Plastic Podcast | Pollution, Policy, and People

🎧 New from Pine Forest Media: Oceanography

From the creators of The Plastic Podcast, Oceanography is a new weekly series exploring the science, policy, and people working to protect our oceans. Hosted by science communicator Clark Marchese, the podcast blends rigorous journalism with storytelling to uncover what’s happening beneath the surface—and why it matters.

Each episode features global experts, including marine biologists, oceanographers, Indigenous leaders, and climate advocates. Topics include how whales communicate underwater, the magic of bioluminescent sharks, deep-sea ecosystems, and new fishing gear designed to protect endangered species.

You’ll also hear from leaders at UNESCO and the Marine Protected Area Collaborative Network as they share how international treaties and local action are shaping the future of marine conservation.

🎧 Listen to the trailer now and follow the show for new episodes starting July 29.

🌊 Subscribe to Oceanography on Spotify, on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you stream.

🌐 More at pineforestpods.com

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How does a global plastics treaty get negotiated? Researcher Tara Olsen joins host Clark Marchese to explain the process, actors, and competing interests behind the United Nations effort to regulate plastic pollution. Using the road to the Busan negotiations as context, they discuss international environmental law, national sovereignty, industry and civil-society influence, and the difference between signing and ratifying a treaty. This evergreen UN plastic treaty guide focuses on how global environmental agreements are built and what determines whether they can deliver meaningful accountability.

Episode Guests: Tara Olsen 

Connect with Tara Olsen here.

More on the Scientist’s Coalition for an Effective Plastics Treaty

Follow the treaty negotiations with CIEL 

Follow the treaty negotiations with IISD 

More information about the episode and the Plastic Podcast

Episode Transcript and more information on the Pine Forest Media Website.

Follow Pine Forest Media on Instagram @pineforestmedia

Hosted, produced, and edited by Clark Marchese 

Cover art and PFM logo by Laurel Wong. 

Theme music by Tadeo Cabellos

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Anti-plastic norms spread when health enters the story. Global health policy researcher Leah Shipton explains how local plastic bag bans developed into an international movement, with examples from early policy adopters including Bangladesh and Kenya. She and host Clark Marchese discuss norm entrepreneurs, industry opposition, media attention, policy learning, and the power of framing plastic pollution as a health issue. The episode traces the path from grassroots anti-plastic movements to global plastics governance and the negotiations for a United Nations treaty.

Episode Guest: Leah Shipton

Find more information about Leah Shipton here. 

Find a link to Leah Shipton’s article here.

Find more of Leah Shipton’s research on Google Scholar

Follow Leah Shipton on X

More information about the episode and the Plastic Podcast

Episode Transcript and more information on the Pine Forest Media Website.

Follow Pine Forest Media on Instagram @pineforestmedia

Hosted, produced, and edited by Clark Marchese 

Cover art and PFM logo by Laurel Wong. 

Theme music by Tadeo Cabellos 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Cancer Alley links plastic production to public health. Dr. Kimberly Terrell and Gianna St. Julien of the Tulane Environmental Law Clinic explain research on toxic air pollution, cancer risk, and racial disparities along Louisiana’s petrochemical corridor. Host Clark Marchese examines environmental racism, the burden of proof placed on fenceline communities, and the grassroots groups seeking stronger protection and accountability. This case study connects petrochemical pollution, plastic production, public health, and environmental policy while showing how community-centered science can support advocacy.

Episode Guests: Dr. Kimberly Terrell and Gianna St. Julien

More on the Tulane Environmental Law Clinic

Find the Toxic Air Pollution Report here

Find the Racial Demographic Report here

More on the Louisiana Bucket Brigade 

More on Rise St. James

More on Concerned Citizens of St. John

Pine Forest Media Something in the Water episode on plastic here

More information about the episode and the Plastic Podcast

Episode Transcript and more information on the Pine Forest Media Website.

Follow Pine Forest Media on Instagram @pineforestmedia

Hosted, produced, and edited by Clark Marchese 

Cover art and PFM logo by Laurel Wong. 

Theme music by Tadeo Cabellos

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ocean garbage patches are also living habitats. Marine ecologist Dr. Mark Gibbons introduces neuston, the diverse organisms that live on or just below the ocean surface, from bluebottles and sea snails to fish eggs and larvae. He joins Plastic Podcast to explain research in the South Indian Ocean subtropical gyre, where floating life and plastic debris can occupy the same waters. The episode examines what scientists know, and still do not know, about neuston and plastic, with important implications for ocean cleanup proposals and marine conservation.

Episode Guests: Dr. Mark Gibbons

Find more information about Dr. Gibbons here. 

Find a link to Dr. Gibbon’s article here.

Find more of Dr. Gibbon’s research on Google Scholar

Find images of all the cool neuston we talked about today here. 

More information about the episode and the Plastic Podcast

Episode Transcript and more information on the Pine Forest Media Website.

Follow Pine Forest Media on Instagram @pineforestmedia

Hosted, produced, and edited by Clark Marchese 

Cover art and PFM logo by Laurel Wong. 

Theme music by Tadeo Cabellos 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tourism creates more plastic waste than travelers see. Green marketing and sustainable development researcher Dr. Farzana Quoquab explains why plastic consumption often rises in popular destinations and why responsibility cannot rest on tourists alone. The episode explores the roles of hotels, businesses, governments, infrastructure, and consumer behavior, with examples from Malaysia, the Maldives, and other tourism economies. The episode connects plastic pollution and tourism with sustainable travel, single-use plastic reduction, and the coordinated changes needed to protect destinations and local communities.

Episode Guests: Dr. Farzana Quoquab 

Find more information about Dr. Quoquab here. 

Find a link to Dr. Quoquab’s article here.

Find more of Dr. Quoquab’s research on Google Scholar and Research Gate

Find the article about Cape Town, beach pollution, and the impact on the local economy here. 

More information about the episode and the Plastic Podcast

Episode Transcript and more information on the Pine Forest Media website

Follow Pine Forest Media on Instagram @pineforestmedia

Hosted, produced, and edited by Clark Marchese 

Cover art and PFM logo by Laurel Wong. 

Theme music by Tadeo Cabellos 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ocean plastic hotspots are not where maps expect. Dr. Annika Jahnke and researcher Robby Rynek bring Plastic Podcast aboard a Pacific research expedition from Vancouver to Singapore. They explain how scientists sample macroplastics and microplastics, why currents create shifting concentrations, and what surprising measurements reveal about Pacific Ocean plastic pollution. Rather than declaring one particle size the greater threat, the episode shows how different plastics move through marine environments and why better plastic pollution mapping is essential for research and policy.

Episode Guests: Dr. Annika Jahnke and Robby Rynek

Find a link to Dr. Annika Jahnke and Robby Rynek’s project here

Find a link to Dr. Annika Jahnke and Robby Rynek’s article here

More information about the episode and the Plastic Podcast

Episode Transcript  and more information on the Pine Forest Media Website

Follow Pine Forest Media on Instagram @pineforestmedia

Hosted, produced, and edited by Clark Marchese 

Cover art and PFM logo by Laurel Wong. 

Theme music by Tadeo Cabellos 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Digital tools are reshaping plastic recovery in Africa. Dr. Seun Kolade and Wunmi Ogunde discuss research on digitally enabled business models for a circular plastic economy in Africa. They explain s how mobile platforms, data, and new business models can connect households with waste services, reorganize plastic value chains, and expand economic participation. The conversation also addresses informal waste workers, gender equity, local infrastructure, and the danger of treating a diverse continent as one market. This is a grounded look at digital waste management, plastic recycling in Africa, and circular economy innovation.

Episode Guests: Dr. Seun Kolade and Wunmi Ogunde

Find more on Dr. Kolade at the Sheffield Hallam University and on LinkedIn

Virtually attend the POLCON conference

Find Ogunde on LinkedIn

More from Dr. Kolade and Ogunde:

Find the article that the episode covered here

Book: Digital Innovations for a circular plastic economy in Africa 

Journal article: The environment for a digitally enabled circular plastics economy in Africa: lessons from cross-sectional stakeholder engagements

More on PAKAM in Nigeria

More on WeCyclers in Nigeria

More on Yo-Waste in Uganda

More information about the episode and the Plastic Podcast

Episode Transcript  and more information on the Pine Forest Media Website

Follow Pine Forest Media on Instagram @pineforestmedia

Hosted, produced, and edited by Clark Marchese 

Cover art and PFM logo by Laurel Wong. 

Theme music by Tadeo Cabellos 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Plastic governance changes when Indigenous voices lead. Researcher Riley Cotter joins Plastic Podcast to discuss microplastics research, Indigenous participation, and the colonial assumptions built into many environmental institutions. Rather than presenting Indigenous peoples as a single group or treating knowledge as an add-on, the conversation centers sovereignty, diversity, relationships, and the right to shape research and policy. This episode examines Indigenous plastic pollution governance and what justice-oriented participation requires from scientists, governments, and environmental organizations.

Episode Guests: Riley Cotter

Read Riley Cotter’s Review of Participation of Indigenous Peoples in Plastics Pollution Governance

Read Dr. Max Libiron’s article Pollution is Colonialism 

Find more information about the CLEAR Lab

More information about the episode and the Plastic Podcast

Episode Transcript  and more information on the Pine Forest Media Website

Follow Pine Forest Media on Instagram @pineforestmedia

Hosted, produced, and edited by Clark Marchese 

Cover art and PFM logo by Laurel Wong. 

Theme music by Tadeo Cabellos 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Can plastics ever become carbon negative? Dr. Vassilis Daioglou of the PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency explains how integrated assessment models test possible futures for carbon-negative plastics and climate change. He and host Clark Marchese examine scenarios involving emissions pricing, higher recycling rates, and bio-based materials within a circular bioeconomy. Some modeled pathways can produce net-negative emissions, but only under specific assumptions and coordinated policy choices. This episode separates model results from real-world guarantees while exploring how climate policy could reshape plastic production.

Episode Guests: Dr. Vassilis Daioglou

Browse Dr. Daioglou’s publications on Google Scholar 

More information about the episode and the Plastic Podcast

Episode Transcript  and more information on the Pine Forest Media Website

Follow Pine Forest Media on Instagram @pineforestmedia

Hosted, produced, and edited by Clark Marchese 

Cover art and PFM logo by Laurel Wong. 

Theme music by Tadeo Cabellos 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.