Plastic

Video

Synthetic Sea Preview from Algalita Foundation on plastic gyre.

Bag It documentary on plastic.

Fun mocumentary on the plastic bag. alt link

Are mushrooms the new plastic? (TEDtalk video)

Artist Dianna Cohen shares some tough truths about plastic pollution in the ocean and in our lives. TEDtalk video.

Tapped, a new documentary about the bottled water industry from director Stephanie Soechtig and the producers of Who Killed the Electric Car?, is a pretty damning look at how consumers have been tricked into spending too much money on water packaged in plastic and quite often not as clean as what's available from the faucet.trailer

Pacific Gyre filled with plastic. PBS news segment featuring UCSC folk.

Capt. Charles Moore of the Algalita Marine Research Foundation first discovered the Great Pacific Garbage Patch -- an endless floating waste of plastic trash. New CNN video segment7/16 update audio.

Audio

Boat Made of Plastic Bottles to Sail the Pacific. How do you raise awareness about plastic debris floating in the Pacific? You sail a boat made out of 15,000 plastic bottles from California to Hawaii. Marine scientists Joel Paschal and Marcus Erikson discuss their voyage.

David de Rothschild Sets Sail on Plastic Ship Plastiki to Pacific Gyre "Great Garbage Patch" Gyre slideshow. recent local audio interview and links. See also Solid Waste page. UCSC video of deep sea plastic.

Head of San Francisco's Department of the Environment, Jared Blumenfeld helped devise groundbreaking and sometimes controversial initiatives such as mandatory composting and a ban on plastic bags. Last month, he was named head of the federal Environmental Protection Agency's regional office. 2/10

Elizabeth Royte interviewed on new book Bottlemania on water bottles.

Elizabeth Royte's new book Bottlemania: How Water Went on Sale and Why We Bought It (includes Podcast interview) Her previous book Garbage Land is a good read.

Books

Elizabeth Royte's new book Bottlemania: How Water Went on Sale and Why We Bought It (includes Podcast interview). Another interview, text. Her previous book Garbage Land is a good read.

Garbage Land: On the Secret Trail of Trash by Elizabeth Royte Introduction "Amphibious Assault" "Satan's Resin" on plastics and e-waste

UCSC Provost Szasz's book on bottled water Excerpt.

Moby Duck (short article/audio) and longer interview with text excerpt. In 1992, a cargo ship container tumbled into the North Pacific, dumping 28,000 rubber ducks and other bath toys that were headed from China to the U.S. Currents took them, and news reports said some may have eventually reached Maine and other shores on the Atlantic. Thirteen years later, journalist Donovan Hohn undertook a mission: He wanted to track the movements of the wayward ducks, from the comfort of his own living room. It didn't work out that way, as you can tell from the complete title: Moby-Duck: The True Story of 28,800 Bath Toys Lost at Sea and of the Beachcombers, Oceanographers, Environmentalists and Fools, Including the Author, Who Went in Search of Them.

Diary of an Eco-Outlaw} is by and [http://www.chelseagreen.com/2006/items/unreasonablewomanpa An Unreasonable Womanis about Diane Wilson, a fourth-generation fisherwoman, leads a one-woman crusade against Dow and other petrochemical plants, which create 17% of America’s pollution from her Texas town of 1,352. These factories have turned Seadrift from a traditional fishing port into a massive chemical cocktail that poisons the surrounding air, earth and waters, sardonically dubbed Texas Gold, video excerpt. From Texas to Wall Street to the front lawn of former Union Carbide CEO Warren Anderson's multi-million dollar mansion on Long Island -- all the while chased by Texas Rangers charged with bringing her to justice -- Diane pursues a reckless industry with a soft drawl, dogged determination and her own special brand of Southern bad-ass fisherwoman humor. In the 16 years since she began her fight, Diane has received death threats and suffered intimidation tactics; shots were fired at her house from a helicopter and her dog was poisoned.Democracy Now interview.

Articles

Article on plastic bags at Salon.com

Article "The truth about recycling" in The Economist (Jun 7th 2007) has good history

An excellent article on bottled water

The Story of Bottled Water from the people who brought you The Story of Stuff.

Overview of Plastic's effect, especially on Marine ecosystems. Includes videos and legislation you can take action on.

Endocrine disruptors are dangerous chemicals that alter the natural function of the body's hormones. They are frequently used in plastics, in pesticides, and in personal care products and act in the human body as a "false" version of estrogen. They appear to be linked to a variety of diseases, including sexual dysfunction, heart disease, metabolic disorders, and cancer. Grist. The classic work is Our Stolen Future

Health and the Environment. Linda Birnbaum, director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences addresses the risks of plastic additives, lead and mercury -- and the connections between the environment and cancer, asthma and reproductive health. 2/10

BPA Update. Bisphenol-A or BPA may soon hit the list of known toxins under California's Proposition 65, the law that lets state regulators restrict the use of toxic chemicals and require warnings on product labels. 3/10