Plastics vs Public Health Moving from Personal Responsibility to Corporate Accountability

An Island Press webinar

Thursday, September 28, 2023 - 1:00pm EDT
Webinars

Plastic is everywhere. The air we breathe, the foods we eat, the homes we live in, and the bodies we occupy are filled with micro- and nanoplastics. As plastic continues breaking down into tinier pieces, it infiltrates every element of our world. How is this toxin affecting our bodies and the bodies of our children?

Two-thirds of all cancer cases are linked to preventable environmental causes. Medical advances continue to improve disease treatment, yet cancer still claims the lives of one in five men and one in six women in the US. Is the rise in cancer related to a rise in plastic pollution?

We can’t buy our ways out of the omnipresence of plastic pollution. It’s time for a different approach. One where we venture beyond personal responsibility and into the sphere of corporate accountability and political will.

Island Press hosted a conversation with Kristina Marusic, author of A New War on Cancer: The Unlikely Heroes Revolutionizing Prevention, and Matt Simon, author of A Poison Like No Other: How Microplastics Corrupted Our Planet and Our Bodies. Judith Enck, president of Beyond Plastics, Bennington College professor and former EPA regional administrator, moderated.

Participants

Matt Simon | An Island Press author

Matt Simon

Matt Simon has been a science journalist at Wired magazine for nine years. He covers a range of beats, including biology, robotics, climate change, and of course, microplastic pollution. He is the creator of Wired’s Absurd Creature of the Week column, which ran from September 2013 to March 2016. This later turned into the weekly web video series Absurd Creatures, which was then adapted into the hit Netflix series Absurd Planet, which premiered in April 2020. Matt is the author of two previous books.

Kristina Marusic | An Island Press author

Kristina Marusic

Kristina Marusic is an award-winning journalist who covers environmental health and justice for Environmental Health News. She holds an MFA in nonfiction writing from the University of San Francisco, and her personal essays and reporting on topics ranging from the environment, LGBTQ+ equality, and politics to feminism, food, and travel have been published by outlets including CNN, Slate, Vice, Women's Health, the Washington Post, MTV News, The Advocate, and Bustle, among others.