Douglas Woodring – Keynote Speaker

As founder of the Plasticity Forum, first launched at the Rio+20 Earth Summit, Douglas Woodring is in touch with many of the innovative solutions and technologies that are now being introduced to help solve plastic pollution on a global level. The Plasticity Forum has been held in 13 cities around the world, where the latest was in collaboration with the UN’s regional headquarters in Bangkok as part of their Sea of Solutions Week in November 2019. Some of Mr. Woodring’s most exciting recent community engagement programs are the Water Falling/Rising Festivals in Cambodia, which he created, now held twice a year in villages around the famous Tonle Sap Lake in order to bring water appreciation to local communities. Ocean Recovery Alliance also runs the only ocean film festival in Asia, the Ocean in Motion Film Festival, as well as Kids Ocean Day Hong Kong. He is a much sought-after speaker at major environmental conferences, universities and corporate programs, and works with companies and communities to introduce creative solutions for plastic waste reduction.

Born in Northern California, Mr. Woodring has a dual master’s degree from The Wharton School (MBA) and Johns Hopkins University, School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) where he studied Environmental Economics. He has an undergraduate degree in Economics and Political Science from the University of California at Berkeley. Doug Woodring was inducted into the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame in 2020 for his contributions to the sport and environment, via organizing some of the largest open water swimming events in Asia.

Douglas Woodring has been a speaker at numerous environmental conferences including: Annual Plasticity Forums, the Naropa Monk Festival, WasteMinz, AreDay Summit, The Economist World Ocean Summit, China World Economic Forum, UN Blue Economy Conference, Bloomberg Business Week Annual Forum, UN-NOAA Marine Debris Conference, Klosters Forum, Pacific Islands Roundtable, Sustainable Brands Bangkok, CSR Asia, Responsible Business Forum, Earth Day Texas, South Carolina Aquarium, Monterey Bay Aquarium, SalesForce, World Forum for a Responsible Economy, APEC Waste Management Conference, PEMSEA, PET Recycling Conference, Morgan Stanley, Plastics Industry Assoc., Prince of Wales Conference on Plastic Pollution, World Plastics Industry Global Meeting, U.S. State Department’s “Our Ocean” Conference, World Ocean Summit – Korea, Johns Hopkins, Aspen Environment Forum, TEDx Hong Kong, BIR World Recycling Conference, Ocean Sciences. He also speaks regularly at many Schools, universities, associations, corporate in-house events, and workshops.