Thicker than Water

By: Erica Cirino

Narrated by: Angie Kane

Instead of a great island of trash, the infamous Great Pacific Garbage Patch is made up of manmade debris spread over hundreds of miles of sea - more like a soup than a floating garbage dump. Recycling is more complicated than we were taught: Less than nine percent of the plastic we create is reused, and the majority ends up in the ocean. And plastic pollution isn’t confined to the open sea: It’s in much of the air we breathe and the food we eat.

In Thicker than Water, journalist Erica Cirino brings listeners on a globe-hopping journey to meet the scientists and activists who help her tell the real story of the plastic crisis. From the deck of a plastic-hunting sailboat with a disabled engine to the labs doing cutting-edge research on microplastics and the chemicals we ingest, Cirino paints a full picture of how plastic pollution is threatening wildlife and human health and reveals that the plastic crisis is also a tale of environmental injustice: Poorer nations take in a larger share of the world’s trash, and manufacturing chemicals threaten predominantly Black and low-income communities.

There is some hope on the horizon, though, with new laws banning single-use items and technological innovations to replace plastic in our lives. But Cirino shows that we can only fix the problem if we face its full scope and begin to repair our throwaway culture. Thicker than Water is an eloquent call to reexamine the systems churning out waves of plastic waste.

©2021 Erica Cirino (P)2021 Dreamscape Media, LLC

Excellent overview of plastic with great frontline reporting

From a sailboat going through the garbage patch to interviews on the ground with activists and cancer Alley to interviews with researchers around the world, Serino develops an excellent story was a nice touch of poetic writing and powerful evidence of daunting challenge.

I wish I can force everyone to hear this

I recall vividly the milk man when I lived in London. After moving to the states, I knew that the plastic industry that was emerging and on steroids in the 90s was only going to worsen. I’m appalled by the unnecessary overuse of it and what happens once thrown away, but didn’t have enough contained information to pass it on to the large companies I work with, my family, friends… This book is a collective research journal almost that follows the lifecycle of plastics and the deleterious effects we are all subjected to.

read it!

amazing book by Erica. so proud of the work she has done! plastic pollution is a huge issue around the world and it's affecting animals, us and all living things! everyone should read this book and share it with others. I am aware of the problem but it opened my eyes to human injustice, animals suffering from so much plastic we waste! read it and share it!