The Edmonds Waterfront Center welcomes Edward P. Kolodziej, internationally recognized environmental chemist and the Allan and Inger Osberg Professor at the University of Washington (Tacoma/Seattle) as the featured speaker in Annie Crawley’s Environmental Speaker Series. The event takes place at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 11, the latest installment in a community-based science and conservation initiative focused on Puget Sound.

A joint faculty member of UW Tacoma’s Department of Sciences & Mathematics and UW Seattle’s Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Kolodziej leads a multidisciplinary research team based out of the Tacoma-based Center for Urban Waters and works alongside Washington State University-Puyallup and Washington Stormwater Center researchers. They have collectively spent decades investigating mysterious and repeated acute mortality events in coho salmon across urbanizing streams in the Puget Sound region.

During his presentation, Kolodziej will explain how researchers connected the dots from unexplained “urban runoff mortality syndrome” to roadside chemical pollution from tire rubbers using mass spectrometry and toxicology studies. His team pinpointed 6PPD‑quinone, a transformation product of a tire antioxidant used in every major brand of vehicle tires, as the primary cause of coho salmon deaths during rain storms, helping to explain why, where, and how acute mortality events occur in Puget Sound-area streams. Subsequent global research has showed similar toxicity effects in rainbow trout, brook trout, lake trout, white-spotted char (an Asian salmonid species), and also coastal cutthroat trout, another species commonly using small Puget Sound watersheds.

This research has significant real-world implications, revealing that all vehicle tire rubbers are made using highly toxic chemicals — particularly harmful to salmonids — and that protecting water quality requires careful management of tire wear particles and roadway runoff, especially near sensitive habitats, vulnerable salmonid populations, and small streams impacted by roads. Collaborative efforts now focus on advocating for “salmon-safe” tire reformulations, improved stormwater management, and local policy measures to stop roadway pollutants from entering vulnerable waterways. Kolodziej was named U.S. National Champion for the 2023 Frontiers Planet Prize in recognition of this breakthrough work in global sustainability science.

Kolodziej will speak to how toxic tire rubber compounds enter our waterways, why they kill coho salmon before spawning, and what solutions—both technological and policy-based—are needed to protect sensitive aquatic ecosystems.

The program moderator, Annie Crawley, is an award-winning filmmaker, underwater photographer, author and speaker. Crawley — known as Ocean Annie — connects people to nature through visual storytelling, education, and ocean advocacy. A member of the Women Divers Hall of Fame and columnist for Scuba Diving Magazine, she leads the Our Ocean and You campaign and focuses on sustainability, ocean health, and environmental stewardship while inspiring all with her multi-media. Learn more at www.AnnieCrawley.com.

Admission is $7.50 and you can register at this link. Subtitles and closed captioning will be provided for guests who are deaf and hard of hearing. The EWC also offers Assistive Listening devices available to check out or connect with your smart phone. Reserve your seat online –walk-ins are welcome the night of the event based on available seating. Online ticket sales end at 4 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 11.