Plastic: A Toxic Love Story

By Susan Freinkel

Book Overview

Plastic built the modern world. Where would we be without bike helmets, baggies, toothbrushes, and pacemakers? But a century into our love affair with plastic, we're starting to realize it's not such a healthy relationship. Plastics draw on dwindling fossil fuels, leach harmful chemicals, litter landscapes, and destroy marine life. As journalist Susan Freinkel points out in this engaging and eye-opening book, we're nearing a crisis point. We've produced as much plastic in the past decade as we did in the entire twentieth century. We're drowning in the stuff, and we need to start making some hard choices.

Freinkel gives us the tools we need with a blend of lively anecdotes and analysis. She combs through scientific studies and economic data, reporting from China and across the United States to assess the real impact of plastic on our lives. She tells her story through eight familiar plastic objects: comb, chair, Frisbee, IV bag, disposable lighter, grocery bag, soda bottle, and credit card. Her conclusion: we cannot stay on our plastic-paved path. And we don't have to. Plastic points the way toward a new creative partnership with the material we love to hate but can't seem to live without.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 054715240X
• ISBN13: 9780547152400
• Release Date: April 2011
• Publisher: Mariner Books
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 1.23 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.4" x 9.1"
• Age Range: 14 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 9 and higher

Customer Reviews

fascinating history and discussion of this amazing material

The book does a great job talking about the history of plastic and our complicated relationship with it by telling the story of six common objects: a comb, chair, Frisbee, IV bag, disposable lighter, grocery bag, soda bottle, and credit card. highly recommended