Sacramento Science on Tap: How Seaweed Can Help Save the World

Hi, this is Vanessa, your salon host.

When you see seaweed on the beach, do you just see ugly, stinky blobs that litter the sand? Matthew Perkins, our salon speaker this evening, wants to change your view of seaweed and make you fall in love with it.

Perkins is founder and owner of Macro Oceans, a startup in West Sacramento that has pioneered an approach to extracting valuable compounds from seaweed and turning them into eco-friendly chemicals for customers in the cosmetics, materials and food sectors.

Currently, people mostly eat or use farmed seaweed as fish feed. But the power and potential of seaweed is growing as a key player in the global economy. Besides playing a critical role in keeping oceans healthy and capturing carbon, seaweed is now seen as a sustainable element in a range of items from fertilizer and animal feed to cosmetics and bioplastics.

Macro Oceans launched its first product last year, a biodegradable ingredient that can be used in skin care. Now Perkins is making trips to the Gulf of Alaska with plans to create kelp farms that can grow hundreds of thousands of pounds of seaweed fo use in more eco-friendly products.

Join us for a talk with Perkins about all things seaweed and how it can improve things around the world.

Please bring your questions — nothing is too dumb or too small to ask.

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For more information about ENLIGHTENMENT and about California Groundbreakers, go to californiagroundbreakers.org