Microplastics in testicles? No, thank you!
An interview with Erica Cirino
Each week, there’s a new plastic horror story:
Microplastics found in testicles
Microplastics, found in seabird brains, are causing neurodegeneration that resembles Alzheimer’s.
Microplastics might lead to lung and colon cancers.
When I go to the grocery store, though, it’s as if plastic is harmless. Food is either wrapped in plastic or comes with plastic packaging, and so there I am, shopping with my tote bags, and still bringing home grapes in a plastic clamshell, cucumbers wrapped in plastic, bread in a plastic bag. What’s more, new products are showing up weekly and rather than being created with less plastic packaging, they seem to be created with more, like this dog food. Food producers don’t seem to mind the whole microplastics in testicles problem because plastic is cheap.
We’ve got to turn off the plastic tap. Erica Cirino, author of Thicker than Water, wrote a whole book about it. In 2022, I was lucky enough to talk to Erica, and her practical advice on reducing plastic is something I have return to over and over in my own life. Since our conversation feels more urgent than ever, I’m sharing it with you.
What moved you from being frustrated (for lack of a better word) with plastic to writing a book about the problem?
Erica: My experiences with plastic go back to when I was a teenager working as clinic assistant at a wildlife hospital on Long Island, NY. Over my years as a wildlife rehabilitator, I noticed an increasing number of plastic "victims": gulls with fishing lines and lures stuck down their throats, great-horned owls that had become seriously entangled in plastic soccer nets, osprey with balloon strings caught around their talons...the list goes on and on. In college, still working in rehabilitation, I took a course in environmental literature. I always have loved reading and writing and felt perhaps I could fuse my interests to tackle the plastic problem and other problems from a preventative angle, getting information out so people can act and prevent harming the Earth and its plants and animals—including humans. At the same time, I continued taking note of the plastic pulsing through society, with much finding its way into the natural places I often visited: the beach, woods, and waters around Long Island. In college I shifted course in my studies to set myself up for working as a freelance science photojournalist. One of my earliest in-the-field experiences at 24 was sailing across the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, and as I witnessed the dire situation at sea—something much worse than people commonly understand—I was compelled to write a book on the subject, and that turned into Thicker Than Water.
What is something effective readers can do in their own lives to reduce plastic?
Erica: The first thing to make clear is that while the industries that make and sell plastic, waste management operators, and governments have worked hard to convince us otherwise, recycling is not enough to address the plastic crisis and the most important thing that can be done is to stop making more plastic.
While massive change is needed on a systemic level, individuals can take an important and empowering step forward by reducing the amount of plastic they consume. It’s an action that sends a message to those around them as well as the industries churning out plastic waste.
Remember also there was a time before plastic was mass-produced, about 100 years ago. For most of human history, people did not have plastic. We still have these materials, which are usually more easily reused and recycled than most plastics: metals, paper, glass. It’s not enough to replace plastic with these other materials on an industrial level to keep making the same convenience products—that would strain other more problematic industries.
So how do we reduce plastic and other waste in our lives? Start rethinking the value of the things around you. So much of the plastic in our lives is single-use; it passes through our hands in seconds or minutes before being tossed. We have to start putting the brakes on our hyper-fast throwaway culture:
Take the time to bring reusable bags with you to the store instead of opting for paper or plastic
Make your own coffee in the morning instead of buying a cup to go
Spend time making dinner instead of getting takeout
Choose groceries with less or no packaging,
Grow your own food
Avoid clothing made of plastic
Buy secondhand
Learn how to repair your own stuff
Talk to others in your community about creating a compost program.
The possibilities are limitless when we begin thinking circularly—that is, in a way where we prioritize the massive reduction of waste through more intelligent and efficient uses of material and natural resources.
What is a change we can advocate for at the systems level?
Erica: The Earth is not limitless, despite the way industries exploit it. And circularity is not only going to prove important to apply to the way people think and live, but also in building the circular systems we need today on a planet strained by multiple catastrophic human-made crises.
When we think and talk about the plastic crisis, we must acknowledge its full range of detrimental effects on people and the planet. Plastics factories and petrochemical refineries disproportionately target communities of color for their deadly operations, as waste managers most commonly choose communities of color and other underserved communities as the destination of plastic and other trash. This is an outrageous form of racism and discrimination that’s been unfolding in the US and across the globe for more than a century, all to greatly profit the people who make and sell plastic, as well as those who produce plastic’s key petrochemical ingredients.
We must also recognize that governments have subsidized and supported production of plastic all along, and these same governments benefiting from plastic production have failed to keep communities safe from deadly pollution, and have enabled the complete colonization of plastic across the planet.
To change these systems is no small task, but people are already taking action in their local communities by forming small coalitions that address local needs, such as calling out dirty plastic industry and waste management tactics and illegal activities, setting up composting programs, monitoring regulatory enforcement and remediation efforts, participating in town hearings, sampling for pollution in neighborhoods, educating young people about zero waste, setting up repair cafes and reuse shops, and much more.
A great place to start making change is in the place you live. Join in on existing efforts, or start your own, and implement the values you want to see spread: justice, equity, accountability, circularity, caring.
Bio: Erica Cirino is a science writer, author, and artist exploring the intersection of the human and nonhuman worlds. Her widely published photojournalistic works depict the numerous ways people connect to nature—and each other—and shape planet Earth.
In her book, Thicker Than Water: The Quest for Solutions to the Plastic Crisis (published by Island Press, in October 2021), Erica documents plastic across ecosystems and elements; shares stories from the primarily Black, brown, Indigenous and rural communities that are disproportionally harmed by industrial pollution globally; and uncovers strategies that work to prevent plastic from causing further devastation to our planet and its inhabitants.
Links
Roundup I wrote for Electric Literature: 7 Books to Read When the World is On Fire.
For New York residents: You can help pass the Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure act, a piece of legislation that will help turn off the plastic tap.
My go-to recipe for making pad Thai at home and skipping take-out: I make this recipe vegetarian by swapping soy sauce for fish sauce (I know, but it works) and tofu in place of chicken and shrimp. Last weekend, I didn’t have beansprouts, so I added in shredded cabbage and carrots. What I’m saying, this recipe is a great base and the end results remind me of the pad Thai I used to buy on my lunch breaks as a teacher in Thailand.
Great interview.