WHAT: Join Judith Enck, president of Beyond Plastics for a conversation with Ulster County Executive, Jen Metzger to learn more about “The Problem with Plastic: How We Can Save Ourselves and Our Planet Before It’s Too Late.”
WHEN: Saturday, April 25, 2026 at 2:00 PM ET US
WHERE: The Orpheum Theatre
156 Main St, Saugerties, NY 12477 (map)
Plastic is everywhere — wrapped around our food, stitched into our clothes, even coursing through our veins. What began as a marvel of modern science has become a toxic industry that is harming our health, polluting our planet, and driving climate change. According to a recent report in The Lancet, the world is in a plastics crisis, causing disease and death from infancy to old age, and covering the planet with 8 billion tons of plastic waste. Without bold new laws, these problems will only worsen. Plastic production has increased exponentially since single-use plastic’s start, from 2 million tons per year in 1950 to 450 million tons per year today. And production is expected to triple by 2060. Given that less than 6% of plastic is actually recycled in the United States, all that plastic will continue to harm us, our communities, and our environment.
The good news is there’s still time to turn off the tap and live in a world without pointless plastic. That’s the hopeful message at the heart of the new book, “The Problem with Plastic: How We Can Save Ourselves and Our Planet Before It’s Too Late” from The New Press by Judith Enck and Beyond Plastics with Adam Mahoney.
The plastic pollution crisis is massive, systemic, and urgent. But “The Problem with Plastic” offers hope: We, collectively, have the power and influence to effectively slow the production of plastic. Plastic pollution is not inevitable; it’s the result of choices made by businesses, governments, and, to a lesser extent, everyday people. By equipping people with knowledge, hope, and an arsenal of solutions, we can put people and the planet before plastic, and save ourselves while there’s still time.
Judith Enck is the founder and president of Beyond Plastics, whose goal is eliminating plastic pollution everywhere. In 2009, she was appointed by President Obama to serve as regional administrator at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and served as deputy secretary for the environment in the New York Governor's Office. She is currently a professor at Bennington College, where she teaches classes on plastic pollution. She lives in upstate New York.
Jen Metzger serves as the first elected woman Ulster County Executive. She holds a Ph.D. in political science, and has extensive experience in government and policy, having served in local government for over 10 years, as a New York State Senator, as co-founder and Director of Citizens for Local Power, and as Policy Director of New Yorkers for Clean Power. She has been a leading voice for tackling the climate crisis at the local, state, and international levels, beginning with her work at the United Nations Association where she organized hearings for the first international negotiations on climate change after graduating from Oberlin College with High Honors. While serving as a State Senator for the 42nd District, she championed passage of the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act and fought to include language that would center climate justice in the green energy transition. She also sponsored the Ulster County Community Preservation Act and led efforts to permanently ban fracking in law. In her first month in office as County Executive, she issued an Executive order focused on climate action to bring Ulster County Government in line with the CLCPA and create a Climate Justice Outreach Plan to engage and support the most vulnerable members of the Ulster County community.
County Executive Metzger has long pushed for more aggressive efforts to reduce solid waste. In the State Senate, she helped pass the plastic bag ban and polystyrene ban, and introduced several different pieces of legislation, including bills to extend the plastic bag ban to restaurant take-out bags, increase the recycled content of garbage bags, and a "right to reuse" bill. As a member of the Cannabis Control Board, she drafted regulations to minimize biomass waste and include sustainable packaging requirements. As County Executive, her Executive Order on Climate included the goal of diverting 100% of organic waste from the landfill by 2030 and initiating composting in County government buildings. As Chair of the NYS Association of Counties Climate Action, Energy, and Environment Committee, she has been a leading advocate for passing the Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act. County Executive Metzger is committed to building a sustainable, resilient, thriving Ulster County that leaves no one behind.