Citizens' Climate Radio Ep. 35: Plastic Pollution And Heavy Metal

Citizens’ Climate Radio is a monthly podcast hosted by CCL volunteer Peterson Toscano. Browse all our past episode recaps here, or listen to past episodes here, and check out the latest episode in the post below.

Nicole Chatterson at the University of Hawaii and Dominic Scicchitano at Bucknell University in Pennsylvania have spent a lot of time in the water. Nicole talks about plastic pollution she has been hauling up in the Pacific Ocean while Dominic shares his findings regarding micro-plastics in the Susquehanna River. The segment helps listeners connect plastic production and pollution with climate change. What happens to our trash once we throw it out?

Nicole discusses the complications of the waste to energy incinerator on the island of Oahu. Both guests also talk about the need to advocate for systems changes that will reduce plastic waste especially from single use plastics. Discover the individual and larger policy changes that will help us reduce greenhouse gas emissions. 

Check out the the insightful and moving conversation in the episode here:


The Art House
Peter Buckland is a local politician, a sustainability expert at Penn State University, and a poet. He also loves to listen to music. He talks about the powerful environmental messages he hears in heavy metal music. Discover how this loud and very fast music speaks directly to the climate change problems we created and must address.

The Puzzler 
We hear answers to the puzzler question, "If global warming is happening, why did we just have such cold weather this past winter in the USA?" 

New Puzzler Question

This puzzler is for people in groups like Citizens Climate Lobby that speak to members of Congress.

You attended one of the recent student walk-out demonstrations. While there you spoke to a parent, Claire.  Claire’s daughter was a protest organizer. You told Claire about the work you do speaking to legislators about laws that will address fossil fuel pollution. You see yourself as an advocate, working in the system to bring about change. Claire confessed, “I would never have the patience for that. I am so angry and I need to protest.” She then asked, “Why do you do that kind of advocacy work instead of protesting and civil disobedience?”

Send Peterson your answers by May 15, 2019, along with your name, contact info, and where you are from. You can email your answers to radio@citizensclimate.org or leave a voicemail of three minutes or less at 518.595.9414 (+1 if calling from outside the USA). 

Dig Deeper

• How Big is the Great Pacific Garbage Patch? Science Vs. Myth (NOAA)
• Greenhouse Gas Emissions from the Plastic Processing Industry (Natural Resources Canada)
• Middle Susquehanna River Keeper
• Moshing for the Environment: Heavy Metal and Climate Change

You can hear Citizens’ Climate Radio on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher Radio, SoundCloud, Podbean, Northern Spirit Radio, Google Play, PlayerFM, and TuneIn Radio. Also, feel free to connect with other listeners, suggest program ideas, and respond to programs in the Citizens’ Climate RadioFacebook group or on Twitter at @CitizensCRadio.

If you listen on Apple Podcasts, please consider rating and reviewing us!