It’s Plastic-free July and we’re talking today with journalist, podcaster, and author Amy Westervelt about the surprising resurgence of sustainable plastic claims in the media despite growing public concern. Amy’s first Drilled podcast series this season is about plastic and the machinations of one media manipulator, Rick Berman, who launched the Save the Plastic Bag Coalition among many dodgy campaigns backed by tobacco, plastic, and oil companies. We discuss what’s coming this season on Drilled and the potential for consumers to reshape the economy by refusing to buy products delivered in plastic packaging. We also explore the opportunities to simplify plastic recycling, new molecular recycling options, and the role of Plastic-free July in public discourse about the ubiquitous, polluting material.
If you are not already listening to her podcast, Drilled, a true-crime-style podcast about climate change, you should subscribe. The new season of Drilled started last week. Amy is also the creator of the Critical Frequency podcast network — it focuses on climate issues — and she has written for The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Guardian, and NPR. Amy was a 2016 winner of the Edward R. Murrow Award for her exposés on the hidden environmental and human costs of Tesla’s Gigafactory in Nevada.
You can follow everything Amy does at amywestervelt.com and find the Drilled podcast on the Critical Frequency network.
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