Communication strategies in an international school citizen science program investigating marine litter

Communication is an essential element of science, and while it is important in all scientific endeavors, it gains substantial strategic relevance in citizen science projects. For a school citizen science program to be successful, an adequate communication strategy needs to achieve a balance between learning objectives and the generation of scientific knowledge. In this community case study, we report on the communication strategies of an international network, namely, the citizen science program Científicos de la Basura (Litter Scientists), which collaborates with schoolteachers and schoolchildren to investigate anthropogenic litter on marine beaches and in rivers. The program has been active in Chile since 2007, and as of 2018, it had expanded to the 11 countries from the central and southern East Pacific. More than 40 teachers and collaborators from these countries work in this network making an effort to connect the research activities with the learning objectives of the school curriculum. The communication between the coordination team and the teachers includes three main elements (1 - design and planning; 2 - training and research; 3 - evaluation and sharing), with the following activities: (1a) regular internal communication within the coordination team to design, motivate and supervise adequate research projects, (1b) communication with teachers to design appropriate learning materials (co-creation) and get their feedback on the planned research activities, (2a) sharing the final research plan and transfer methodological skills through regular training of the teachers, (2b) responding to methodological questions by the teachers about the sampling, and coordinate data collection and validation, (3a) guiding teachers and schoolchildren in the evaluation and interpretation of their research results, and (3b) encouraging teachers and schoolchildren to communicate their scientific findings to the wider community. Intense internal communication and regular exchange with teachers guarantees successful learning and rigorous scientific information. The main challenges for the program are team capacity, socio-economic stability, internet access, and teachers’ workloads. Recommendations to achieve successful communication and good science are efficient team communication skills, customized contacts, collaborative work, guidance of field work, feedback from participants, and promoting the sense of community

The rise and demise of plastic shopping bags in Chile - broad and informal coalition supporting ban as a first step to reduce single-use plastics

Single-use plastic bags (SUPBs) were introduced to society as a way to facilitate our daily lives, but due to their low post-use value they are found as litter in many different environments, from urban to rural and remote, natural environments. Given the increasing awareness about environmental litter, many communities have banned SUPBs in the recent past. Here we explore an emerging economy to document the rise and demise of SUPBs in society. Through a review of scientific and grey literature (including governmental documents and media coverage) we reconstruct the timeline of SUPBs in Chile, including the development of the plastic industry and retail business within Chile, the introduction, spread and finally the demise of SUPBs. Focused on the demise phase, we document the creation and succession of municipal ordinances to reduce SUPBs in local commerce, and the development of a national law to regulate the use of SUPBs. In order to document the involvement of the general public during the demise phase, we also examined current behavior and behavioral intentions of people in (i) a local project introducing reusable cloth bags to reduce the use of SUPBs, and (ii) a consumer survey about public perception of SUPBs and their use. Plastic bags were introduced in Chile in the 1970s, then spread with the emergence of supermarkets and retail stores in the 1980s and 1990s, and were widely used in commerce by the turn of the century. During the first decade of the 21st century the first scientific studies reported large amounts of plastic litter and high proportions of single-use plastics in coastal environments, public awareness grew, and numerous initiatives aiming to reduce consumption and littering of plastics developed. The first municipal ban of SUPBs in 2013 was emulated during the following five years by 62 other Chilean municipalities and in 2018 translated into a national law, which was highly approved and supported by the population. We conclude that the ban of SUBP5 in Chile was facilitated by a broad concern among the general public, which led to a bottom-up movement culminating in the national government taking stakes in the issue. Finally, we argue that this can only be a first step that must be followed by further actions to abolish single-use products in order to effectively protect the environment and in particular the world's oceans.United Nation Environment Programme - Global Programme of Action through the Comision Permanente del Pacifico Sur (CPPS) Chilean Millennium Initiative through Millennium Nucleus Ecology and Sustainable Management of Oceanic Islands ESMOI Pew Marine Conservation Fellowshi