Welcome to the special series of The GREen Pod, made and hosted by the Natural Resources Institute (NRI) at the University of Greenwich. Tune into this series of podcasts to hear about some of the fascinating sustainability work being conducted by scientists at NRI as they study insect behaviour, pest and disease control, climate change, gender inequality, social mobility, pollution and plastics, crop disease and food systems and waste. Episode 4 - This year’s theme for the United Nations World Oceans Day is ‘revitalisation: collective action for the ocean’ – but what does that actually mean in practice? Professor Ravi Kumar is on hand to explain … The oceans cover 71% of the earth’s surface and in the space of the past 50 years, the biggest threat to our seas has come from the proliferation of plastic waste. We humans love the convenience of plastic packaging, the affordability of mass-produced plastic goods and the durability – but we’ve consistently failed to dispose of plastic in a sustainable way, and the waste projections are startling. Ravi says that unless drastic collective action is taken by governments, businesses and individuals, by the year 2050, we’ll be producing 200 million more metric tonnes of plastic waste that will end up in our oceans.