May Meetup-Michael Hawthorne and Plastic Pollution

We are pleased to have Chicago Tribune reporter Michael Hawthorne give our presentation this month! More than 40 million people in the United States and Canada depend on the Great Lakes for drinking water. Fishing and recreation are key economic drivers throughout the region. But the lakes increasingly are under threat from plastic pollution contaminating even the most remote stretches of the world's largest source of fresh surface water. Michael Hawthorne, a Pulitzer-finalist investigative reporter at the Chicago Tribune, will join the Chicago Scuba Meetup Group on May 19 to discuss his upcoming series exploring the plastic problem in the Great Lakes. Hawthorne focuses on environment and public health issues for the Tribune. He has written extensively about the Great Lakes and Chicago River, the dangers of toxic chemicals in household products and the lingering hazards of brain-damaging lead in homes and drinking water. Hawthorne covered state government and the environment for newspapers in Florida, Illinois and Ohio before joining the Tribune in 2004. 7:00pm-Meet and Greet (order food and drink!) 7:30- Meeting 8:00-Presentation