{"podcast":{"title":"How To Protect The Ocean","slug":"how-to-protect-the-ocean-2010","podcast_index_feed_id":2010,"rss_url":"https://rss.libsyn.com/shows/59591/destinations/228444.xml","website_url":"https://www.speakupforblue.com/show/speak-up-for-the-ocean-blue/","image_url":"https://static.libsyn.com/p/assets/0/1/7/2/0172a388259a35a95f2e77a3093c12a1/HowToProtectTheOcean_CoverArt.jpg","author":"Andrew Lewin - Marine Biologist and Ocean Conservationist","episode_count":1990,"summary":"Dive into the Depths: Join Andrew Lewin on 'How to Protect the Ocean' – Your Gateway to Exclusive Ocean Insights! Explore the latest, uncharted realms of ocean science and conservation that you won't find anywhere else. Andrew takes you on an inspiring journey to uncover the hidden gems of oceanic discovery and initiatives. Tune in to discover how you can transform your life for a better ocean, one episode at a time. The How To Protect The Ocean is your resource to keep you informed on the latest ocean news; teach you how to speak up for the ocean; and, how you can take action to live for a better ocean. There is so much information on the ocean and the issues that are affecting it that it can be difficult to find optimism in the future of the ocean. Climate change, overfishing, plastic pollution, water pollution, and coastal development have altered the ocean in ways that have negatively changed the way we use it. The repercussions of climate change, including the ominous specter of rising sea levels, the relentless march of warming ocean temperatures, and the ominous shadow of ocean acidification, have not only altered the very fabric of our coastlines but have also conjured fie…","last_synced_at":"2026-09-26T08:23:21.814007+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/how-to-protect-the-ocean-2010"},"episode":{"title":"The 90 Percent Fix Hiding in Your Laundry Room","slug":"the-90-percent-fix-hiding-in-your-laundry-room","published_at":"2026-09-07T07:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/how-to-protect-the-ocean-2010/the-90-percent-fix-hiding-in-your-laundry-room","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/how-to-protect-the-ocean-2010","url":"https://www.speakupforblue.com/podcast","audio_url":"https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/scicon/HTPTO_E2018_AnjaBrandonMicroFibresOceanConservancy.mp3?dest-id=228444","summary":"Every time you run a load of laundry, your washing machine sheds plastic. Not metaphorically: synthetic clothing made from polyester, nylon, and rayon releases microfibers with every wash, and depending on the study, a single load can shed anywhere from a few hundred thousand to millions of them. Most of us have never thought about it, because unlike a plastic bag on the beach, you can't see it happening. In this episode, Andrew talks with Dr. Anja Brandon, Director of Plastics Policy at Ocean Conservancy, about the plastic pollution problem hiding in plain sight behind the more familiar debates over straws and single-use bottles. Anja's own path here started at an aquarium, not a policy office. She volunteered there as a student, went on to earn a PhD in environmental engineering from Stanford studying plastic-degrading bacteria, then took a detour into policy through an AAAS/AGU Congressional Science Fellowship, spending a year working inside Senator Jeff Merkley's office translating science into legislation before joining Ocean Conservancy to help build out its plastics policy program from the ground up. Andrew and Anja dig into that career pivot in detail, including her honest read on why plastic-eating bacteria research, despite the viral videos, is still a long way from solving this problem at scale. From there, the conversation gets practical. Anja walks through what actually happens to a microfiber after it leaves your washing machine (wastewater treatment, biosolids used as fertilizer, and eventually rivers, lakes, and oceans), why its needle-like shape makes it unusually good at lodging in tissue once ingested, and what the evidence says about ocean wildlife and human health. Then she lays out the fix: retrofit filters, low-tech options like the Cora Ball and…","meta_description":"Every time you run a load of laundry, your washing machine sheds plastic. Not metaphorically: synthetic clothing made from polyester, nylon, and rayon rel…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":4004,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/how-to-protect-the-ocean-2010/episodes/the-90-percent-fix-hiding-in-your-laundry-room/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/how-to-protect-the-ocean-2010/the-90-percent-fix-hiding-in-your-laundry-room.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}