At the 32nd Annual Southwest Florida Model United Nations conference at Florida Gulf Coast University in March, high school teams were challenged to imagine solutions for the problem of land-based plastics and the micro and nano plastics that we now know are in the world all around us.
Cypress Lake High School’s Model UN team took top honors and a $1,000 prize for their presentation proposing a creative and actionable — and ambitious — plan to address plastic pollution along Southwest Florida’s Gulf Coast.
Their plan identified the primary sources and kinds of plastic pollutants found on local shorelines; proposed a multifaceted strategy to reduces these pollutants through prevention, public education, and the promotion of sustainable alternatives; and imagined things like tax incentives to encourage adoption of eco-friendly packaging, and plastic deposit returns like some northern states still do with bottles and aluminum cans. They also homed in on microplastics that are already present in waterways — and in our bodies — and highlighted the use of filtration techniques including some on the cutting edge of science.
Cypress Lake’s winning team included Mya Jenkinson, Gus Lessinger, Valeska Perez, Penelope Lesage and Stella Busby.
Watch their presentation to the Naples Council on World Affairs, which sponsored the contest, below.
Guest:
Gus Lessinger is a junior at Cypress Lake High School in Fort Myers and a member of the school’s Model United Nations team
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