Judith Enck is a former regional administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, appointed by President Barack Obama, and the founder of Beyond Plastics, an organization dedicated to eradicating plastic pollution worldwide. She joins Mongabay's podcast to discuss how governments can implement policies to turn off the tap on plastic pollution, which harms human health and devastates our ecological systems — solutions she outlines in her new book with co-author Adam Mahoney, The Problem with Plastic: How We Can Save Ourselves and Our Planet Before It's Too Late.

"We now have all of this evidence. We have no choice but to act. Because who's going to stand by and let us turn the ocean into a watery landfill? Who's going to stand by and read health study after health study about microplastics in our brains and breast milk and testicles? Not taking action is not an option," she says.

Image credit: Judith Enck holding a copy of The Problem with Plastic. Image by Jerrick Mitra

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Timecodes

(00:00) The Problem with plastic

(02:55) Unpacking the plastic recycling myth

(08:31) Health impacts of plastic pollution

(12:43) Government and policy solutions

(31:43) Individual actions

(37:22) Plastic pollution and wildlife impacts

(45:52) Plastics and climate change