I learn more every day about the magical murderous material we call plastic. And I’m delighted to report that I’ve been hearing from folks all over as we gear up for Earth Day in April, for which the theme will be— are you ready?— Planet vs. Plastics!!

This message arrives not a moment too soon. Perhaps you’ve noticed that new studies seem to be coming out every day telling us all the terrible places plastic is showing up, and what it costs us: 

• Did you know that a new study estimates that exposure to plastic chemicals was responsible for $250 billion in health care costs in 2018 alone?
• Or that another study showed that 90% of food proteins- including chicken, fish, pork and plant-based meat alternatives- contain microplastics? 
• Or that yet another study found that recycled plastic contains “an unknown number of chemical substances in unknown concentrations”?
• Did you know that the plastics industry has started lobbying your kids?

The bad news keeps coming. I think the temptation is to see bad news as a bad thing, as in: “Ugh! Can it get any worse?” but honestly I think this information is JUST WHAT WE NEED. We need to know the shocking information in order to motivate people towards change.

My mantra has become: not by bamboo toothbrushes alone will we stop the Plastic Waste Crisis. Yes, personal responsibility is important, but AT THE SAME TIME so is legislation. And speaking of legislation, Greenpeace is asking folks to tell the Biden Administration that they care about the Global Plastics Treaty being negotiated at the United Nations right now, in the form of an online petition you can sign. Here is what it looks like:

I’ve done it and it literally takes two minutes, so I’m asking everyone to take a moment and weigh in here.

Finally, here is a link to an awesome and very fun podcast interview I did with Jeffrey Treistman and Matthew Schmidt of Impolitic. We cover A LOT of ground, including Darth Vader, adult diapers, some very bad Dad jokes, and the argument against recycling plastic. I hope you’ll check it out- you can listen here.