Green in Orange is UMM’s platform for eco-social engagement. Landfill tours, documentary screenings and other opportunities for OC youth to develop creative skills through a future-oriented, green lens.
The Afterlives of Plastic (2026)
In summer 2026, UMM sponsored “The Afterlives of Plastic,” a project bringing art and environmental concerns together in creative juxtaposition. Working in close proximity to the ocean, UMM Founder and Director Mariángeles Soto-Diaz worked with high school students Ariana Ghane, Isla Ardestani, Mia Harris and Penelope Wade to study the environmental impact of microplastics. The group interviewed UCI environmental toxicologist Dr. Andrea De Vizcaya Ruiz, and learned about collaborative video collage and production. Thinking about debris and material life cycles, and specifically plastics’ end-of-life as micro and nanoplastics, brought a rush of questions to our consciousness: Where do micro and nano plastics go? How long until they degrade? Are micro and nanoplastics only physical bits, and/or leaching chemicals? What kinds of transformations occur in oceans, marine life, soil, air, human tissue when microplastics enter ecosystems? What do researchers know with certainty? The project was supported a grant by the UCI Newkirk Center for Science and Society.
Chasing Coral documentary screening
On August 14th UMM and 2026 lead Ariana Ghane organized a documentary screening of Chasing Coral. We had a full house incentivized by pizza, courtesy of ICHA/HRB.