There’s No Great Future in Plastics

Flash Forward

Flash Forward Presents

Science

4.8 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 12 December 2017

⏱️ 35 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This episode is all about a world without plastic. What would that look like? Is it even possible? Today, plastic is seen as one of our great environmental enemies. But it actually wasn’t always that way. Bradford Harris, a historian of science and the host of a podcast called How It Began: A History of the Modern World, and Susan Freinkel, a journalist and the author of Plastic: A Toxic Love Story, walk us through how plastic started out as a solution to unsustainable practices. Then we talk to Sherry Lippiatt, California Regional Coordinator for the NOAA Marine Debris Program, about what exactly is going on with garbage in the ocean. And finally I visit Danielle Trofe at her studio in Brooklyn, where she grows sustainable materials using mushrooms. Further reading: Debbie Chachra on peak plastics "On a scale beyond all previous conceptions" [electronic resource] : plastics and the preservation of modernity Bradford Harris: Plastics and Sustainability Our 'Toxic' Love-Hate Relationship With Plastics 99 Percent Invisible: The Post-Billiards Age Plastic waste inputs from land into the ocean There Is No Island of Trash in the Pacific Global Plastic Production Rises, Recycling Lags Different Types of Plastics and their Classification Health risks posed by use of Di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP) in PVC medical devices: A critical review How Stuff Works: bioplastics Taxation and Regulation of Plastic Shopping Bags in Botswana and South Africa GROW: A Lamp YOU Grow from Mushroom Mycelium Flash Forward is produced by me, Rose Eveleth. The intro music is by Asura and the outtro music is by Hussalonia. The voices from the future this episode were provided by Lisa Pollak, Arielle Duhaime-Ross, Brent Rose, Victor Dorff and Mary Beth Griggs. The episode art is by Matt Lubchansky. If you want to suggest a future we should take on, send us a note on Twitter, Facebook or by email at info@flashforwardpod.com. We love hearing your ideas! And if you think you’ve spotted one of the little references I’ve hidden in the episode, email us there too. If you’re right, I’ll send you something cool. And if you want to support the show, there are a few ways you can do that too! Head to www.flashforwardpod.com/support for more about how to give. But if that’s not in the cards for you, you can head to iTunes and leave us a nice review or just tell your friends about us. Those things really do help. That’s all for this future, come back next time and we’ll travel to a new one. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and I'm your host.
0:02.0	Flash Forward is a show about the future.
0:14.8	Every episode we take on a specific possible or not so possible future scenario.
0:20.3	We always start with a little field trip to the future to check out what's going on,
0:24.0	and then we teleport back to today to talk to experts about how that world we just heard
0:28.6	might really go down.
0:30.6	Got it?
0:31.6	Great. This episode we're starting in the year 2040. Amanda and Patrick Henderson were escorted by armed guards to and from the facility,
0:52.0	but were able to retrieve their child without any incidents.
0:54.5	Turkey taught got quite the surprise when President Jim Briskin lined up at the starting line. New Year's Chapter 6.
1:03.0	Therefore, leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on and...
1:07.0	President Adam Susan signed an executive order today banning the use of all plastics in a move that shocked environmentalists and plastics manufacturers alike.
1:20.0	The order comes with little explanation or direction.
1:23.5	It does not specify which types of plastics should be banned or how the band should be enforced.
1:29.0	As with so many recent executive orders, right now, no one is sure what happens next
1:34.3	Swahilda Capellius from member station KJZZ reports.
1:40.0	President Susan didn't take questions after signing his executive order, but his brief speech before signing the document gave a few clues as to the motivation behind the order.
1:51.0	Our nation is strong because thanks to our independence. We rely on no
1:56.7	one and not only are we seeking energy independence but we must also seek
2:01.6	materials independence.
2:03.4	Yes, we cannot waste a drop of petroleum
2:07.1	our most precious commodity.
	...

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