Looking for the next step up along your journey to solving plastic pollution? Apply for the POPS International Youth Summit to strengthen your personal storytelling, learn leadership skills and build your support network.


The POPS International Youth Summit is a three-day intensive summit inviting 100 students and teachers around the globe to receive advanced training from experts in leadership, public speaking, story telling and more. Algalita’s POPS International Youth Summit empowers youth leaders from around the world to launch and lead action-oriented solutions to reduce plastic waste.



You are eligible to apply if you are going to be between the ages of 11-18 in February 2019.  If you’re accepted, you’ll join over 100 students from around the world in Southern California on Feb 22 – 24, 2019 for a weekend you won’t forget! The POPS Summit is FREE, except for travel.


Learn more and submit your application here before Nov 2, 2018.

Did you know plastic trash and particles are not only found in remote gyre accumulation areas like the Pacific garbage patch, but also in most marine and terrestrial habitats like beaches and coral reefs?




Algalita, an environmental organization dedicated to ending plastic pollution, will be hosting a brand new youth event this summer – the POPS Innovation Forum. The Innovation Forum will be for youth ages 15-25 who are interested in learning more about and have innovative ideas for addressing plastic pollution through design, technological innovation, engineering, science, and alternative business models.

The event will be held in Long Beach, CA on August 3-5, 2018 and is free to accepted attendees. Applications are open until June 30, 2018. Click here to apply!

Interested in developing a solution to a local water issue in your community? Click here to learn more about Grades of Green’s Water Campaign!

Oceanic Trash Vortex? You don’t have to imagine it because it already exists: a large area of ocean with bits of plastic, chemical sludge, and other slow-to-biodegrade debris in suspension. The Great Pacific garbage patch is a gyre, or large system of circulating ocean currents, made up of plastic debris accumulated over the past few decades. Frustratingly so, it is not visible in satellite photography or to anyone swimming directly in it because the patch covers a large expense of ocean and the debris is very low density.

A lot of scientific and media attention has been focused on the North Pacific Gyre, but there isn’t sufficient data to confirm the presence of floating plastic debris in the Southern Hemisphere’s gyres. That’s where Algalita comes in! Starting in November 2016, Algalita will embark on an expedition to the Southern Hemisphere to investigate the pollution within the South Pacific Gyre.

Interested students and teachers can interact with the researchers through Algalita’s Ship2Shore Blog. The program also includes weekly updates from the crew, interaction with other classrooms around the world, and access to additional classroom resources. For more information about Algalita, click here.

Concerned about the amount of waste you create? Learn about your trash through a Waste Audit or cut out disposables with Trash Free Lunches. Learn more about the environment by taking on Eco Lessons, such as the Ocean Pollution Solution lesson. If you haven’t already, register here to gain access to all the step by step implementation instructions and resources Grades of Green has to offer.