I was having a drink with Jonathan Ablard, one he owed me for several months, at NorthStar before I left town. He asked here I was going, to proceeded to tell me everyone he knew along the way and told me I should look them all up. So I did. One of his childhood friends, Tom von Hemert, lives in Crozet, Virginia, which was kinda on my way. When Tom heard I studied microplastics, he invited his friend and neighbor to join us for coffee. This friend is none other than Peter Myers, who has been studying the effects of pollutants on the endocrine system for many years and is now a leading scientist in the microplastic universe. Peter is working from many angles, including creating more benign plastics, better ways to remediate them, and trying to convince the US government to pay more attention to the damage microplastics do to the environment by testifying in Congress in December. Some of his work is through Sudoc, a company he con-founded, and some of it is through Environmental Health Sciences, a non-profit he founded. Pete is a mover and a shaker (so is Tom!), so keep an eye out for what he can accomplish! Turns out that Pete is a friend of some of my other friends, including Sandra Steingraber and Jon Jensen. So maybe he is also a friend of a friend. It was nice to meet you, Pete and Tom!
