How to Navigate A World Filled with Plastic And An Update on What We Can Learn From California’s First Tropical Storm in Decades

Plastics are everywhere, but L.A. Times environment reporter Susanne Rust thought she was doing a pretty good job avoiding them. That was until she spent a week recording her daily plastic interactions. She found plastics in her phone. Her car. Her swimming equipment. There was almost nothing that Rust encountered that didn’t have plastic in it. Not all the applications of plastic were negative – plastic can make cars and planes lighter and therefore more fuel efficient. But the result of her week-long experiment were sobering nonetheless. We’ll talk to Rust, hear about plastic alternatives, and hear from you about how you navigate a world filled with plastic.

Sunday brought record summer rainfall to much of Southern California, as Tropical Storm Hilary left a trail of flash floods, debris flows, school cancellations, and power outages across the region. Hilary’s approach triggered the first-ever tropical storm watch issued for the state, and was the first tropical storm to hit Southern California in 84 years. Though severe in some areas, Hilary was not as destructive as some experts had feared, with no reports of U.S. fatalities or significant injuries as of Monday. We’ll look at the science behind the storm, the role of climate change, and what it reveals about the future of extreme weather in California.

Guests:

Susanne Rust, investigative reporter specializing in environmental issues, LA Times

Judith Enck, president, Beyond Plastics - Enck served as a regional administrator with the EPA during the Obama Administration

Diana Crofts-Pelayo, assistant director of crisis communications, California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services [Cal OES]

Daniel Swain, climate scientist, Institute of the Environment and Sustainability at UCLA; author, "Extreme Weather Page-A-Day Calendar 2024: A Year of Fire Tornadoes, Atmospheric Rivers, and Other Wild Weather Events"

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