Reading Events

Cafe Scientifique: Plastic - destroyer or saviour of the planet?

Date : 14 December 2009

Time : 19:30

Location : Déjà vu Bar and Eatery: 61 St. Mary's Butts, Reading, RG1 2LG.

Contact : Lucy Chappell, l.chappell@reading.ac.uk, 0118 378 7391

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Most people would describe plastic as bad - it's a waste of resources, it's a pollutant, basically it shouldn't be allowed to exist! Most people that is, except Professor Averil MacDonald. She argues that things are changing. Plastic is now showing itself as a major player in overcoming the big problems facing society - food security, energy supply and global warming. Add to that the fact that plastics are increasingly making a huge positive difference in the medical world and it is evident plastic should be our hero. So is plastic a hero or a zero?

Professor Averil Macdonald currently holds the Chair in Science Communication at the University of Reading and is mother to 2 teenage daughters. Her career began teaching Physics in secondary schools before taking a career break, studying part time for an MA then a PhD and becoming a part time lecturer in the Physics department at the University of Reading. For more information please see www.reading.ac.uk/cafesci