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Plastic manufacturers want you to believe they can recycle plastic without polluting the world. Don't believe it.


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This week on Green Street, Patti and Doug talk about how plants take up plastic and what it means for agriculture (and your garden), how plastic dust from construction sites is a major source of worldwide pollution, and why the smoke from wildfires is much more hazardous and damaging than previously understood. Then Dr. Veena Singla from the National Resources Defense Council talks about the various ways in which plastic manufacturers are trying – so far unsuccessfully – to recycle their product and convince the public that our global plastic crisis can be easily solved. 


The Myth of Plastic Recycling with Dr. Veena Singla

Links from the Interview

Dr. Singla's page at the Sustainable Packaging Coalition: https://sustainablepackaging.org/people/veena-singla/

The Burning Truth Behind Chemical Recycling (video) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJGDCCgELMk


Links from the News

Plastic particles are infiltrating plants: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1097394#:~


New Jersey towns are limiting plastic pollution from construction sites: https://www.beyondplastics.org/board/brian-thompson


International group of scientists call for immediate action on PFAS chemicals: https://www.ehn.org/pfas-chemicals




 
 
 

Grants are being cancelled, government scientists are being fired, university research centers are being de-funded, and scientists are leaving the country in record numbers.

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This week on Green Street, Patti and Doug talk about the plastic industry’s effort to re-classify pyrolysis (burning of plastic) as “manufacturing,” the environmental havoc caused by flame retardant chemicals used in forest fires, and the possibility that the old Indian Point nuclear power plant just north of New York City will be re-activated to meet the growing demand for power. Then PhD biologist Dr. Sanda Steingraber talks about the current war on science, and reminds us of all the achievements that have been made possible through government funding of research. 


The War on Science - with Dr. Sandra Steingraber

Links from the Interview

The website of the Science and Environmental Health Network: https://www.sehn.org/

Dr. Steingraber's Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ssteingraber


Links from the News

Holtec International flotas the idea of re-opening the Indian Point nuclear plant: https://www.politico.com/news/2025/09/10/indian-point-owner-floats-restart-of-shuttered-nuclear-reactors-00552865


Firefighting chemicals wreak havoc on the environment: https://thenarwhal.ca/fire-retardant-wildfires-impact/


The plastic industry wants to re-classify pyrolysis at manufacturing. https://www.levernews.com/trump-clears-path-for-plastic-industrys-fake-recycling-fix/


 
 
 

Two investigative reporters from the Philadelphia Inquirer talk about what they found when they looked at the chemicals in artificial turf.

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This week on Green Street, Patti and Doug talk about firefighting gear that was supposed to be PFAS-free (but turned out not to be), hazardous mercury vapor emanating from school gymnasium floors, and how men, not women, are responsible for at least half of all fertility problems. Then, in an interview recorded a few years ago, reporters Barbara Laker and David Gambacorta from the Philadelphia Inquirer talk about what they discovered when they started looking at the chemicals in artificial turf fields. 

Green Street - Toxic Turf with Barbara Laker and David Gambacorta

Links from the interview:


Links from the news:


What Are We Doin"? (Music and lyrics by Doug Wood)

What Are We Doin'?

 
 
 
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