When trying to measure methane produced by biological activity in sea water, Sarah-Jeanne Royer found with her colleagues that the plastic bottles holding the samples were a bigger source of this gas with powerful greenhouse effect. Sarah-Jeanne works at developing a better understanding of the processes of plastic degradation and fragmentation, and its future in the ocean... but also at convincing the leaders to use scientific data to develop better laws to reduce the production and consumption of plastics.

As the first female sergeant to lead a group in the first regiment of the Canadian Army, Sarah-Jeanne also served for 13 years for the Voltigeurs de Québec. Dr. Royer is an oceanographer and a researcher specialized in plastic degradation at the International Research Center on Pacific of Hawaii University.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx