The Problem with Plastic: How We Can Save Ourselves & Our Planet Before It’s Too Late
Join the authors to discuss this eye-opening and inspiring new book published by the New Press.
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” (December 2, 2025, The New Press) by Judith Enck and Beyond Plastics with Adam Mahoney.
You don’t need to read the book before the webinar, but it will be a better experience if you do!
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.
Join co-authors Judith Enck, Melissa Valliant, and Adam Mahoney via Zoom on Wednesday, January 28 at 7:00 PM ET to learn more about the plastic pollution crisis and the solutions outlined in this bold new book.
Order your copy of the book now and click here to reserve your spot for this free event.
About Our Speakers
Judith Enck is the founder and president of Beyond Plastics, whose mission is to end plastic pollution everywhere. She was appointed by President Obama to serve as regional administrator in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 2009 and served as deputy secretary for the environment in the New York Governor’s Office. She is currently a professor at Bennington College.
Adam Mahoney is a climate and environmental reporter who has reported from more than a dozen U.S. states and Palestine, Mexico, Uganda, and Vietnam for newspapers and magazines including The New York Times and The Guardian. He lives in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Melissa Valliant is the communications director of Beyond Plastics. She has spent much of her career leveraging her communications abilities to make the world a better place, and her work has been published in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Newsweek, Scientific American, and more.