Shadowing Practice: Why The Microplastics Crisis Will Only Get Worse - Learn English Speaking with Video
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Nearly everything we eat and drink is wrapped in plastic.
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In fact, global plastic production more than doubled between 2000 and 2022.
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And now we're realizing it's showing up in our bodies too.
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One recent study showed the level of microplastics in the frontal
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cortex of our brains increased by about 50% between 2016 and 2024.
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You cannot take the current exposure levels to plastic
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and say let's double them in the human race and just see what happens.
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I mean, that's just idiotic.
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The problem is that plastic never fully decomposes.
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It just breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces.
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When it becomes smaller than five millimeters, that's about the width of a pencil eraser.
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It's called a microplastic.
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But then a subset called nanoplastics can get much, much smaller.
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So small that they can't even be seen with the human eye.
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There has been increasing chronic disease.
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We know that some of that is from many of these chemicals that are used in plastics.
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Plastic is in some ways an amazing material.
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It has this amazing breadth of uses that makes it a very valuable material.
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It also happens to be very inexpensive.
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It's cheap to make.
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And it has long been inexpensive, but it's become even cheaper to make more recently.
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And when you combine inexpensive with very useful, you're going to have a lot of demand for this product.
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Plastic production is a big industry, $880 billion in fact.
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And as big oil faces weakened demand for gasoline, it's increasingly turned to plastic.
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Aside from the already massive plastic waste problem that the world is facing, it's now in our bodies.
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And with more research emerging that shows its harm on our health, why is plastic production increasing?
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And who's reaping the benefits from it?
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In that study about plastic in our brains, researchers at the University of New Mexico studied samples from cadavers.
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Based on those samples, they calculated
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that the total mass of plastic from the 2024 brains they evaluated would equate to about 7 grams, about the size of a plastic spoon.
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Tracy Woodruff wasn't involved in the brain study, but is a microplastics researcher.
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She's evaluated thousands of studies on this topic.
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We're able to conclude based on those studies that microplastics are suspected to adversely impact reproductive health,
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respiratory health, and effects on the digestive system.
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And that the links to these mechanisms that we saw could also could increase the risk of colon cancer and lung cancer.
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Almost every single thing we buy from the grocery store comes wrapped in plastic, which sheds microscopic particles onto our food.
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It's also contaminated our food chains.
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Researchers found
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that 99% of the fish they studied off the coast of Oregon were found to contain microplastics in their muscle tissue.
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It's been found to be released in our mouths from simply chewing a piece of gum.
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Researchers have even found them in fruits and vegetables.
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As humans we are becoming part plastic.
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That is the reality, right?
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And plastic has over 16,000 chemicals.
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We have only, you know, had studies and research that has about a quarter of them documented as harmful,
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but we just haven't had the time and resources to explore how these other chemicals may be impacting us.
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While there is definitive research to prove microplastics are inside of us, the exact effects on our bodies is difficult to pinpoint.
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Many studies have found a correlation between microplastics and chronic disease, but cannot establish a causation.
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For example, the study on our brains analyzed samples of people with dementia
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and found much higher levels of microplastic in them compared to the brains without the disease.
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There are of course many other lifestyle or genetic factors that could have caused dementia.
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On its website, the FDA reiterates the lack of causality by saying, Current scientific evidence does not demonstrate that the level of microplastics
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or nanoplastics detected in our foods pose a risk to human health.
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Consider microplastics to be sort of a toxic delivery mechanism.
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All the chemicals that are attached to the plastic that make up the plastic, that soften the plastic or that block UV light
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or do all the things that give it its characteristics that make it so versatile, a lot of those are pretty toxic substances.
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Petrochemicals, the building blocks of plastic, are produced from oil and gas.
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It's a small but profitable area of the fossil fuel industry.
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In the US, only about 1.5% of natural gas is converted into chemicals
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that are used to make plastic and other consumer products.
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But as oil demand declines from EV adoption, US tariffs, and a slowing of economic growth in India and China, industry giants are investing heavily into chemical production.
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Renewables are coming in very inexpensively, and so renewables are actually on the margin in cutting
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or reducing the amount of additional natural gas that would have been built otherwise.
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Plastic production is projected to grow more than 40% between 2025 and 2040.
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In its 2024 outlook, British Petroleum, or BP, said, materials.
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Exxon Mobil and Shell made over $110 billion in combined revenue from their chemical businesses in 2024.
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Plastics is the growth area.
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They know how to do it.
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They already have access to the gas that you need to make plastics.
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They're not constrained at all by what happens to people.
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They don't care about that.
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They just see this as, OK, what do my shareholders need?
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How am I going to make a ton of money?
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We have recycled 80 million pounds of plastic that otherwise would have gone to landfills.
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And we have plans to ramp that recycling up to a billion pounds by 2027.
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In 2020, Saudi Aramco, the biggest oil company in the world, bought a 70% stake in petrochemical company, Sabic.
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While fourth quarter 2024 results were lower than expected, Sabic made nearly $35 billion from petrochemicals last year.
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Sabic and Exxon are two of the largest players in the polyethylene plastics industry.
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I think that the oil and gas majors all see a major opportunity.
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They've been investing very heavily, billions of dollars, into building plastic producing facilities.
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So when they're losing some of their profit center or expect to be losing some of their core profit centers, this is a place where they might be able to make up some of that lost profit.
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Fracking has made the U.S into the world's biggest oil producer pumping out nearly 13.5 million barrels per day.
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And a global surplus of oil, and particularly natural gas, means more plastic production.
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The bottom line is that it's really coming from the fact that we have so much natural gas and plenty of ethane, and it's pretty easy to get that ethane,
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so that the actual feedstock, if you will, so that what's used to create plastics is really cheap in the United States.
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With widespread investments in plastics growth, the market is becoming highly oversaturated.
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The margins on chemicals are compressing and plastic supply is projected to increasingly outpace demand.
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Shell, for example, felt that firsthand in its most recent quarter.
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This isn't about we need more plastic.
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This is about them pushing more plastic on us because they're looking for new markets for their products.
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And I think one of the concerns that people have is that once they put in all this infrastructure, because it's expensive, right?
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You have to build a facility and all the mechanisms for transporting it from the ground to the product.
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It's gonna be really hard to roll that back.
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Plastic was first created in the early 1900s.
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As well as the development of new man-made plastics and fabrics.
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But wide-scale production didn't ramp up until the 50s.
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The public was sold on the notion of disposability, but over the following decades, began waking up to the pollution crisis it was creating.
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There were all sorts of efforts in the 1970s and 80s
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and even in the 90s to ban plastic bags or to ban plastics in general.
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And that is really what was at the root of the industry's pivot to recycling.
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Because they saw recycling as a way to deflect and defend against those efforts to ban their products.
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A report by the Center for Climate Integrity alleges that the plastics industry spent years making quote,
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performative investments and would roll back research initiatives or quietly shut down facilities when regulatory threats simmered.
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Just last year, the Attorney General of California sued ExxonMobil over a decades-long campaign of recycling deception.
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If the public was convinced that their single-use throwaway consumer lifestyle was supported by recycling and that it was environmentally friendly,
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they would buy more and more and it would drive the profits of ExxonMobil up and up.
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And so that's the idea, but it's based on a lie.
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It's illegal.
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We've sued them in court and we're here to hold them accountable.
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Within two months of the lawsuit, Exxon announced a commitment to invest $200 million in boosting recycling capacity in its Texas plant.
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In January 2025, ExxonMobil countersued the California AG and other environmental groups for defaming and disparaging the company's recycling initiatives.
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We've seen this growing trend where activists and ideologues, particularly in the climate space, and then some politicians, particularly state attorney generals,
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are hijacking and abusing legitimate processes to advance their own selfish agendas.
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I think that was certainly true with the state attorney general, Rob Bonta.
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He was lying, lying about our company, lying about our technology, impugning the character of our people,
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interfering with our business, and probably most importantly, getting in the way of improving the environment.
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I don't think anybody really was quite aware of the depth of the fraud that the industry was perpetrating on the public.
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I mean, they knew from the beginning that the economics of plastic recycling would never work.
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Only about 9% of plastic waste worldwide was recycled in 2019.
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In the U.S., that number is even lower at 5%.
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So, why aren't more plastics being recycled?
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It's a complicated chain.
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There is a problem with collecting and sorting and processing the plastics.
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There is a, the current recycling technology has its limits.
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The plastic today is not a simple single element of plastic.
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They are very complicated structures to achieve the properties that we're looking for in the use of plastic.
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And so, many of those properties make them inconsistent for mechanical recycling.
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It is simply cheaper to make new plastic than to recycle, especially considering the abundance of gas and oil.
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There are no incentives for a company to switch out of plastics.
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There are no incentives for a company to use recycled plastics.
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It's more expensive.
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The only incentive they have is that many companies want to be socially responsible.
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Political backing has also been instrumental in making all of this possible. While U.S.
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Secretary of Health and Human Services, RFK Jr., has said reassessing the levels of chemicals and plastic in our food is a priority,
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the Trump administration as a whole has taken a pro-plastic stance by aggressively deregulating the energy industry.
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It's cutting incentives for renewables and opening federal lands for more oil and gas drilling.
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This push for more drilling comes despite the fact that the U.S is already producing a surplus.
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Current deregulatory efforts by the current federal government in the United
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States giving less to worry about for the business executives in the oil and gas industry relating to plastics.
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And so I don't anticipate there's going to be any regulation on plastics in the next few years.
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Between 2014 and 2024, the oil and gas industry spent over $1.4 billion on federal lobbying.
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Having worked in the government, there are stakeholders, and those are really fossil fuel
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and the chemical producing companies
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that have a financial stake in what the government says about whatever these topics are related to these toxic chemicals.
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CNBC reached out to Shell, Exxon and SABIC.
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However, none of them agreed to an interview.
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Exxon referred us to a previous interview with CNBC.
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Shell told us
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that it believes the global plastic treaty provides a unique opportunity
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to mobilize global action to tackle plastic pollution by creating an effective
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and sustainable plastic circular economy while supporting an inclusive of transition for all stakeholders.
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While it is impossible to avoid entirely, the good news is there are a few realistic ways to reduce your exposure to microplastics.
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Cutting out plastic water bottles is one major step everyone can take.
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There are hundreds of thousands of microplastics floating around in every liter of bottled water.
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We know that from empirically based studies
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that you can reduce your exposures to these chemicals that are found in plastic that we know are toxic.
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So by extrapolation, you can also reduce your exposures to microplastics.
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And so some of them are and some of them are really super easy, like don't microwave plastic.
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That's a really easy one.
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A 2023 study found
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that microwaving plastic caused the highest release of microplastics into food
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compared to other usages like storing it in the refrigerator or at room temperature.
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No one's talking about getting rid of heart valves or, you know, no one's talking about getting rid of essential uses of plastic plastic like plastics in your car dashboard
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or whatever it is.
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What we're talking about is plastics that are single use, plastics that are completely unnecessary,
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plastics where, you know, you don't have to individually wrap like every leaf of lettuce, which it seems to be where we're headed with this stuff.
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We're unquestionably as a society better off having plastics than no plastics, but we're facing the consequences of having those plastics.
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And what can we do to try to mitigate those consequences?
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The American Chemistry Council, a major trade association for plastics, says that plastic packaging can make food last longer.
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There is also evidence that the carbon emissions saved from reducing food waste outweighs the emissions from producing the plastic packaging.
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But none of this accounts for the impact on human health.
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The ACC's VP of Regulatory and Scientific Affairs shared the following comment with CNBC.
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We can now detect incredibly tiny amounts of substances like microplastics, but finding something at extremely low levels does not mean it's harmful.
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The science on microplastics is evolving.
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ACC and our global counterparts are funding research to advance the science so that decisions are guided by sound,
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data-driven evidence that weighs any potential risks against the essential role plastics play in our daily lives.
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These types of synthetic plastic and the plastic
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that we are talking about really has only been readily used in society for the past 70 years.
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So it's the amount of evidence and understanding of how plastic accumulates within our bodies over time is really in its infancy.
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This chart shows the level of published research surrounding microplastics in the National Library of Medicine over the past decade.
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Both scientists and the general public are just beginning to understand the implications of microplastics, given that most of the studies on them have recently emerged.
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We're just doing some studies now looking at exposures to
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pregnant women who were previously pregnant and they're still exposed to DDT like that was banned in 1970.
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And that's because once we pollute the environment, it just hangs around and we are just continuously exposed.
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One of the things that is really lacking in terms of government policy
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and regulation is dealing with these pollutants that are persistent and bioaccumulative because if make a mistake with them, your mistake is forever.
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You know, one of the most important things you can do is vote
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and show up to local community events and really advocating, you know, for stronger laws and regulations on plastic.
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Vocabulario y notas de pronunciación para esta lección
Esta lección de conversación de nivel B2 se basa en el vídeo “Why The Microplastics Crisis Will Only Get Worse”. Las palabras que más se repiten: plastic, microplastic, chemical, gas, oil. Este vídeo tiene 188 frases y 2620 palabras para practicar shadowing. La parte hablada dura 16:17. El hablante habla a un ritmo natural de unas 161 palabras por minuto, cercano a una conversación cotidiana. Solo el 81 % de las palabras está entre las 3.000 más comunes del inglés, por lo que el vocabulario es exigente.
Vocabulario clave de este vídeo
Las 15 palabras más avanzadas del vídeo, con su pronunciación y significado:
| Palabra | Pronunciación | Significado |
|---|---|---|
| microplastic sustantivo | microplástico | |
| recycle verbo | /ɹəˈsaɪkəl/ | reciclar |
| researcher sustantivo | /ˈɹiˌsɝ.t͡ʃɚ/ | investigador, investigadora |
| incentive sustantivo | /ɪnˈsɛntɪv/ | incentivo, aliciente |
| inexpensive adjetivo | /ˌɪnɪkˈspɛnsɪv/ | barato, económico |
| renewable adjetivo | /ɹɪˈnu.ə.bl̩/ | renovable |
| wrap verbo | /ɹæp/ | envolver, fajar |
| ethane sustantivo | /ˈɛθeɪn/ | etano |
| petrochemical adjetivo | petroquímico | |
| stakeholder sustantivo | /ˈsteɪkˌhəʊl.də/ | apostador, baratero (chapas, juego de apuestas) |
| emission sustantivo | /ɪˈmɪʃ.ən/ | emisión |
| dementia sustantivo | /dɪˈmɛnʃə/ | demencia |
| surplus sustantivo | /ˈsɝˌplʌs/ | sobra, excedente |
| emerge verbo | /ɪˈmɝd͡ʒ/ | emerger, aparecer |
| harmful adjetivo | /ˈhɑɹmfl̩/ | perjudicial, perjudicador |
Phrasal verbs que vas a escuchar
| Palabra | Pronunciación | Significado |
|---|---|---|
| make up verbo | /ˌmeɪk ˈʌp/ | reponer, suplir |
| cut out verbo | dejar de, dejar | |
| make over verbo | reformar | |
| roll back verbo | revertir | |
| shut down verbo | apagar |
Frases que vale la pena repetir
Frases cortas y completas del vídeo que puedes reutilizar en la conversación diaria:
- I mean, that's just idiotic.
- It's also contaminated our food chains.
- How am I going to make a ton of money?
- This isn't about we need more plastic.
Gramática en este vídeo
Las estructuras que más usa el hablante, con las palabras exactas del vídeo:
| Estructura | En el vídeo |
|---|---|
| Present perfect continuous have/has been + -ing — una acción que empezó antes y continúa | has been increasing · They've been investing |
| Present perfect have/has + participio pasado — una acción pasada que sigue importando ahora | It's been found · have even found · haven't had |
| Voz pasiva be + participio pasado — importa lo que ocurre, no quién lo hace | is wrapped · be seen · wasn't involved |
Pronunciación a tener en cuenta
El hablante usa 29 contracciones y formas reducidas, como we're, don't, they're. Dilas en su forma corta, tal como las oyes.
- Los sonidos de “th”: ethane /ˈɛθeɪn/, synthetic /sɪnˈθɛtɪk/, width /ˈwɪtθ/
- Los sonidos de “sh” y “zh”: emission /ɪˈmɪʃ.ən/, dementia /dɪˈmɛnʃə/, pollution /pəˈluʃən/, implication /ˌɪmpləˈkeɪʃən/, shareholder /ˈʃɛəˌhəʊl.də(ɹ)/
- Palabras largas — cuida el acento: inexpensive /ˌɪnɪkˈspɛnsɪv/, contaminate /kənˈtæmɪneɪt/, implication /ˌɪmpləˈkeɪʃən/, refrigerator /ɹɪˈfɹɪd͡ʒ.əˌɹeɪ.tɚ/, anticipate /ænˈtɪs.ɪ.peɪt/
Sonidos difíciles para hispanohablantes:
- s + consonante al inicio — sin añadir una “e” delante: stakeholder /ˈsteɪkˌhəʊl.də/, stake /steɪk/, spoon /spuːn/, stance /stæns/
- /v/ — no es /b/: los dientes tocan el labio inferior: incentive /ɪnˈsɛntɪv/, inexpensive /ˌɪnɪkˈspɛnsɪv/, evaluate /ɪˈvaljʊeɪt/, versatile /ˈvɜː.səˌtaɪl/, reproductive /ˌɹiːpɹəˈdʌktɪv/
- /z/ — sonora, no /s/: analyze /ˈæn.əˌlaɪz/, pose /poʊz/
Cómo practicar con este vídeo
- Escucha el vídeo entero una vez sin hablar y anota las palabras que no conoces.
- Empieza a velocidad 0,75×, haz shadowing frase por frase y vuelve a la velocidad normal cuando te resulte fácil.
- Grábate y compara con el original, prestando atención a palabras como microplastic, recycle, researcher.
¿Qué es la Técnica de Shadowing?
Shadowing es una técnica de aprendizaje de idiomas respaldada por la ciencia, desarrollada originalmente para la formación de intérpretes profesionales y popularizada por el políglota Dr. Alexander Arguelles. El método es simple pero poderoso: escuchas audio en inglés nativo y lo repites en voz alta de inmediato, como una sombra que sigue al hablante con solo 1-2 segundos de retraso. A diferencia de la escucha pasiva o los ejercicios de gramática, el shadowing obliga a tu cerebro y músculos de la boca a procesar y reproducir simultáneamente patrones de habla reales. Las investigaciones muestran que mejora significativamente la precisión de la pronunciación, la entonación, el ritmo, el habla conectada, la comprensión auditiva y la fluidez al hablar, convirtiéndola en una de las metodologías más efectivas para la preparación del IELTS Speaking y la comunicación en inglés en el mundo real.