--- --- # Why Algae Is the Future of Plastic by [The Aspen Institute](https://time.com/author/the-aspen-institute/) ## The Aspen Institute Apr 13, 2016 4:01 PM UTC by [The Aspen Institute](https://time.com/author/the-aspen-institute/) ## The Aspen Institute Apr 13, 2016 4:01 PM UTC **1\.** [**Forget bubble wrap. The future of packaging is algae.**](http://qz.com/659447/forget-bubble-wrap-the-future-of-packaging-is-marine-algae/) By Anne Quito in Quartz **2\.** [**This is the national security issue no one is discussing.**](http://time.com/4290563/women-in-cybersecurity/) By Anne-Marie Slaughter and Elizabeth Weingarten in Time **3\.** [**States are starving public universities by choice, not necessity. Here’s how to reverse the damage.**](http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2016/04/the-pillaging-of-americas-state-universities/477594/) By Jonathan R. Cole in the Atlantic **4\.** [**GDP measures the wrong data. We need a better metric for economic success.**](https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/04/beyond-gdp-is-it-time-to-rethink-the-way-we-measure-growth) By Ross Chainey at the World Economic Forum **5\.** [**Can reinventing the safari save Kenya’s tourism industry?**](http://www.ozy.com/fast-forward/the-new-safari-kiss-colonialism-and-khakis-goodbye/67619) By Laura Secorun Palet in Ozy  [_The Aspen Institute_](http://www.aspeninstitute.org/) _is an educational and policy studies organization based in Washington, D.C._ Why Algae Is the Future of Plastic ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4292146/plastic-future-algae/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4292146/plastic-future-algae/"},"headline":"Why Algae Is the Future of Plastic","datePublished":"2016-04-13T16:01:36.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:00:07.557Z","description":"These are today's best ideas","url":"https://time.com/4292146/plastic-future-algae/","keywords":["Innovation","GDP","Research","Kenya","cybersecurity","plastic"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"The Aspen Institute","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/the-aspen-institute/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/innovation/","name":"Innovation"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4292146/plastic-future-algae/","name":"Why Algae Is the Future of Plastic"}}]}] ```