“Plastics are everywhere in modern life,” Covering Climate Now wrote in a Climate Beat column in February 2024. “And since plastics are forever, the world’s seas are now littered with massive gyres of plastic waste — billions of tons of used food containers, water bottles, fishing gear, and other items that fragment into microplastics, ‘wreaking havoc on marine ecosystems,’ NOAA warns, and increasingly on human health.”
Now, a new documentary on Netflix dramatizes those health effects, especially for people trying to get pregnant. The Plastic Detox follows six US couples as they struggle with low sperm counts and other barriers to conceiving a child. Advising them is Dr. Shanna Swan, an epidemiologist at the Icahn School of Medicine in New York, whose research documents how endocrine-disrupting chemicals were giving baby boys “somewhat smaller penises” and, later in life, lower sperm counts. Her work has been featured on 60 Minutes and elsewhere.
Swan helps the couples limit their exposure to plastics by having them buy non-synthetic clothes — textiles, she says, are the largest source of microplastics in the environment — ditching cleaning and personal care products sold in plastic containers, and the like. Such detoxing improves sperm counts and other pregnancy-related variables, and some of the couples do become parents, though Swan is careful to acknowledge that this was “not a quote unquote scientific study,” since it lacked a control group and robust sample size.
With the world now producing twice as much plastic as it did in the 1990s, The Plastic Detox also highlights a related problem: the industry’s longstanding lie that recycling is a viable solution to the problem of plastic waste. Just as scientists at Exxon were privately telling management by the 1970s that continuing to burn fossil fuels could end civilization as we know it, plastic companies’ own scientists have for decades been telling them that recycling is not a real solution. In the words of an internal document described in The Plastics Detox and cited by the California Department of Justice in its ongoing lawsuit against ExxonMobil, “recyclability at scale is not financially viable.”
Oddly, what The Plastic Detox does not do is make the climate connection to plastics. The closest the documentary comes is to point out that almost all plastics in use today are made from petroleum. Indeed, the plastics industry and the fossil fuel industry are in many respects the same enterprise, and both sides of that enterprise want to keep production levels climbing. As the February 2024 Climate Beat column noted, “the oil industry sees plastics as a lifeline in the face of growing global efforts to transition away from fossil fuel in the name of climate survival. BP, for example, projects that plastics will account for 95% of demand for new oil over the next few decades. ‘Oil executives like to talk about how plastic can help “future-proof” the industry as the world moves away from its product for energy,’ journalist Amy Westervelt told Covering Climate Now.”
The ubiquity of plastics in our modern lives amounts to conducting a mass experiment on today’s children and their children without their consent, Philip Landrigan, a pediatrician and epidemiologist, says in The Plastic Detox. Landrigan is referring to the threat that endocrine-disrupting chemicals pose to humans’ ability to reproduce. But his point also applies to the ubiquity of fossil fuels, which still account for 80% of humanity’s total energy consumption. Solid journalism can help the public and policymakers understand that plastics and fossil fuels are two sides of the same coin, a coin that science is increasingly telling us should be left behind.
From Us
RSVP: Press Briefing: “Virtually Impossible” Heat & the Future of the American West. Join CCNow and Climate Central TODAY, Thursday, March 26, at 12pm US Pacific Time, for a one-hour press briefing on the heatwave that blanketed the American West, its connections with climate change, and what it means for the region’s future. Learn more and RSVP.
SEJ bound? Join CCNow and Solutions Journalism Network for a workshop on Wednesday, April 15. For more details, look on the schedule for “Workshop 3 — Mapping The Future of Climate Journalism,” from 1–4pm US Central Time. CCNow and Sentient will also co-host a happy hour on Friday, April 17, from 5:45–8pm, at Vintage Bar, one block from the conference venue. Join us!
Locally Sourced. The latest edition of our biweekly newsletter for local journalists explores allergies, including how climate change is worsening allergy season worldwide, data and graphics to ground your reporting, and sample stories to inspire your work. Check out the Locally Sourced archive and sign up to get the newsletter every other Tuesday.
Noteworthy Stories
War emissions. In the first two weeks of the US and Israel’s attacks on Iran, 5 million tons of carbon dioxide was emitted — equivalent to the combined total of the world’s 84 lowest-emitting countries over the same period. By Damien Gayle for The Guardian…
“Virtually impossible.” The heatwave blanketing the American West would have been “virtually impossible” without climate change, World Weather Attribution found in a rapid analysis last week. By Seth Borenstein for the Associated Press…
Uninsurable. The price of insuring a home is skyrocketing around the US, thanks in part to the cost of building supplies, but largely due to climate change–fueled extreme weather. In fact, from 2024 to 2025, prices rose an average of 12% nationwide, according to a report by the insurance price comparison firm Insurify. By Jake Bittle, Emily Jones, Juanpablo Ramirez-Franco, Vivian La, Anila Yoganathan, Katie Myers, and Clayton Aldern for Grist…
- Story idea! Check the Insurify report to see how home insurance prices are changing in your area and help audiences understand why they might be paying more to protect their homes.
Climate damages. A new study published in the research journal Nature estimates that the US, the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases in history, has caused $10 trillion in GDP damages worldwide, due to the country’s contributions to climate change. China, the second largest historical emitter, is estimated to have caused $9 trillion in damages. By Oliver Milman for The Guardian…
Out of balance. The latest State of the Global Climate report, released by the World Meteorological Organization, introduced a new metric for evaluating the progression of climate change. Earth’s “energy imbalance” compares the rate at which solar energy enters and leaves the planet; the report finds that solar energy is being trapped in Earth’s atmosphere at a greater rate than ever before. By Bob Berwyn for Inside Climate News…
Resources & Events
Social training. The Earth Journalism Network is hosting a workshop in Visakhapatnam, India for climate communicators and content creators about renewable energy. Learn more and apply by April 10.
Global food system. Project Drawdown is hosting a webinar about food-focused climate solutions on Friday, April 10, at 1pm US Eastern Time (17:00h UTC). Learn more and RSVP.
Climate futures. The Salata Institute for Climate and Sustainability at Harvard University is hosting an in-person event, “The Michigan Futures Initiative: A Climate Solutions Accelerator at the University of Michigan,” on Tuesday, April 7, from 11:30am–1:30pm US Eastern Time. Learn more and RSVP.
Young audiences. The Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism has published an analysis of youth attitudes and engagement with traditional news media, “Understanding young news audiences at a time of rapid change.”
Jobs, Etc.
Jobs. Mississippi River Basin Ag & Water Desk is hiring an Assistant Editorial Director (Columbia, Mo.). Grist is hiring a Reporter (US remote). Canary Media is hiring a Development Director (US remote). New York Focus is hiring an Interim Climate and Environment Reporter (remote in New York State, five-month contract). Mountain State Spotlight is hiring an Environment and Energy Reporter (Charleston, W.V.). Mongabay is hiring for a Contributing Editor, Asia Pacific (remote). Dialogue Earth is hiring a Mexico and Central America Regional Editor (Mexico, preferred; otherwise, Central America).
Fellowships. NYU Stern School of Business is accepting applications for its Climate Economics Journalism Fellowship; apply by April 20. Sentient is recruiting a Student Editorial Fellow; apply by May 29 (remote).
Internships. Scientific American is hiring a news intern (New York, N.Y.). Planet Detroit is hiring a Detroit Community Engagement Journalism Intern (Detroit, Mich.).
Grant. The Journalismfund Europe is accepting proposals for its Professional Development for Environmental Journalism. The Pulitzer Center is accepting proposals for its Impact Seed Fund to support educational and engagement initiatives in Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia.