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Speaker 1: Personally the Fuldsman.

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Speaker 2: The hottest hot topics lately microplastics. Everyone is working on

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Speaker 2: their health and well on this these days, and we

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Speaker 2: love to see it. So this next series dives into

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Speaker 2: that further. But with the help of science and research,

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Speaker 2: I have microplastics researcher Donna joining this week to give

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Speaker 2: us an actual breakdown of what's happening in the world

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Speaker 2: of microplastics and if it's as bad as it seems,

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Speaker 2: then integrated health practitioner Kara Clark is joining me next week.

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Speaker 2: She's been helping me get through all the detoxes and cleanses,

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Speaker 2: trying to rid my body of long COVID and getting

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Speaker 2: me back to some prime health. You may remember her

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Speaker 2: from another episode she did with me several months ago.

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Speaker 2: But first let's get into the world of microplastics. Well,

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Speaker 2: microplastics have officially taken over the Internet. Everybody's talking about them,

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Speaker 2: and so I thought what better to do than go

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Speaker 2: straight to a source. So Donna is joining me from

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Speaker 2: a completely different time zone.

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Speaker 1: Hi Donna, thanks for coming on. Hi. Everyone excited to

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Speaker 1: be here and talk about microplastic my favorite topic.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, so you are a microplastics researcher and you're a

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Speaker 2: startup founder, so I want to hear your whole backstory

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Speaker 2: and how you even got into this line of work. Yeah,

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Speaker 2: of course, I will start with my back backstory background.

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Speaker 2: So I'm from Kazakstan originally and both of my parents

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Speaker 2: they are from the Rolc. The Rollc is the region

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Speaker 2: in Kazakston where a huge environmental disaster took place in

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Speaker 2: the sixties. So basically the Rolc was once one of

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Speaker 2: the largest lakes in the world. However, due to human activities,

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Speaker 2: due to mismanagement and stuff like that, we unfortunately lost

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Speaker 2: ninety percent of the sea of the lake. We only

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Speaker 2: have ten percent of it's left.

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Speaker 1: If you like google literally the Rollc before and after,

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Speaker 1: you'll be shocked by the pictures. You will see how

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Speaker 1: it was so big and right now like it's just

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Speaker 1: a thin strand of water, and that's really devastating just

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Speaker 1: by the fact of it. But of course because it's

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Speaker 1: an environment environmental disaster, it also affected the ecosystem. The

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Speaker 1: very unique by diversity that we had we lost almost

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Speaker 1: all of it. And yeah, of course a huge economic

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Speaker 1: decline because the people of that area, they heavily relied

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Speaker 1: on this lake as a source of income and food

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Speaker 1: as fishing industry collapsed because of that, and of course,

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Speaker 1: every environmental disaster equals human health crisis, unfortunately, and for

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Speaker 1: me since my relatives are from there. Yeah, I had

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Speaker 1: a lot of relatives lost to cancer, some of them

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Speaker 1: has had asthma, allergies and all of those sad things

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Speaker 1: just because of this environmental disaster that had And this

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Speaker 1: was one of the main and first reasons for me

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Speaker 1: to become interested in environmental science and sustainability. That's why

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Speaker 1: I started doing my bachelor's in civil environmental engineering. That

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Speaker 1: was the most close, the closest thing to environmental science

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Speaker 1: that I had in my university as my option, unfortunately,

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Speaker 1: but that was also a great opportunity for me that

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Speaker 1: I had a different perspective to environmental science as well,

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Speaker 1: and I had a great environmental chemistry professor who I

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Speaker 1: joined to do some more research. We honestly did really

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Speaker 1: different topics. So we did air pollution, water pollution, environmental

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Speaker 1: risk assessment, and yeah, we did different stuff. But after

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Speaker 1: I graduated, my professor was like, Okay, maybe you need

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Speaker 1: to have one of your own topics, so you would

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Speaker 1: work on that and lead on that topic and what

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Speaker 1: if you try microplastics, And honest I was not interested

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Speaker 1: at all. I was like, okay, but I had the

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Speaker 1: reason to be not interested because we don't cover the

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Speaker 1: topic of microplastics or plastics in environmental fields, you know,

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Speaker 1: which you would expect to do that, but we don't

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Speaker 1: because it's a very new topic. It's still not in

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Speaker 1: the education system. And that's why I was also like, yeah,

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Speaker 1: probably it's not as big as climate change, you know.

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Speaker 1: But I was like, Okay, I'm gonna give it a shot.

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Speaker 1: I will just read some papers. Let's see, like what

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Speaker 1: is happening in that science area. And honestly, I started

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Speaker 1: reading papers and I was so shocked with everything because

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Speaker 1: microplastics are literally everywhere and whenever wherever scientists are looking

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Speaker 1: for them, they find them like in very distant lens

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Speaker 1: in all of our food, water, air, everything in clouds.

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Speaker 1: And that was even before. It was three years ago,

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Speaker 1: so it was even before like some of the papers

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Speaker 1: about you know, microplastically human body, and that was already

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Speaker 1: shocking for me. Another thing was the lack of your goal.

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Speaker 1: You know, there are almost no regulations on microplastics, and

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Speaker 1: since I was working specifically on the topic of microplastics

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Speaker 1: discharging from wastewater treatment plans. I realized that there are

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Speaker 1: literally no regulations on microplastics discharge anywhere in the world,

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Speaker 1: so any country can discharge as many microplastics as they

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Speaker 1: can want and that will not be fined, regulated or monitored,

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Speaker 1: you know. So I was very interested in this topic.

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Speaker 1: That's why I was like, okay, I want to work

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Speaker 1: more and more. So I've worked in research in Kazakhstan

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Speaker 1: we published the paper, I worked a bit in Spain

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Speaker 1: on microplastic research and here in Germany as well. And yeah,

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Speaker 1: I started because I also understand that science is great,

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Speaker 1: research is great, but I also want to talk about

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Speaker 1: this topic more so people no, because you know, literally

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Speaker 1: everyone is affected by microplasts. There's not a single person

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Speaker 1: who will not be affected. Even if you don't use

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Speaker 1: any plastic at all, It's already in our air and water,

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Speaker 1: so you will be exposed. And I was like, okay,

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Speaker 1: I want to I want people to know. I want

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Speaker 1: everyone to, you know, talk about this. So I started

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Speaker 1: creating videos, educational videos on Instagram, and I saw a

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Speaker 1: huge interest from people. People were very curious. You were

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Speaker 1: asking questions and that's why maybe I also had a

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Speaker 1: very big growth on social media. So I had zero

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Speaker 1: followers last year and I have over one hundred thousand,

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Speaker 1: like right now, And this was very crazy for me.

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Speaker 1: And yeah, I think I was doing a long introduction,

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Speaker 1: but yeah, that's basically it. No, this is a great

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Speaker 1: introduction to who you are.

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Speaker 2: And first of all, I want to recognize that you

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Speaker 2: took something that was happening, and not only your community

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Speaker 2: but your life. You were personally affected by something that

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Speaker 2: was happening, and you said, how can I make this better?

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Speaker 1: And that's what you're doing, which is really cool.

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Speaker 2: I think it's awesome when people find a way to

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Speaker 2: not only be able to wish they could help their community,

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Speaker 2: but actually go about doing something to hopefully make it better,

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Speaker 2: not just for theirs, but for everybody. So I love

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Speaker 2: that part of your story, and I also think it's

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Speaker 2: cool if you're able to speak to it, like personally,

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Speaker 2: what was that experience like when you had family members

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Speaker 2: and stuff and there was this economic disaster happening and

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Speaker 2: you couldn't really do anything about it.

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Speaker 1: I mean, it all happened way before I was born.

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Speaker 1: I was in the sixties, I was born in the

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Speaker 1: late nineties, so I don't really know what was happening

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Speaker 1: during that time. But I had my grandfather. I have

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Speaker 1: my grandfather who did a lot of work in order

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Speaker 1: to restore some of the parts of Rols or at

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Speaker 1: least maintain what is left right now, because if it

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Speaker 1: wasn't for his efforts, we would like everything would disappear.

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Speaker 1: But he at least at least could save some part

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Speaker 1: of it that we have right now. And apart from that,

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Speaker 1: he told me a lot of stories how he went fishing,

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Speaker 1: for example, was his father to that lake or I

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Speaker 1: also heard stories about like for example, when whenever I

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Speaker 1: come there, there's no water around, like in order to

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Speaker 1: see the roc which was our city was used to

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Speaker 1: be on the shores of the lake, and right now

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Speaker 1: when you come there, you cannot see anything, and you

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Speaker 1: literally need to go and drive for several hours just

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Speaker 1: to see it and imagine it was the city on

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Speaker 1: the shores of the lake. And yeah, and he also

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Speaker 1: told me the stories how you can feel the breeze

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Speaker 1: of the lake in the city because it was a

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Speaker 1: very salty lake, so you can feel the breeze, you can. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: the children played there and all of this, and of

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Speaker 1: course it's very devastating and sad understanding that you would

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Speaker 1: never be able to experience this in your lifetime because

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Speaker 1: this has disappeared and all because of humans, because of uz,

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Speaker 1: And of course it's sad, of course, And yeah, understanding

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Speaker 1: that you cannot really do something, it's pretty depressing. But

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Speaker 1: I do have a big dream too one day to

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Speaker 1: create a project or anything that it will be dealing

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Speaker 1: with that area. Of course, of course you do.

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Speaker 2: I am not surprised at all based on how you

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Speaker 2: already are, and it's probably a cool experience for you

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Speaker 2: now doing what you are, and I bet it's something

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Speaker 2: you wish. I'm not sure if your grandfather is still around,

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Speaker 2: but I'm sure it's something you wish that you could

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Speaker 2: share with him and just show all of the things

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Speaker 2: that you're now doing to help in other ways.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, he sees everything. He just doesn't understand English, so

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Speaker 1: he doesn't really understand what I'm doing.

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Speaker 2: That he's proud anyway, that's fair. Well, I love that

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Speaker 2: there's this personal tie. I think that's so cool. But

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Speaker 2: let's get into microplastics. So you've learned so so much

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Speaker 2: and I cannot imagine all the things you've learned, I

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Speaker 2: cantell just from your social media. So give us the

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Speaker 2: very very minimal basics to start, and the will kind

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Speaker 2: of branch from there.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. I would like to just give maybe a definition

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Speaker 1: to microplast So microplastics are just small, tiny particles of

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Speaker 1: plastic less than five millimeters they should be in order

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Speaker 1: to consider microplastics, and we usually divide them into two types,

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Speaker 1: primary microplastics and secondary microplastics. So secondary microplastics are those

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Speaker 1: that broke down from larger plastic objects, so like microplastics

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Speaker 1: from plastic bats or from plastic bottles. And for the

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Speaker 1: primary microplastics are those microplastics that were intentionally manufactured to

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Speaker 1: be very small. It could be a bit confusing because

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Speaker 1: why would anyone produce microplastics? Right, but microplastics are used

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Speaker 1: actually for industrial abrasives, for pains, even in some personal

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Speaker 1: care products as sometimes as fillers or sometimes to give

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Speaker 1: a cream for example, to give a certain texture or

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Speaker 1: feel to a certain product. For example, if the cream

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Speaker 1: is to what are you add microplastics and it becomes thicker?

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Speaker 2: And so why did those products like microplastics, why did

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Speaker 2: they even originally get created? Why did they start getting

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Speaker 2: added into products. What was the purpose behind them?

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Speaker 1: I think one aside from it is very cheap to

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Speaker 1: produce them. It's like a very very cheap material and

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Speaker 1: it's considered to be more or less stable, so they

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Speaker 1: added to personal care products. But some microplastics were already

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Speaker 1: banned in the US, Korea, and to some extent in

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Speaker 1: the European Union as well in Canada, but not all

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Speaker 1: of them. Not all of the types of microplastics are

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Speaker 1: bad right now?

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Speaker 2: Wow, Okay, so there's different types and obviously there's a workaround.

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Speaker 2: So it's like, okay, well these are bands. It looks

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Speaker 2: like we've banned microplastics, but they're technically not all banned.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, that's true. And in general there are so plastic

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Speaker 1: can be a very big shape shifter, so they have

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Speaker 1: a lot of different types. So maybe you've heard of

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Speaker 1: the normal seven months like POLYII and poly dalade, poly

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Speaker 1: what else exists? Polystyrene and all of this mainstream plastics,

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Speaker 1: But honestly, they're like one hundred types of plastic that

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Speaker 1: exists and currently from one European So there was a

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Speaker 1: letter in order to ban more and more microplastics. I

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Speaker 1: don't remember which organization did the letter, but they've recognized

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Speaker 1: over five hundred, five hundred ingredients and personal care products

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Speaker 1: as microplastics. Yeah, so there could be more than five

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Speaker 1: hundred ingredients that are microplastics.

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Speaker 2: Actually, I would love to know the list of things

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Speaker 2: what all are microplastics actually in so I know that

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Speaker 2: you mentioned some of these food things. You mention clouds,

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Speaker 2: which is something that someone a normal person like me

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Speaker 2: can't really do anything about. But so what is that

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Speaker 2: list that we're looking at here of things that do

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Speaker 2: have microplastics?

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Speaker 1: So for the things that do have microplastics in them,

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Speaker 1: I think almost everything has at this point, probably unfortunately. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: but if we talk about the materials itself, like what

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Speaker 1: you can avoid in order to produce microplastics. And you

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Speaker 1: probably don't know that this is made of plastic paper

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Speaker 1: cups for example, the name is paper cup that is

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Speaker 1: actually aligned with plastic inside. They're also chewing gum. This

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Speaker 1: is one of the shocking ones. Chewing gum. The base

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Speaker 1: of the chewing gum is puliving you as a tate

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Speaker 1: if I remember correctly, and it's a plastic. So chewing

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Speaker 1: gum right now is like literally flavored plastic. Yeah, you're

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Speaker 1: kidding me. You're talking all these gears. I've been cheering

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Speaker 1: on com and it is really chewing on plastic. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: most of the commercial ones are like that. There are

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Speaker 1: some brands that create like plastic free chewing gum that

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Speaker 1: you can look for.

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Speaker 2: Not I guess I'm shocked that we even have to

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Speaker 2: create plastic free things.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, that's true. Originally chewing gum doesn't have that didn't

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Speaker 1: have any plastic in the beginning. It's just you know,

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Speaker 1: they wipe up, for example, with the clothes. With the clothing,

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Speaker 1: it's the same thing because you know, we've been wearing

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Speaker 1: clothing for thousands of years literally, and plastic started to

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Speaker 1: exist only less than a century ago, like around eighty

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Speaker 1: years ago. But right now almost all of our clothes

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Speaker 1: are made of plastic, out of synthetics like polyester and

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Speaker 1: acrylic s, nylon and stuff like that. So this is

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Speaker 1: really Yeah, I know, this is like so strange, so weird,

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Speaker 1: but plastic has, I don't know, with such a growth.

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Speaker 1: It became a part of almost everything. And you know,

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Speaker 1: when you think about like it's not possible to leave

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Speaker 1: without plastic, but we did leave without plastic, right like

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Speaker 1: literally a century ago, I'm.

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Speaker 2: Assuming too, like, did people like they discovered that plastics

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Speaker 2: could be You had mentioned that it can be very

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Speaker 2: valuable in the sense that it can be manipulated into anything.

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Speaker 1: So do you feel like it was being used.

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Speaker 2: By different people just to like as a kind of

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Speaker 2: a cheaper product, or plastic even cheaper, I guess, I

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Speaker 2: don't know.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, plastic in general, it's a very affordable, cheap material

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Speaker 1: to use. So just to give some good reputations to plastic.

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Speaker 1: Plastic was one of the reasons why our medicine and

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Speaker 1: science skyrocketed because science became a medicine as industries is,

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Speaker 1: fields became very accessible to everyone because for example, if

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Speaker 1: you think about medicine industry, like again a century ago, right,

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Speaker 1: you would use the same syringe for example, because you

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Speaker 1: cannot always you know, buy a syringe made out of

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Speaker 1: glass and you can at at the same time properly

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Speaker 1: clean it and it is infected. So right now we

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Speaker 1: have syringes that are made of plastic and single use,

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Speaker 1: which is really great for us because then we will

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Speaker 1: not transfer diseases. Or for example, for science as well,

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Speaker 1: we use a lot of single use plastic. Unsaying science,

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Speaker 1: So think about glows, the masks, and all of the pipets.

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Speaker 1: Everything that we use is almost everything that we use

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Speaker 1: is made out of plastic or even like worse, single

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Speaker 1: use plastic, which is of course bad for the environment,

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Speaker 1: but could for the science because you know, everything is

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Speaker 1: clean and not affected by anything but any other chemicals.

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Speaker 2: So when something is That's what's really hard about this, right,

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Speaker 2: is because you have something that's obviously helping us in

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Speaker 2: the science world, that's helping us in advancements in medicine

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Speaker 2: and being able to not transmit diseases, but then it's

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Speaker 2: bad for the environment.

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Speaker 1: So how do you.

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Speaker 2: As somebody who's researching this try to figure out, Okay, well,

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Speaker 2: how can we do both or can we do both?

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Speaker 2: What's the I guess middle ground to meet on when

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Speaker 2: these type of topics come up.

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Speaker 1: I think one of the first things that we need

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Speaker 1: to deal with is over consumption. So I think the

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Speaker 1: way we consume everything might be one of the part

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Speaker 1: of the problems and might be a solution for us,

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Speaker 1: because over consumption is really a big problem. We have

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Speaker 1: too much clothing, like compared to what we used to have.

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Speaker 1: For example, we use a lot of single use plastic

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Speaker 1: that is not necessary in most of the cases, like

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Speaker 1: for example, again with paper cups, right, you can have

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Speaker 1: a usable cup, there's nothing wrong with that, right. Or

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Speaker 1: for the plastic bags, we don't really need them, right

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Speaker 1: because we have somehow we manage to do that, to

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Speaker 1: do groceries without them, and right now, for example, I

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Speaker 1: live in Germany and I never have plastic bags. I'm

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Speaker 1: always with my tought back and it's not you know,

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Speaker 1: it's not such a big difference. So I would say

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Speaker 1: that the one of the roots of the problem is

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Speaker 1: definitely over consumption from other sizes, also an overproduction of things,

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Speaker 1: because that also contributes to the problem. But I would

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Speaker 1: say this thing is what matters because in terms of

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Speaker 1: like for example, as we said again, like medicine and science,

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Speaker 1: it would be difficult for us to say, okay, don't

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Speaker 1: do science or don't heal people now because we hate plastics. Right.

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Speaker 1: But I think it's also a point that we need

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Speaker 1: to consider. In science, for example, I see some people,

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Speaker 1: some researchers, being concerned about that and even doing more

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Speaker 1: research on how we can greenify our labs, make them

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Speaker 1: more sustainable, make them to have less plastic. Of course,

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Speaker 1: in those fields where you need, like you cannot swap

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Speaker 1: for anything that of course keep your plastics. But if

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Speaker 1: it's not that necessary, I think it's doable for us

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Speaker 1: to reduce. So maybe not make them disappear completely for

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Speaker 1: our lives, but reducing is a very good, great step

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Speaker 1: towards sustainability.

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Speaker 2: So and you also mention, like you talked about using things,

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Speaker 2: especially in your household, when you're talking about paper cups,

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Speaker 2: what are the swaps that we should be making, because

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Speaker 2: obviously everything does consume microplastics now, but what are the

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Speaker 2: things that you provid As somebody who's done research on

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Speaker 2: all of this, you've seen all the different things happen.

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Speaker 2: What are things that you would personally have in your home,

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Speaker 2: You're like, I'm okay with having this. Do you see

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Speaker 2: a lot of people online and they're making swaps, like

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Speaker 2: they're swapping to glassware and they're you know, making each

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Speaker 2: other using stainless steel or just the different especially kitchen items,

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Speaker 2: skincare items, like so much of this conversation revolves around

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Speaker 2: the fact, Okay, yes we should do that, but what

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Speaker 2: do we switch to and what do we use?

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I would agree with the kitchen point because I

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Speaker 1: would say, that's like the biggest point of exposure to microplastics.

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Speaker 1: And I would definitely tell people, like, if you want

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Speaker 1: to start to have less microplastic, that's like the first

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Speaker 1: starting point is kitchen, because that's where we basically expose

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Speaker 1: ourselves to microplastic the most, especially because we usually eat

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Speaker 1: hot food and hot drinks. So I would strongly suggest

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Speaker 1: to try and swap out all the plastics that has

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Speaker 1: to deal with heat. So for example, if it's a

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Speaker 1: plastic container that you put in your microwave, or if

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Speaker 1: it's any other plastic cutlery, I would strongly suggest and

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Speaker 1: try to reduce that or swap it out completely to

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Speaker 1: either glass, to either steel or any other metal, or

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Speaker 1: either wood. Also a good suggestion because when it comes

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Speaker 1: to plastic plus heat, it's always a generation of literally

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Speaker 1: a lot of microplastics, thousands or even millions. So this

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Speaker 1: is very important for when I talk about microplastic and

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Speaker 1: advice around them, is for people to remember that heat

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Speaker 1: plastic is always equals to a lot of microplastics.

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Speaker 2: Okay, And that's what I was going to ask you

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Speaker 2: because you mentioned that, So when plastic is in cold,

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Speaker 2: does it have a different reaction or is it really

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Speaker 2: just we need to be really careful about heat and

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Speaker 2: plastic in general.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I would say when it's at froom temperature, it

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Speaker 1: would be more stable. I cannot say that it will

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Speaker 1: not break down to microplastic. It still can, especially if

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Speaker 1: there's some you know, physical you know traction or anything.

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Speaker 1: It would still be able to produce microplasts to release microplastics.

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Speaker 1: But with heat, it just increases one hundreds or thousands fold.

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Speaker 1: That's why. Yeah, that's why a lot of researchers say, like,

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Speaker 1: don't heat anything in plastic.

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Speaker 2: That's very important and so okay, you also mentioned that

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Speaker 2: it's in clouds and it's in water. How the heck

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Speaker 2: are we supposed to not be consuming the things that

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Speaker 2: are around us in our environment? Like, how can we

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Speaker 2: balance out that microplastic consumption?

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Speaker 1: As I said, everyone will be exposed to microplastics, but

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Speaker 1: it all depends on the concentration. Of course, if you

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Speaker 1: swap out the things like from plastic to glass and

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Speaker 1: all the other non plastic materials, you will be exposed

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Speaker 1: to less microplastics, not to zero microplastics, of course that's

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Speaker 1: not possible unfortunately this time, but you will be reducing

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Speaker 1: and probably reducing significantly, because yes, it's in the air

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Speaker 1: and in the water, but the amount you are exposed

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Speaker 1: to from like water and air will be always be

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Speaker 1: less than, for example, from your food that you made

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Speaker 1: in plastic and you eat it every day. In terms

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Speaker 1: of what you can do, of course, there's not much

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Speaker 1: you can do, especially concerned with clouds, for example. But

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Speaker 1: if it's microplastics in the air, because right now there's

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Speaker 1: some research going on that. Yeah, microplastics is in your

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Speaker 1: houses and in your cars, and of course the indoor

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Speaker 1: concentration of microplastics is way way way higher than for example, outdoors.

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Speaker 1: So one of the things you can do is, of course,

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Speaker 1: one of the advice I would give is to open

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Speaker 1: your windows regularly so your microplastics will be out in

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Speaker 1: the wild, and vacuum your house more or less often. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: that way you can reduce microplastics.

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Speaker 2: Do you think air purifiers help at all with any

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Speaker 2: of microplastics or is that.

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Speaker 1: Kind of a myth? I never encountered any research about that,

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Speaker 1: so either it was research so there are no proofs,

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Speaker 1: or I just didn't see that.

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Speaker 2: Yes, Okay, that's interesting though, because it's for sure you

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Speaker 2: know that you see all the air purifiers being bought,

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Speaker 2: and that's like a thing where they're like, Okay, it's

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Speaker 2: gonna purify your air. I'm like, okay, purify it from microplastics,

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Speaker 2: and that would be awesome.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, but it also depends because if an air purifier

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Speaker 1: is made out of plastic, and usually it's you know hot,

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Speaker 1: it's getting hot right the pure fire, so it can

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Speaker 1: introduce some microplastics into the air in exchange of you know,

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Speaker 1: removing other chemicals. So that's the question. Wow.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's really paying attention now. So you said like

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Speaker 2: reducing that is there also being this environmental side of

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Speaker 2: things just to ease anybody's minds who are also like

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Speaker 2: me and I'm just really blissfully unaware of the environmental

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Speaker 2: side of this.

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Speaker 1: So with microplastics, how.

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Speaker 2: Are they getting into our water and how are they

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Speaker 2: getting into the air that we're breathing?

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Speaker 1: Like what is that process?

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Speaker 2: Like? Just take me all the way back to school,

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Speaker 2: because we definitely did not learn about this in school.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, So basically, how there are primary microplastics? As I said,

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Speaker 1: there are not as many of them as secondary microplastics,

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Speaker 1: of course, but primary microplastics they are either introduced into

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Speaker 1: our environment during the production. So if some of them, yeah,

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Speaker 1: just for example, if something is produced and some of

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Speaker 1: the microplastics, they can be introduced into the air by accident.

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Speaker 1: For example, when it comes to secondary microplastics is you've

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Speaker 1: probably seen a lot of plastic waste, like just laying

432
00:25:58,320 --> 00:26:00,280
Speaker 1: all over the world, you know, in the bitches and

433
00:26:00,320 --> 00:26:05,080
Speaker 1: the water and everywhere. And of course with time, it

434
00:26:05,119 --> 00:26:09,920
Speaker 1: will release microplastics. With any physical damage, any physical contact

435
00:26:10,000 --> 00:26:14,080
Speaker 1: with anything, it also released microplastics and sund heat also

436
00:26:14,400 --> 00:26:19,120
Speaker 1: will make ye larger plastic objects to release microplastic, and

437
00:26:19,240 --> 00:26:24,439
Speaker 1: it's releasing into our water, air, and soil. Depends on

438
00:26:24,560 --> 00:26:27,960
Speaker 1: where the plastic is. And since plastic is not really

439
00:26:28,359 --> 00:26:32,280
Speaker 1: you know, biodegradable, so we as we know, it can

440
00:26:32,320 --> 00:26:36,640
Speaker 1: stay around for like hundreds of years. So for example,

441
00:26:36,680 --> 00:26:40,479
Speaker 1: there's one microplastics, it goes into the water and it

442
00:26:40,520 --> 00:26:43,359
Speaker 1: can stay in our water and travel all around the

443
00:26:43,359 --> 00:26:48,480
Speaker 1: world for like many many years. So it will adapt.

444
00:26:48,560 --> 00:26:51,040
Speaker 1: You create a new plastic object, it will release more

445
00:26:51,040 --> 00:26:54,399
Speaker 1: microplastic and it will stay in the system. And some

446
00:26:54,480 --> 00:26:57,360
Speaker 1: of the points of discharge for microplastics is of course,

447
00:26:57,400 --> 00:26:59,879
Speaker 1: as I said, waste water treatment plants, they do this

448
00:27:00,160 --> 00:27:04,960
Speaker 1: charge microplastics into our water bodies without any regulations, as

449
00:27:04,960 --> 00:27:10,120
Speaker 1: I said, without any monitoring. Another thing is tires. Tires

450
00:27:10,240 --> 00:27:14,960
Speaker 1: is considered a huge contributor to microplastics. So like tires

451
00:27:15,000 --> 00:27:17,480
Speaker 1: in the cars, in our cars, Yeah, and there's a

452
00:27:17,480 --> 00:27:20,280
Speaker 1: lot of physical friction, you know, between the road and

453
00:27:20,359 --> 00:27:24,280
Speaker 1: tires and they all get in either air or with water.

454
00:27:24,440 --> 00:27:27,320
Speaker 1: It goes into the system and then this water goes

455
00:27:27,359 --> 00:27:31,160
Speaker 1: into our water. And even when because you know with

456
00:27:31,200 --> 00:27:34,720
Speaker 1: water treatment plants they do filter some amount of microplastics,

457
00:27:34,960 --> 00:27:37,919
Speaker 1: it can be even a huge percentage, like ninety ninety

458
00:27:38,000 --> 00:27:41,320
Speaker 1: five ninety nine percent of microplastics are filtered from the water.

459
00:27:42,040 --> 00:27:45,240
Speaker 1: But then it all goes into the sludge. And in

460
00:27:45,280 --> 00:27:48,360
Speaker 1: some countries they use this sludge. I know in some

461
00:27:48,520 --> 00:27:51,800
Speaker 1: states of the US they also do that they use

462
00:27:51,960 --> 00:27:55,840
Speaker 1: this sludge as fertilizer. So you know, this sludge is

463
00:27:55,880 --> 00:28:03,439
Speaker 1: a concentrated concentrated with microplastics. So all the microplastics that

464
00:28:03,520 --> 00:28:06,720
Speaker 1: we're caught during the filtration process is in dislodge and

465
00:28:06,760 --> 00:28:11,040
Speaker 1: this dislodge goes as a fertilizers into our soils that

466
00:28:11,160 --> 00:28:14,320
Speaker 1: we grow our crops or anything or fruits, or ridges

467
00:28:14,560 --> 00:28:18,280
Speaker 1: with that frutilizer and that's how basically, for example, the

468
00:28:18,400 --> 00:28:22,040
Speaker 1: microplastics are introduced into our vegetables or any other crops

469
00:28:22,119 --> 00:28:26,120
Speaker 1: or anything like that. Oh my gosh. Okay, So basically it's.

470
00:28:25,960 --> 00:28:30,240
Speaker 2: Just one giant evolving monster that keeps evolving as we

471
00:28:30,359 --> 00:28:31,280
Speaker 2: keep doing things.

472
00:28:31,840 --> 00:28:33,640
Speaker 1: Yeah that's true.

473
00:28:33,840 --> 00:28:34,320
Speaker 2: Wow.

474
00:28:34,480 --> 00:28:34,840
Speaker 1: Okay.

475
00:28:34,880 --> 00:28:37,760
Speaker 2: So environmentally, so like you know, we see the things

476
00:28:37,760 --> 00:28:41,640
Speaker 2: that we can do as humans, oh like less consumption,

477
00:28:41,880 --> 00:28:44,840
Speaker 2: trying to change the things that we're using, and being

478
00:28:44,880 --> 00:28:48,760
Speaker 2: really intentional about the products that we're using. What can

479
00:28:48,800 --> 00:28:53,720
Speaker 2: we do environmentally to help reduce our imprint when it

480
00:28:53,760 --> 00:28:57,400
Speaker 2: comes to microplastics because obviously we all have a role

481
00:28:57,600 --> 00:29:00,440
Speaker 2: in this. What can each of us be doing, maybe

482
00:29:00,480 --> 00:29:02,840
Speaker 2: even just a little bit to make that and hopefully

483
00:29:02,920 --> 00:29:04,680
Speaker 2: a little bit less as the years go on.

484
00:29:05,840 --> 00:29:08,239
Speaker 1: Yeah, So the first thing is, of course, reduce your

485
00:29:08,560 --> 00:29:12,560
Speaker 1: consumption anything it could be, even not plastic, but plastic

486
00:29:12,600 --> 00:29:15,440
Speaker 1: is also very important. To reduce your single use waste

487
00:29:15,720 --> 00:29:18,240
Speaker 1: as much as it's possible. It really makes a different

488
00:29:18,320 --> 00:29:21,040
Speaker 1: and it's really what we need right now. Even if

489
00:29:21,040 --> 00:29:24,800
Speaker 1: you feel like, oh, I'm an individual, I really hope

490
00:29:24,840 --> 00:29:27,680
Speaker 1: that we stop this talk with I'm just an individual.

491
00:29:28,200 --> 00:29:31,480
Speaker 1: We really need to stop that because your actions they

492
00:29:31,520 --> 00:29:34,360
Speaker 1: do really matter. And yeah, the first thing is to

493
00:29:34,400 --> 00:29:38,200
Speaker 1: reduce your consumption. The second thing is I always say

494
00:29:38,600 --> 00:29:43,760
Speaker 1: take action, like at least learn more about the problem,

495
00:29:44,240 --> 00:29:49,120
Speaker 1: and also try and talk about this problem with other people.

496
00:29:49,200 --> 00:29:51,840
Speaker 1: Try to talk about it with your friends, with your family,

497
00:29:52,120 --> 00:29:55,240
Speaker 1: because as long as you talk about this, as long

498
00:29:55,280 --> 00:29:59,920
Speaker 1: as you talk and keep it as keep the conver

499
00:30:00,000 --> 00:30:03,560
Speaker 1: decision going about the microplastics or any other problem that

500
00:30:03,640 --> 00:30:07,000
Speaker 1: you concert with, there will be some action as well.

501
00:30:07,400 --> 00:30:11,640
Speaker 1: So the governments will know that people are talking about

502
00:30:11,680 --> 00:30:13,720
Speaker 1: that and we should try and do something. But of

503
00:30:13,760 --> 00:30:17,040
Speaker 1: course we need to even go more if possible, like

504
00:30:17,120 --> 00:30:22,440
Speaker 1: sign petitions, yeah, demand changes from the government. Vote for

505
00:30:22,840 --> 00:30:25,640
Speaker 1: those people who have environment in their minds. This is

506
00:30:25,760 --> 00:30:29,760
Speaker 1: very important because our part of it is very important,

507
00:30:29,960 --> 00:30:33,560
Speaker 1: but the part of our governments and regulations is as important.

508
00:30:34,080 --> 00:30:37,840
Speaker 1: And we need those regulations as soon as possible because

509
00:30:37,920 --> 00:30:39,920
Speaker 1: right now, as I say, like there are no regulations,

510
00:30:39,960 --> 00:30:44,760
Speaker 1: we can discharge like trillions microplastics literally, and that's how

511
00:30:44,800 --> 00:30:47,720
Speaker 1: it is right now. Like for example, in our in

512
00:30:47,840 --> 00:30:51,200
Speaker 1: Astana in Kazakhstan, where I did my research, we found

513
00:30:51,200 --> 00:30:54,680
Speaker 1: out that there is like a billion microplastics per day

514
00:30:54,760 --> 00:30:58,000
Speaker 1: is just stared directly into the water, and I feel

515
00:30:58,040 --> 00:31:00,480
Speaker 1: like it's more or less the same, if not even

516
00:31:00,520 --> 00:31:05,959
Speaker 1: more in other countries. So yeah, of course, try and

517
00:31:06,000 --> 00:31:09,560
Speaker 1: do your individual action, try to speak about that and

518
00:31:10,120 --> 00:31:15,600
Speaker 1: take some action. And I know you can't predict.

519
00:31:15,680 --> 00:31:18,600
Speaker 2: I'm like in shock right now by this, just this,

520
00:31:19,000 --> 00:31:21,160
Speaker 2: I'm just gonna call it a little monster because that's

521
00:31:21,160 --> 00:31:23,800
Speaker 2: stillly thing that's gonna make it make sense.

522
00:31:23,640 --> 00:31:24,240
Speaker 1: In my brain.

523
00:31:24,680 --> 00:31:27,920
Speaker 2: But of course you can't predict what's going to come.

524
00:31:28,040 --> 00:31:32,240
Speaker 2: But if we continue this trajectory and we continue with

525
00:31:32,320 --> 00:31:36,000
Speaker 2: where we're at with consumption, with how much microplastic is

526
00:31:36,040 --> 00:31:39,040
Speaker 2: in everything, I mean, what are we looking at in

527
00:31:39,080 --> 00:31:41,680
Speaker 2: the grand scale of things when we look five ten

528
00:31:41,800 --> 00:31:45,200
Speaker 2: years down the road when it comes to this particular topic.

529
00:31:46,320 --> 00:31:49,080
Speaker 1: As you said, it's difficult to say, honestly, because again,

530
00:31:49,400 --> 00:31:54,239
Speaker 1: the microplastic research is still very very new. We I

531
00:31:54,240 --> 00:31:58,640
Speaker 1: think we did have on these seven articles about microplastics

532
00:31:58,640 --> 00:32:02,240
Speaker 1: before to sold in fourteen, and yeah, all the other

533
00:32:02,400 --> 00:32:04,280
Speaker 1: articles are only coming up right now.

534
00:32:05,240 --> 00:32:08,760
Speaker 2: And how long has microplastics even been studied? Put it

535
00:32:08,800 --> 00:32:10,920
Speaker 2: into those terms for me, because I know you said

536
00:32:11,240 --> 00:32:12,920
Speaker 2: you've been studying it for a little bit, but in

537
00:32:12,960 --> 00:32:15,520
Speaker 2: general the topic when did it even kind of become

538
00:32:16,040 --> 00:32:18,160
Speaker 2: a thing that people could start studying.

539
00:32:19,640 --> 00:32:24,000
Speaker 1: So the term microplastic was first coined in two thousand

540
00:32:24,040 --> 00:32:28,120
Speaker 1: and four, so it's still in like the first few

541
00:32:28,160 --> 00:32:31,600
Speaker 1: decades of this. Yeah, yeah, that's how it is. Yeah,

542
00:32:31,640 --> 00:32:36,400
Speaker 1: microplastics is still in its infancy as a research field.

543
00:32:36,840 --> 00:32:39,600
Speaker 1: And yeah, it's difficult to say for me, and I

544
00:32:39,600 --> 00:32:44,760
Speaker 1: don't want to be super depressing about the topic because

545
00:32:44,800 --> 00:32:47,080
Speaker 1: I tried to make people like empowered you still can

546
00:32:47,120 --> 00:32:50,520
Speaker 1: do something. But one of the interesting things I can mention,

547
00:32:51,520 --> 00:32:56,720
Speaker 1: For example, there is some new research suggesting that microplastics

548
00:32:56,760 --> 00:33:00,880
Speaker 1: are affecting photosynthesis of plants and plants grow both in gyeral,

549
00:33:01,520 --> 00:33:06,000
Speaker 1: so for example, they're reducing the rate of photosynthesis and

550
00:33:06,080 --> 00:33:11,200
Speaker 1: you know, no Poto synthesis means practically no yield. And

551
00:33:11,560 --> 00:33:15,200
Speaker 1: right now, the reduction of what the synthesis caused just

552
00:33:15,240 --> 00:33:18,240
Speaker 1: by microplastics, not even including the climate change or any

553
00:33:18,280 --> 00:33:22,320
Speaker 1: other practice, but just microplastics as around seven to thirteen

554
00:33:22,360 --> 00:33:27,600
Speaker 1: percent if I remember correctly. And yeah, I mean.

555
00:33:27,480 --> 00:33:30,800
Speaker 2: I'm just like shocked over here, because we need photosynthesis

556
00:33:30,960 --> 00:33:32,160
Speaker 2: to breathe.

557
00:33:32,920 --> 00:33:38,640
Speaker 1: That's important yeah, yeah, that's true. And unfortunately, microplastic is

558
00:33:38,640 --> 00:33:42,080
Speaker 1: not only about like some fish that is dying in

559
00:33:42,120 --> 00:33:45,320
Speaker 1: the ocean, which is also very tragic, but it's also

560
00:33:45,360 --> 00:33:49,800
Speaker 1: about like our very food and ear. And right now

561
00:33:49,840 --> 00:33:52,640
Speaker 1: they're saying that it could be a threat to our

562
00:33:52,680 --> 00:33:57,600
Speaker 1: food security because we could probably lose I don't remember

563
00:33:57,800 --> 00:34:03,160
Speaker 1: all the figures right now, well, but I think it

564
00:34:03,200 --> 00:34:06,000
Speaker 1: was one hundred and thirty metric tones of food per

565
00:34:06,080 --> 00:34:09,080
Speaker 1: year could be lost just because of microplastics in terms

566
00:34:09,120 --> 00:34:13,560
Speaker 1: of corop production, and that was a huge number. And

567
00:34:13,640 --> 00:34:16,399
Speaker 1: that's what they estimate that we are losing right now

568
00:34:16,440 --> 00:34:20,040
Speaker 1: already just because of microplastics. But from the bright side,

569
00:34:20,320 --> 00:34:22,640
Speaker 1: and if we continue doing that, of course this number

570
00:34:22,680 --> 00:34:25,160
Speaker 1: is going to only grow bigger and bigger. And we

571
00:34:25,280 --> 00:34:28,480
Speaker 1: already in like shake a situation when it comes to

572
00:34:28,480 --> 00:34:30,120
Speaker 1: food security, right.

573
00:34:30,400 --> 00:34:32,399
Speaker 2: And well, and I don't want to make you talk

574
00:34:32,440 --> 00:34:35,080
Speaker 2: about depressing things, but I also know that sometimes when

575
00:34:35,120 --> 00:34:37,120
Speaker 2: we can really see a bigger picture and we can

576
00:34:37,160 --> 00:34:40,840
Speaker 2: be like, okay, give me what's actually happening, some people

577
00:34:40,880 --> 00:34:43,560
Speaker 2: can feel more empowered that way to say, Okay, what

578
00:34:43,760 --> 00:34:47,440
Speaker 2: I am as one single person does matter, and I

579
00:34:47,520 --> 00:34:49,680
Speaker 2: will change that footprint.

580
00:34:49,160 --> 00:34:52,040
Speaker 1: Because it, in the bigger picture is going to matter

581
00:34:52,080 --> 00:34:52,440
Speaker 1: one day.

582
00:34:52,520 --> 00:34:57,880
Speaker 2: So hopefully at least the hard conversations and the negativity

583
00:34:58,000 --> 00:35:01,960
Speaker 2: around that idea of this can bring some positivity, is

584
00:35:02,000 --> 00:35:02,440
Speaker 2: the hope.

585
00:35:03,000 --> 00:35:06,600
Speaker 1: Yeah, but there's also a positive side on that research

586
00:35:06,680 --> 00:35:13,280
Speaker 1: because they estimated that we need to reduce only thirteen

587
00:35:13,400 --> 00:35:17,319
Speaker 1: percent of our plastic ways in order to you know,

588
00:35:17,480 --> 00:35:22,480
Speaker 1: negate the effect of microplastics, and I think thirteen percent

589
00:35:22,600 --> 00:35:25,520
Speaker 1: is quite doable, and if you think about it, maybe

590
00:35:25,560 --> 00:35:28,120
Speaker 1: you can even try do that in your life. Just

591
00:35:28,200 --> 00:35:31,560
Speaker 1: try reducing your plastic use by thirteen percent. I think

592
00:35:31,600 --> 00:35:36,120
Speaker 1: it wouldn't be a very big change that you do,

593
00:35:37,040 --> 00:35:41,320
Speaker 1: but in the grand scheme of things, it could mean something.

594
00:35:41,480 --> 00:35:44,480
Speaker 1: And it's a great start well.

595
00:35:44,320 --> 00:35:46,560
Speaker 2: And very much so if one person does it, like say,

596
00:35:46,600 --> 00:35:48,399
Speaker 2: I do it, and then I tell all my friends, like, hey,

597
00:35:48,480 --> 00:35:51,759
Speaker 2: just maybe scale it back just half a bit, and

598
00:35:52,400 --> 00:35:53,759
Speaker 2: you get a group of us and then it just

599
00:35:53,840 --> 00:35:54,879
Speaker 2: keeps spiraling from there.

600
00:35:54,960 --> 00:35:57,440
Speaker 1: It's a very grassroots idea of it.

601
00:35:57,520 --> 00:35:59,720
Speaker 2: But that's how this works, and that's how we start

602
00:35:59,719 --> 00:36:02,600
Speaker 2: to come together as a community to make a change.

603
00:36:02,640 --> 00:36:05,400
Speaker 2: So to your point, yeah, thirteen percent seems like a

604
00:36:05,400 --> 00:36:08,719
Speaker 2: lot in that big picture, but it really isn't. If

605
00:36:08,760 --> 00:36:10,600
Speaker 2: one person starts to do it and we kind of

606
00:36:10,600 --> 00:36:13,920
Speaker 2: create that domino effect, the monster can be reversed, but

607
00:36:14,080 --> 00:36:17,000
Speaker 2: we must help it exactly.

608
00:36:17,120 --> 00:36:19,719
Speaker 1: I agree with you, and I think people always underestimate

609
00:36:20,000 --> 00:36:24,799
Speaker 1: themselves because, for example, when I became a microplastic researcher,

610
00:36:25,080 --> 00:36:28,000
Speaker 1: all my friends were started to get, you know, more

611
00:36:28,080 --> 00:36:31,560
Speaker 1: cautious when they talk about plastic and they're like, okay,

612
00:36:31,800 --> 00:36:34,319
Speaker 1: for example, if we go somewhere, they try to use

613
00:36:34,400 --> 00:36:37,319
Speaker 1: less plastic just because of me. Just I'm not even

614
00:36:37,360 --> 00:36:39,799
Speaker 1: saying anything to them, but they're like, I'm not gonna

615
00:36:39,840 --> 00:36:42,279
Speaker 1: take this plastic back. I know you're gonna judge me,

616
00:36:42,600 --> 00:36:45,799
Speaker 1: and yeah, I'm never judging any of them, but they

617
00:36:45,840 --> 00:36:48,680
Speaker 1: still do feel like this obligation to not use and

618
00:36:48,719 --> 00:36:51,760
Speaker 1: this is already an impact, you know, So this is great.

619
00:36:52,560 --> 00:36:54,799
Speaker 2: Well, and that's how it works, right, even if you're

620
00:36:54,840 --> 00:36:56,719
Speaker 2: just scaring them a little bit to not use it,

621
00:36:56,760 --> 00:36:58,279
Speaker 2: like you don't even have to say anything, it's just

622
00:36:58,320 --> 00:36:59,000
Speaker 2: like a little.

623
00:36:58,760 --> 00:36:59,360
Speaker 1: Bit of a fear.

624
00:36:59,480 --> 00:37:02,479
Speaker 2: Then sometimes we need that push just to make sure

625
00:37:02,640 --> 00:37:05,879
Speaker 2: that we're heading in the right direction. So not only

626
00:37:05,960 --> 00:37:09,400
Speaker 2: is it better for your body to be not utilizing

627
00:37:09,400 --> 00:37:11,480
Speaker 2: a lot of these plastics, but it's also better for

628
00:37:11,560 --> 00:37:14,480
Speaker 2: the environment, So to me, that's a win win. And

629
00:37:14,520 --> 00:37:16,520
Speaker 2: you can go to you know here, I'm not sure

630
00:37:16,520 --> 00:37:18,640
Speaker 2: what they're called where you're at right now, but we

631
00:37:18,680 --> 00:37:21,880
Speaker 2: have like dollar stores and they have plastic or not plastic,

632
00:37:21,920 --> 00:37:24,920
Speaker 2: they have glass were that you can easily buy and

633
00:37:25,000 --> 00:37:27,399
Speaker 2: make it a quick swap in your home, so you're

634
00:37:27,440 --> 00:37:30,640
Speaker 2: no longer using plastic and that's you know, a big fix.

635
00:37:30,880 --> 00:37:33,520
Speaker 2: But so on that same topic though, so say people

636
00:37:33,560 --> 00:37:37,560
Speaker 2: start making that swap and doing things, how do we

637
00:37:37,600 --> 00:37:40,480
Speaker 2: recycle these things and how do we get rid of

638
00:37:40,560 --> 00:37:43,480
Speaker 2: them without adding more to the problem.

639
00:37:44,719 --> 00:37:47,880
Speaker 1: That's a very good question, A very yeah, a very

640
00:37:47,960 --> 00:37:50,200
Speaker 1: good question when it comes to all the plastic that

641
00:37:50,239 --> 00:37:53,239
Speaker 1: we already have, like what to do with those? And

642
00:37:53,480 --> 00:37:56,680
Speaker 1: it all depends on your creativity. I would say, if

643
00:37:56,719 --> 00:37:59,120
Speaker 1: there are some people that you can recycle, recycle them.

644
00:37:59,200 --> 00:38:02,760
Speaker 1: But if you can they then reuse them, it's even better,

645
00:38:02,920 --> 00:38:07,920
Speaker 1: especially when it's something that is not so for example,

646
00:38:08,080 --> 00:38:11,640
Speaker 1: you probably swap out things from the kitchen because that's

647
00:38:11,680 --> 00:38:15,200
Speaker 1: the yeah think you start with, and you try and

648
00:38:15,400 --> 00:38:19,920
Speaker 1: use those things that you swapped in the areas that

649
00:38:19,960 --> 00:38:23,160
Speaker 1: are not considered not related to your food, you know,

650
00:38:23,239 --> 00:38:25,960
Speaker 1: to kitchen. I don't know if I'm explaining it in

651
00:38:26,000 --> 00:38:27,640
Speaker 1: an understandable way.

652
00:38:27,920 --> 00:38:29,560
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, I get what you mean, Like you start

653
00:38:29,640 --> 00:38:31,719
Speaker 2: to use it, like use those cups maybe that are

654
00:38:31,760 --> 00:38:35,600
Speaker 2: plastic for to hold pencils, or they hold your makeup

655
00:38:35,640 --> 00:38:39,800
Speaker 2: brushes or something that's not being used that you're technically

656
00:38:39,840 --> 00:38:41,040
Speaker 2: putting into your body.

657
00:38:41,640 --> 00:38:44,280
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's right. And for example, I had a plastic cup.

658
00:38:44,520 --> 00:38:47,600
Speaker 1: I also it was a very long plastic cup. I

659
00:38:47,640 --> 00:38:50,480
Speaker 1: started to use this as a waste for my flowers.

660
00:38:50,480 --> 00:38:52,719
Speaker 1: For example. I know that there are some people who

661
00:38:52,760 --> 00:38:56,200
Speaker 1: are using their old cutting boards to put it under

662
00:38:56,239 --> 00:39:01,040
Speaker 1: the pots. You know, for example, all the the old

663
00:39:01,560 --> 00:39:05,239
Speaker 1: plastic clothing that you had, you can try and do

664
00:39:05,360 --> 00:39:08,520
Speaker 1: something out of them, like make a little project or

665
00:39:08,600 --> 00:39:12,720
Speaker 1: for example, donated to animal shelters for example, or anything.

666
00:39:12,920 --> 00:39:16,239
Speaker 1: I think it all depends on your creativity. But I would, yeah,

667
00:39:16,360 --> 00:39:19,600
Speaker 1: try and encourage people to try to reuse those things,

668
00:39:19,640 --> 00:39:23,200
Speaker 1: because Okay, this plastic already exists in the system, like

669
00:39:23,680 --> 00:39:26,839
Speaker 1: it will not not create microplastics just because you get

670
00:39:26,920 --> 00:39:29,680
Speaker 1: rid of it. So maybe try to reuse it in

671
00:39:30,120 --> 00:39:33,360
Speaker 1: some way that is possible. Just try to remove it

672
00:39:33,400 --> 00:39:35,040
Speaker 1: from your food from your.

673
00:39:35,040 --> 00:39:38,400
Speaker 2: Mouth, you know, yes, well, and I was like starting

674
00:39:38,440 --> 00:39:40,000
Speaker 2: to think of that as like, oh, no, well, I

675
00:39:40,000 --> 00:39:42,200
Speaker 2: don't want to encourage everybody to just then throw everything

676
00:39:42,239 --> 00:39:45,080
Speaker 2: away because that's also part of the problem. So it's

677
00:39:45,120 --> 00:39:47,480
Speaker 2: such a delicate balance, but I think it's one if

678
00:39:47,480 --> 00:39:51,160
Speaker 2: we're really intentional about that, we can make a difference

679
00:39:51,160 --> 00:39:52,719
Speaker 2: and we can start to change, even if it's a

680
00:39:52,760 --> 00:39:53,160
Speaker 2: small thing.

681
00:39:53,200 --> 00:39:55,200
Speaker 1: It can start with cups and then it can.

682
00:39:55,120 --> 00:39:58,160
Speaker 2: Go to pants, and you can always just maneuver and

683
00:39:58,560 --> 00:40:01,200
Speaker 2: find ways to do things. You know, me personally, I have

684
00:40:01,239 --> 00:40:04,880
Speaker 2: been getting really creative with trying to swap things out

685
00:40:04,960 --> 00:40:08,240
Speaker 2: and find ways to donate them in different directions.

686
00:40:08,239 --> 00:40:10,480
Speaker 1: I have donated a lot of stuff to animal shelters

687
00:40:10,480 --> 00:40:12,040
Speaker 1: so that I never knew they would.

688
00:40:12,120 --> 00:40:15,040
Speaker 2: Need pillows being one of them because I was like,

689
00:40:15,120 --> 00:40:17,600
Speaker 2: I need different healthier pillows. I was like, but I

690
00:40:17,600 --> 00:40:20,160
Speaker 2: don't want to throw these away, so animal shelters, so

691
00:40:20,760 --> 00:40:22,799
Speaker 2: there are ways to do it, but I just wanted

692
00:40:22,840 --> 00:40:25,560
Speaker 2: to make sure we gave them all the educational resources

693
00:40:25,600 --> 00:40:25,920
Speaker 2: to do.

694
00:40:25,960 --> 00:40:28,280
Speaker 1: So, yeah, that's great.

695
00:40:29,000 --> 00:40:32,680
Speaker 2: Yeah, And I love to end my podcast on it's

696
00:40:32,719 --> 00:40:36,520
Speaker 2: either a piece of advice or motivation or inspiration or

697
00:40:36,560 --> 00:40:38,720
Speaker 2: maybe something we didn't even address yet, and you feel

698
00:40:38,719 --> 00:40:40,319
Speaker 2: like really empowered you want to talk about it.

699
00:40:40,360 --> 00:40:42,359
Speaker 1: I kind of give the floor over to you.

700
00:40:42,600 --> 00:40:45,400
Speaker 2: So anything that comes to mind for you, this is

701
00:40:45,480 --> 00:40:47,200
Speaker 2: totally yours floor as yours.

702
00:40:47,880 --> 00:40:51,320
Speaker 1: Yeah, I would like to end on like an empowering

703
00:40:51,360 --> 00:40:59,839
Speaker 1: note there there is. I have met a man who's

704
00:41:00,120 --> 00:41:03,960
Speaker 1: working on finding a solution to microplastic problem and I

705
00:41:04,000 --> 00:41:07,160
Speaker 1: really like what he said to me. He told me like,

706
00:41:07,840 --> 00:41:12,799
Speaker 1: we are at the very historical point in our lifetimes,

707
00:41:13,280 --> 00:41:18,480
Speaker 1: in the history in general, where we catch the problem

708
00:41:19,680 --> 00:41:25,840
Speaker 1: way before, before that spiraled and it's now no longer

709
00:41:26,040 --> 00:41:29,799
Speaker 1: you know, solvable, Like for example, with climate change, we

710
00:41:30,160 --> 00:41:36,720
Speaker 1: realized that climate change is doing, is climate change exists

711
00:41:36,719 --> 00:41:41,400
Speaker 1: in general way after I wouldn't say too late, but

712
00:41:41,520 --> 00:41:45,680
Speaker 1: quite late, right because right now there there's a lot

713
00:41:45,719 --> 00:41:48,400
Speaker 1: of difficulties, a lot of challenges in order to talkle that.

714
00:41:48,600 --> 00:41:53,359
Speaker 1: But with microplastics, right now is the point where we

715
00:41:53,680 --> 00:41:58,000
Speaker 1: learned about the problem when it's still only now started

716
00:41:58,200 --> 00:42:01,359
Speaker 1: to affect the environment and our health. Right, So we

717
00:42:01,600 --> 00:42:05,000
Speaker 1: do and at the same time, we have all the technology,

718
00:42:05,320 --> 00:42:09,080
Speaker 1: technology and all the people that are working in science

719
00:42:09,160 --> 00:42:11,080
Speaker 1: so many people are now joining the science, so we

720
00:42:11,200 --> 00:42:15,520
Speaker 1: do have all the capabilities, all the opportunities right now

721
00:42:15,520 --> 00:42:18,359
Speaker 1: to solve this problem. If you think, I know, it's

722
00:42:18,440 --> 00:42:21,319
Speaker 1: very depressing. The field is very depressing. The environmental science

723
00:42:21,360 --> 00:42:24,480
Speaker 1: itself is just a science of studying problems, which is

724
00:42:24,600 --> 00:42:27,000
Speaker 1: quite Yeah, I know it's very sad and can be

725
00:42:27,160 --> 00:42:32,600
Speaker 1: very anxious about that, But with microplastics, I really do

726
00:42:32,640 --> 00:42:34,680
Speaker 1: have a lot of hope and I really agree with

727
00:42:34,760 --> 00:42:39,160
Speaker 1: that guy that we do have all the technological advancement

728
00:42:39,320 --> 00:42:42,560
Speaker 1: and a lot of amazing people working in order to

729
00:42:42,560 --> 00:42:46,719
Speaker 1: solve that problem. And definitely, if we keep talking about that,

730
00:42:46,840 --> 00:42:49,759
Speaker 1: if we do our part, if we take action, we're

731
00:42:49,760 --> 00:42:54,800
Speaker 1: definitely going to solve it together. I love that is that.

732
00:42:55,120 --> 00:42:57,440
Speaker 2: I love that's how we're inding it because it is

733
00:42:57,480 --> 00:42:59,480
Speaker 2: And that's why I even found you on social media

734
00:42:59,640 --> 00:43:02,240
Speaker 2: to begin with, was not only were you educating people

735
00:43:02,239 --> 00:43:04,000
Speaker 2: on the topic, but you were trying to educate in

736
00:43:04,000 --> 00:43:07,759
Speaker 2: a way that will help us, not just make us

737
00:43:07,800 --> 00:43:09,799
Speaker 2: scared and say Okay, well don't do this. It's like,

738
00:43:09,880 --> 00:43:12,080
Speaker 2: don't do this, but this is why you should it,

739
00:43:12,160 --> 00:43:14,200
Speaker 2: and this is why it can help us. So I

740
00:43:14,239 --> 00:43:16,880
Speaker 2: love what you're doing and I love your social media content,

741
00:43:17,040 --> 00:43:18,839
Speaker 2: So do you want to shout that out really quick

742
00:43:18,880 --> 00:43:19,920
Speaker 2: so people can go follow you?

743
00:43:21,680 --> 00:43:25,000
Speaker 1: Yeah? Yeah, follow me on Instagram and on TikTok. My

744
00:43:25,320 --> 00:43:28,239
Speaker 1: handle is done caget. I think it would be difficult

745
00:43:28,600 --> 00:43:30,680
Speaker 1: for human to me put it in the show notes too,

746
00:43:30,800 --> 00:43:33,200
Speaker 1: so they can find it that way and maybe a

747
00:43:33,239 --> 00:43:35,879
Speaker 1: quick shout out to my app. So we created an app,

748
00:43:35,920 --> 00:43:39,239
Speaker 1: Microplastic Free. It's an app where there are a lot

749
00:43:39,239 --> 00:43:42,960
Speaker 1: of educational lessons that I've worked myself with the help

750
00:43:43,000 --> 00:43:47,080
Speaker 1: of other microplastic researcher about what are microplastics, the environmental impact,

751
00:43:47,160 --> 00:43:49,640
Speaker 1: the human health impact of microplastics. And there's also a

752
00:43:49,680 --> 00:43:53,000
Speaker 1: scanner with which you can take pictures of foot packaging

753
00:43:53,160 --> 00:43:56,960
Speaker 1: of clothing, tacts of personal care ingredients and get an

754
00:43:57,000 --> 00:43:59,920
Speaker 1: instant microplastic rescore. Is it high or is it low.

755
00:44:00,160 --> 00:44:03,000
Speaker 1: There's also a new feature that we added, petition section,

756
00:44:03,400 --> 00:44:07,160
Speaker 1: so you can literally sign on the positions about microplastics

757
00:44:07,440 --> 00:44:10,360
Speaker 1: in the app itself. We did that in collaborations with

758
00:44:11,160 --> 00:44:14,680
Speaker 1: several organizations. We will have even more positions there soon

759
00:44:15,200 --> 00:44:18,360
Speaker 1: and another new feature that we are adding, I hope

760
00:44:19,080 --> 00:44:21,319
Speaker 1: maybe in this December, but maybe in the next year

761
00:44:21,719 --> 00:44:25,839
Speaker 1: a Trusted Brands section where you can see all the companies,

762
00:44:25,880 --> 00:44:28,799
Speaker 1: all the brands that do produce plastic free products. This

763
00:44:29,000 --> 00:44:31,560
Speaker 1: idea actually came from our own users because they were

764
00:44:31,800 --> 00:44:34,480
Speaker 1: taking pictures. They see, Okay, this is plastic, but what

765
00:44:34,520 --> 00:44:36,200
Speaker 1: can I do with What should I buy instead? And

766
00:44:36,239 --> 00:44:38,120
Speaker 1: we're like, okay, that's a great idea. Maybe we can

767
00:44:38,160 --> 00:44:41,719
Speaker 1: add brands or companies for them so they know where

768
00:44:41,760 --> 00:44:45,319
Speaker 1: to shop instead. So yeah, please download that. It will

769
00:44:45,360 --> 00:44:47,960
Speaker 1: be of great help for me and for our planet

770
00:44:48,000 --> 00:44:49,880
Speaker 1: as well. Yeah, I love that.

771
00:44:49,960 --> 00:44:52,000
Speaker 2: I'm so glad you shouted that out because it's so

772
00:44:52,120 --> 00:44:54,439
Speaker 2: cool one what you're doing, but also that you guys

773
00:44:54,440 --> 00:44:56,560
Speaker 2: created an app to again help more people. And like

774
00:44:56,640 --> 00:44:59,439
Speaker 2: we mentioned, the swab part is what's hard. It's hard

775
00:44:59,440 --> 00:45:02,120
Speaker 2: to find things and know what you're doing is right.

776
00:45:02,160 --> 00:45:04,879
Speaker 2: So to have an app that's right at your fingertips

777
00:45:04,880 --> 00:45:06,520
Speaker 2: to say, hey, is this good for me or not?

778
00:45:06,640 --> 00:45:09,400
Speaker 2: Or is this good for the environment, and then another

779
00:45:09,440 --> 00:45:12,040
Speaker 2: option for something that can be So shout that out

780
00:45:12,040 --> 00:45:13,600
Speaker 2: one more time. I will still link it in the

781
00:45:13,600 --> 00:45:15,360
Speaker 2: notes so nobody has to write it down or anything.

782
00:45:15,960 --> 00:45:19,600
Speaker 1: So it's Microplastic Free Scanner, or you can just write

783
00:45:19,640 --> 00:45:22,440
Speaker 1: microplastic free. That's perfect.

784
00:45:22,520 --> 00:45:24,600
Speaker 2: Well, it's so cool what you're doing, and I hope

785
00:45:24,600 --> 00:45:28,560
Speaker 2: it just continues to I hope we continue to do better.

786
00:45:28,680 --> 00:45:30,600
Speaker 1: I hope your job continues.

787
00:45:30,120 --> 00:45:33,040
Speaker 2: To hopefully get easier, would be the hope I would

788
00:45:33,120 --> 00:45:36,439
Speaker 2: hope out of doing that research that maybe one day

789
00:45:36,480 --> 00:45:39,080
Speaker 2: you can search for a new subject because we did

790
00:45:39,080 --> 00:45:41,440
Speaker 2: all the right things and we got rid of it.

791
00:45:41,800 --> 00:45:44,160
Speaker 2: But all that to say, thank you for the work

792
00:45:44,160 --> 00:45:46,800
Speaker 2: that you're doing, and thanks for the information and sharing

793
00:45:46,840 --> 00:45:48,600
Speaker 2: on social media because it's how I found you, and

794
00:45:48,640 --> 00:45:51,120
Speaker 2: I'm really glad that I did to share with my listeners.

795
00:45:51,600 --> 00:45:53,640
Speaker 1: Yeah, thank you so much for reaching out. I really

796
00:45:53,680 --> 00:45:56,480
Speaker 1: like talking about microplastics. I love that.

797
00:45:56,520 --> 00:45:58,359
Speaker 2: I love when somebody gets to geek out on things

798
00:45:58,400 --> 00:46:01,799
Speaker 2: they love too, because when there's so much information around it,

799
00:46:02,120 --> 00:46:04,200
Speaker 2: you know, we see the Internet and there's so much

800
00:46:04,640 --> 00:46:07,279
Speaker 2: that we see, but you know, you see influencers all

801
00:46:07,280 --> 00:46:10,000
Speaker 2: the time talking about microplastics and I'm like, okay, but

802
00:46:10,040 --> 00:46:10,880
Speaker 2: how do you know that?

803
00:46:11,040 --> 00:46:11,840
Speaker 1: And who are you?

804
00:46:12,200 --> 00:46:14,200
Speaker 2: So I saw you and I was like, well, she's

805
00:46:14,280 --> 00:46:16,719
Speaker 2: actually doing the research, so I'm gonna talk to her

806
00:46:16,760 --> 00:46:22,319
Speaker 2: about this. Yeah, Well, thank you again, and I will

807
00:46:22,360 --> 00:46:24,160
Speaker 2: make sure to link everything in the show notes for everybody,

808
00:46:24,200 --> 00:46:26,319
Speaker 2: so you guys can follow her and get that app

809
00:46:26,360 --> 00:46:28,279
Speaker 2: so we can all do a little bit better by

810
00:46:28,360 --> 00:46:29,959
Speaker 2: ourselves and for the earth.

811
00:46:30,160 --> 00:46:30,520
Speaker 1: Thank you.

812
00:46:31,000 --> 00:46:33,040
Speaker 2: I know episodes like these are sometimes hard to take.

813
00:46:33,120 --> 00:46:35,640
Speaker 2: You may feel helpless, confused, or like you're in over

814
00:46:35,640 --> 00:46:37,920
Speaker 2: your head, and trust me, I've been there. I do

815
00:46:37,960 --> 00:46:41,239
Speaker 2: these episodes as a way to inform because there's so

816
00:46:41,400 --> 00:46:43,920
Speaker 2: much noise happening on social media, and the way to

817
00:46:43,960 --> 00:46:47,080
Speaker 2: cut through that is with evidence based facts and research.

818
00:46:47,440 --> 00:46:49,320
Speaker 2: So if this is your first totep in understanding the

819
00:46:49,320 --> 00:46:52,120
Speaker 2: world of microplastics, much like me, you're doing great. We're

820
00:46:52,160 --> 00:46:54,400
Speaker 2: gonna figure this out. Donna is a great source of

821
00:46:54,400 --> 00:46:57,000
Speaker 2: information on this topic, so be sure to follow her

822
00:46:57,040 --> 00:46:59,760
Speaker 2: on social media and download that app she was talking about.

823
00:47:00,080 --> 00:47:03,080
Speaker 2: We can do this, guys, Stay calm, deep breaths. I'm

824
00:47:03,080 --> 00:47:05,160
Speaker 2: so happy that you're here. Get ready next week to

825
00:47:05,239 --> 00:47:06,799
Speaker 2: learn all the things I've been doing in the world

826
00:47:06,840 --> 00:47:11,000
Speaker 2: of detoks and cleanses with Kara. Subscribe away by friends