Part of Lake Forest Open Lands' three-lecture series, Great Lakes, Great Issues: Understanding the most significant challenges impacting the lakes today. Given the abundance of plastic within the world's oceans, it is not surprising that plastic particles have been found in all of the Great Lakes. The counts obtained rival those within the world's ocean. We hope to build an understanding of the types and abundance of plastics within the Great Lakes and other freshwater systems, laying the groundwork for important additional investigations into their ecosystem impacts. Dr. Mason’s work is at the forefront of research on plastic pollution within freshwater ecosystems. Dr. Sherri (Sam) Mason, Professor of Chemistry, Chair, Department of Geology & Environmental Sciences, State University of New York, Fredonia Registration is required at www.LFOLA.org.