Plastic rain

Today, Explained

Vox

Daily News, Politics, News

4.4 • 9.5K Ratings

🗓️ 11 July 2025

⏱️ 27 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

We're revisiting an episode from earlier this year about how we were mostly able to get the acid rain problem under control...only to find ourselves with a plastic rain problem. This episode was produced by Avishay Artsy, edited by Jolie Myers, fact-checked by Victoria Chamberlin, engineered by Patrick Boyd and Andrea Kristinsdottir, and hosted by Sean Rameswaram. Listen to Today, Explained ad-free by becoming a Vox Member: vox.com/members. Transcript at vox.com/today-explained-podcast. A handful of small plastic pellets, which are used as the raw material for nearly all plastic products, and wash up all over the world. Photo by Thilina Kaluthotage/NurPhoto via Getty Images. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	It's summertime.
0:02.0	Happy summertime.
0:04.0	And maybe you're not totally happy because of that one war or that other war,
0:10.0	or your concerns over our trade war, or maybe you're worried about some new war.
0:15.0	But at least we've got summer and the sun, or where I live in DC we've got rain and sun.
0:21.6	Summer in DC means lots and lots of rain, just like earth-shattering thunderstorms that break
0:27.6	when the humidity builds and builds and builds and the skies just can't take it anymore.
0:33.6	And it turns out there's plastic in that rain? Not like big chunks of plastic.
0:39.2	Our old Arch Nemesis microplastics are in the rain.
0:43.2	And earlier this year we explained, and today we're going to revisit that explanation.
0:50.5	Megan Rapino here.
0:52.1	This week on a touch more, we're talking all about the WMBA All-Star roster with ESPN analyst and former All-Star herself, Chenaya Gumake.
1:02.0	She also tells us what she wants to see from the CBA negotiations.
1:06.2	Plus, I'm sharing some of the record-breaking updates from the Euros in Switzerland.
1:11.7	Check out the latest episode of A Touch More, wherever you get your podcast, and on YouTube.
1:17.6	Support for the show today comes from New York Magazine.
1:20.3	Our colleagues, hello, New York Magazine, is dropping a special Hampton's issue on June 23rd,
1:27.2	spotlighting the personality's social scenes
1:29.9	and shifting power dynamics
1:32.0	that define the summer enclave
1:34.6	alongside the season's most exciting new openings.
1:38.4	If that's for you,
	...

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