A Silent Killer Named Plastic / Judith Enck

This Is Hell!

News

4.9 • 937 Ratings

🗓️ 3 February 2026

⏱️ 64 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Judith Enck joins This Is Hell! to talk about the book that she recently co-authored of, "The Problem with Plastic: How We Can Save Ourselves and Our Planet Before It’s Too Late”, published by The New Press. https://thenewpress.org/books/the-problem-with-plastic/?v=eb65bcceaa5f Judith is the founder and president of Beyond Plastics, whose goal is eliminating plastic pollution everywhere. In 2009, she was appointed by President Obama to serve as regional administrator at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and served as deputy secretary for the environment in the New York Governor’s Office. She is currently a professor at Bennington College, where she teaches classes on plastic pollution. https://www.beyondplastics.org/ We will have new installments of Rotten History and Hangover Cure. We will also be sharing your answers to this week's Question from Hell! from Patreon. Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: www.patreon.com/thisishell

Transcript

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0:00.0	prayed at her edge and gave thanks for this life
0:05.0	when the water fell from the sky and we drank from her pool zone
0:11.0	Take a turn This is hell. This is hell.
0:40.3	The pan...
0:41.3	Wow.
0:43.3	That's what I get for taking a sip of coffee right before going on air.
0:46.3	The planet's on fire.
0:48.3	So, yes, this is hell.
0:52.3	Okay, the planet's not literally on fire yet, but with the burning of fossil fuels,
0:58.0	setting records every year, while only a global pandemic could slow that trend, it's definitely
1:04.7	heating up a lot faster than even the most pessimistic climatologists predicted.
1:10.4	Those same corporations contributing the most
1:12.9	to CO2 emissions by extracting, refining, distributing, and then pumping fuel into your tank at the
1:18.4	gas station are also all part of a petrochemical industry that has unleashed plastics and its pollution
1:24.8	on our warming planet. Nowadays, plastics are not only everywhere, but they are forever.
1:30.3	They're not only in our bodies and our blood,
1:33.3	but the air we breathe and the water we drink.
1:36.3	Even in the most remote areas of the world,
1:39.3	PIFAS were discovered a few years ago on the top of Mount Everest in the air.
1:48.7	In a few minutes, we'll consider plastics.
1:50.9	They're dangerous to public health.
1:52.6	The industry propaganda deflects so much criticism, what we should do about them beyond
	...

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