This week, This Matters is publishing episodes of the Toronto Star's new podcast Small Things Big Climate.

Plastic is a miracle substance that's revolutionized healthcare, keeping things sterile, and has replaced glass and metal packaging, reducing carbon emissions from shipping goods. It even keeps produce fresh for longer, reducing waste and the carbon emissions that come from rotting food.

But those positives have for too long overshadowed the negatives. Some plastic is toxic. It's building up in the ecosystem and in our bodies. Today, plastic can be found in virtually every aspect of our lives. Not only in shopping bags, pop bottles and straws, but in places you'd never expect, like furniture and construction materials, and clothes. Yes clothes. Join us for a shopping trip to learn how your pants are contributing to climate change.

Guests: Kelly Drennan, founder of Fashion Takes Action and Max Liboiron, a professor of geography at Memorial University of Newfoundland and director of the Civic Laboratory for Environmental Action Research (CLEAR).