The Song of Styrene

A personal history of plastics, written by a plastic-maker’s daughter turned environmental sociologist who, for the past decade, has searched for the origin story of plastic and how it is inextricably bound to her own

In one generation, we have created billions of tons of plastic. It's a forever material that is everywhere—on the wrack line, collecting in deep sea; swilling in our beer and falling with the rain. For some, it's the ultimate fate of these plastics that holds the existential th...