Plastic production is warming the planet and is expected to double in the next 20 years. Plastic is made from fossil fuels and contains 16,000 chemicals, many of them known to be harmful to humans and even more untested for their safety. Most plastics are made out of ethane, a byproduct of fracking. In 2020, plastic’s climate impacts amounted to the equivalent of nearly 49 million cars on the road, according to a conservative estimate by Material Research L3C. And that’s not including the carbon footprint associated with disposing of plastic. Our oceans have become a plastic dumping site with plastic pollution impacting whales, turtles, fish, dolphins and countless other marine species and habitats. It is on beaches, coastlines, and in lakes, rivers, as well as on land and in the air. Plastic has melded into rocks which is now called Plastistones, a newly recognized type of sedimentary rock that incorporates plastic within their structure. They are essentially “rocks” formed from plastic waste, often found in coastal areas or places where there’s a high concentration of plastic debris. There are micro plastics in the human body and in wildlife. While we all love the Prince tune Purple Rain, we need to find out what’s in ‘Plastic Rain’. Our lives are inundated with plastic, from shampoo bottles to shower curtains. There are micro plastics in toothpaste, plastic utensils, tea bags, bottled water and gum to name a few. How do we stop the proliferation of plastics in manufacturing and what can we do to take action to reduce plastic use? Joining us on this episode of TMSOG is Alexis Goldsmith, National Organizing Director of Beyond Plastics. We talk about how plastic affects climate and health, and we discuss legislation in New York (the Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act) which is being worked on to reduce plastic packaging and the Bigger Better Bottle Bill which will increase the beverage container deposit fee from 5 cents to 10 cents.
We must take actions on an individual level to stop using single plastic bottles and other items, especially when it comes to using plastic pouches of baby food to feed our infants and toddlers. Those items used to be in glass containers, and the companies producing baby food should go back to that method of packaging. Please support the Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act in New York State. In the words of Alexis Goldsmith “Imagine the world you want to see, connect to an organization or community group to take action. The act of trying is empowering.” For more information go to https://www.beyondplastics.org/
Also go to the following organizations to get info and donate https://www.ucs.org/ (Union of Concerned Scientists help scientists continue their valuable work). If you want to help protect the environment please donate to https://earthjustice.org/ You can also donate to help lawyers defend our constitution by going to https://www.aclu.org/ and the Brennan Center for Justice https://www.brennancenter.org/
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A Special shout out to Neil Richter for all of his help and engineering wizardry in getting TMSOG up and running each week.