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Microplastic Madness - movie
Feature Length Documentary
​A
Cafeteria Culture production

Directed and Produced by Atsuko Quirk and Debby Lee Cohen
Featuring
P.S. 15 Brooklyn 
5th graders and experts,
  Judith Enck,  Dr. Marcus Eriksen,  Rachael Z. Miller, and Dr. Chelsea M. Rochman
watch trailer on YouTube ->/ watch on Vimeo ->

​Creative Team and Credits ->
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MICROPLASTIC MADNESS 
​FREE SCREENING Sign up-> 

​MICROPLASTIC MADNESS 
​Toolkit Page -> 
​

​An award winning documentary
​with kids taking the lead
to stop plastic pollution!
** 120,000 viewers in 45 countries**
World Map of screenings and
Youth Comments from Around the World


Host a screening!
Always free for all Title 1
or under resourced schools ->
​​
​​INSPIRE ​your class, team, & entire school
to take acton.


​Spanish, Mandarin Chinese, Russian,
​German  and English subtitled versions available
Sign up here to host a screening ->
​In Japan? Host a screening ->​
Not a K-12 public school?

The Story

Microplastic Madness is the story of 56 fifth graders from P.S. 15 in Red Hook, Brooklyn - living on the frontline of the climate crisis - whose actions on plastic pollution morph into extraordinary leadership and scalable victories.  

With stop-motion animation, heartfelt kid commentary, and interviews of experts and renowned scientists who are engaged in the most cutting edge research on the harmful effects of microplastics, this alarming, yet charming narrative, conveys an urgent message in user-friendly terms. 

These eleven year olds dive deep into the root causes of plastic pollution.  Taking on the roles of citizen scientists and community advocates, they collect local data,  lead community outreach, and use their own local data to inform policy by testifying and rallying at City Hall. Then they turned their focus back to school,  taking action in their cafeteria to eliminate all single-use plastic!


Created to inspire kids, teachers and policy makers alike, this is the spark needed to grow a youth-led Plastic Free Future movement in schools across the world!
​
Be inspired to join the 
​Plastic Free Lunch Day action!

​
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FREE LESSONS & TOOLKIT!

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LEARN MORE

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Not sure where to start?
See our
RECIPE FOR CHANGE:
from personal actions,
to system-wide change

TAKE ACTION!
​THE WORLD IS AWASH IN PLASTIC POLLUTION


​Endorsements

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Microplastic Madness is the winner of many prestigious film festival awards including:
  • Peggy Charred Award for Excellence, Boston International Kids Film Festival
  • Best Documentary - Amateur Category (over 40 minutes), Raw Science Film Festival
  • Best Feature Documentary Film - Audience Choice, Providence Children’s Film Festival
  • Best Documentary Feature Award - Youth Jury, Children’s Film Festival Seattle
  • Best Solution Award, Cinema Verde Environmental Film and Art Festival

WHAT AUDIENCES ARE SAYING!

watch:
MICROPLASTIC MADNESS
Youth Comments from Around the World! 


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Help us share our movie and resources
with more underserved schools for free!
Your tax deductible donation will help us to fund these urgently needed resources! 

Free Companion
EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES 


​Microplastic Madness Toolkit 
​
for a plastic free future
 links youth activism to three of the most critical issues of our time: plastic pollution, the climate crisis and environmental justice. (Get it->)
Cafeteria Culture's toolkit provides students and school communities with the resources to lead Plastic Free Lunch Day and other plastic free campaigns, working towards eliminating all single-use plastic packaging in schools  and increasing awareness of the plastic pollution/climate crisis connection.
  • Microplastic Madness Toolkit - data +action lessons for a plastic free future  -  plastic pollution and climate curriculum for diverse learners in grades 3 and up. Our interdisciplinary, place-based lesson plans and activities, many that are portrayed in the movie, are grouped into units that align with learning standards the movie narrative. The toolkit is designed to allow teachers to use these free resources as stand alone lessons or as complete units. 
​Teachers, sign up and access the Toolkit here ->
​

More free resources
  • Guiding Questions for the movie ->
  • Plastic Free Lunch Day K-12 Resources  -  how-to guides, lessons, flyers, and letter templates
  • Recipe for #plasticfree Change
  • ​TEACH-IN: BREAK FREE FROM PLASTIC POLLUTION ACT​
  • The Plastic Pollution Crisis (learn more) ->
​
All of Cafeteria Culture's free Educational Resources->
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About CAFETERIA CULTURE


​Cafeteria Culture was founded as the grassroots STYROFOAM OUT OF SCHOOLS campaign in 2009. Students, parents and school food directors came together to find creative solutions to rid NYC school cafeterias of 850,000 styrofoam trays thrown away per day.


The result: VICTORY! Working together, we catalyzed the complete elimination of a half a BILLION styrofoam trays per year from incinerators, landfills and student meals in schools across the US.


Together, we can win this next environmental and health victory and dramatically decrease single-use plastics in school cafeterias everywhere!


​
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Free for all Title 1 or under-resourced K-12 public schools
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​If you already saw Microplastic Madness, please share your feedback here -->
FOLLOW US FOR UPDATES!
34 million views!!
​WATCH ALL OUR VIDEOS ON YOUTUBE->
​WATCH OUR VIDEOS ON VIMEO->
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​
DONATE | ABOUT |MICROPLASTIC MADNESS|PLASTIC FREE LUNCH| Take Action Toolkits|EVENTS
Youth Advocates |Contact 
​
​  Twitter @CafeteriaCu    IG @CafCu   FB CafeteriaCulture   TikTok @CafeteriaCu

Our VISION
We envision a plastic free, equitable zero waste future where landfill and incinerator garbage as we know it no longer exists;
where post consumption waste from food to packaging is drastically reduced
and what remains benefits our schools, communities, and the environment. 


Cafeteria Culture (CafCu) is a Project of The Fund for the City of New York, a 501(c)(3) organization.
As such, your donations to Cafeteria Culture
are eligible for charitable deductions under section 170 of the Internal Revenue Code.
Cafeteria Culture is a vendor of New York City Department of Education via Fund for the City of New York


Copyright © 2023 Cafeteria Culture
  • About
    • About
    • Team
    • Our Story
    • Reports
    • Press
    • Partners
    • Contact
  • MICROPLASTIC MADNESS
    • MICROPLASTIC MADNESS
    • Host a screening
    • The Plastic Pollution Crisis
    • Creative Team and Credits
    • Movie Feedback
  • Plastic Free Lunch
    • Plastic Free Lunch
    • FAQs - Plastic Free Lunch Day
    • PFLD School Food Service
    • Action Plan ideas - PFLD
    • NYC Plastic Free Lunch Days
  • Take Action Toolkits
    • K-12 Toolkit - Plastic Free Lunch Day
    • K-12 Toolkit - Microplastic Madness
    • DIY DATA ACTION litter cleanup >
      • DATA +ACTION litter clean up
      • Student and Teacher Litter Data Collection
    • SORT2SAVE KIT >
      • SORT2SAVE KIT - Cafeteria Rangers
      • Downloads - S2S - Cafeteria Rangers
      • Daily Operations - S2S - Cafeteria Rangers
      • Videos - Cafeteria Rangers
      • S2s Quick Launch Guide
      • Job Descriptions for Cafeteria Rangers
      • SORT2save Cheer! - lyrics + video
      • SORT2SAVE - About, Partners, License Agreement
    • Foam Trays Out of Schools >
      • NYC Foam Ban
      • Trayless Tuesdays
      • No-Styro Puppets
      • FAQs - Getting Styrofoam Out of Schools
    • Alternative Messaging
    • Action at home
    • Action on Policy >
      • Plastic Water Bottle ban NYC
      • NY Bag Bill
  • Donate
  • Youth Advocates Program
  • MORE RESOURCES
    • Resource Library
    • Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) in Taiwan - Lessons Learned
  • Events
  • Latest - Cafeteria Culture blog
  • Volunteer