding the issue. While Cohn noted that she thinks the federal mandate might be legally sound, her organization is also concerned with a separate question of privacy. "At EFF what we're most interested in is the digital surveillance that's going along with some of these attempts to try to track and confirm whether people are vaccinated or not," she said.
There is a new way for investors to bet on cannabis - the AdvisorShares Poseidon Dynamic Cannabis ETF targets about 20 of the biggest names in U.S. cannabis. It comes at a time when it's still difficult for investors to access the space. Cheddar News cannabis reporter Chloe Aiello spoke with co-founder and managing director for Poseidon Investment Management, Emily Paxhia.
Joellen Russell, Professor at the University of Arizona, joins Cheddar Climate to discuss how poor academic curricula and misinformation online are hindering efforts to educate children about climate change, as well as how Science Moms is providing resources to moms to help create a safer world for their children.
Another successful spaceflight is in the books for Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin. The company's third human spaceflight blasted off from Van Horn, TX. on Saturday, lasting about ten minutes from takeoff to landing. The crew, which included former NFL star and current GMA host Michael Strahan, traveled to the edge of space and experienced a few minutes of weightlessness before the capsule descended back to earth. Andrew Chanin, CEO of ProcureAM, joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss the significance of the launch.
