Uncertain Forecast, Episode 1 - What Is Plastic?

Welcome to Uncertain Forecast, a podcast series created by the California Center for Ethics and Policy--or “CCEP”--at Cal Poly Pomona. The focus of our podcast is on climate justice, an issue that affects people worldwide, particularly where inequality is greatest, but which is often disguised or invisible.

In this first episode, CPP bio student Alec Iskenderian takes a close look at what people think of plastics. Inspired by an exotoxicology class where Alec learned that it takes about 500 years for plastic to degrade into a form of energy that can be used for living things, Alec interviews everyone he can, random people on the street, and a professor at Cal Poly Pomona, to find out more about the impact of plastics in our lives and the lives of the ecosystems and organisms around us. But he also looks at where we, people and their everyday lives, figure into this class of materials called plastic – how much do we produce, how does it affect public health, what is the relationship between plastic and climate change, and what, exactly, is plastic? 

We ask that if you like what you hear, if you care about these issues, please share our podcast with your friends, family, and colleagues.