\n<\/p>\n
November 18, 2025<\/p>\n
2 min read<\/p>\n
Five Essential Reads on Plastic, Power, and Pollution<\/p>\n
If you enjoyed Beth Gardiner\u2019s feature about big oil\u2019s bet on plastics, here are more books curated by Scientific American<\/p>\n
By Brianne Kane edited by Jeanna Bryner<\/span><\/p>\n The fossil-fuel industry is pivoting to plastics: massive companies are launching new refineries and other industrial plants to make plastic from petrochemicals. Science journalist Beth Gardiner follows this story in our December issue, where you\u2019ll meet the communities being harmed and the companies spending billions of dollars to control the future of plastic.<\/p>\n To complement that read, here are a few books that you can dive into and explore the wild world of waste management, the chemistry of plastics and more examples of corporate espionage and drama.<\/p>\n Plastic Inc.: The Secret History and Shocking Future of Big Oil\u2019s Biggest Bet If you’re enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.<\/p>\n Beth Gardiner\u2019s new book about big oil\u2019s bet on plastic\u2019s future is coming out in February 2026. She discusses the history that led us here and the big money spent to convince us not to recycle, reduce our carbon footprint or worry about single-use plastic.<\/p>\n They Poisoned the World: Life and Death in the Age of Forever Chemicals In this fascinating book, investigative reporter Mariah Blake gives readers an account of the big businesses that are trying to hide the dangers of \u201cforever chemicals\u201d and the tricks they\u2019ve used to keep the toxins off the public\u2019s radar.<\/p>\n Waste Wars: The Wild Afterlife of Your Trash Take a wild ride around the globe as journalist Alexander Clapp shows you how plastic gets smashed, melted or lost at sea in an attempt to get garbage out of sight as soon as possible, no matter the cost.<\/p>\n Saving Us: A Climate Scientist\u2019s Case for Hope and Healing in a Divided World Atmospheric scientist Katharine Hayhoe delivers an optimistic view of our planet\u2019s future in this book, which climate scientist and author Kate Marvel applauds for its directness and optimism in the September 2021 issue of Scientific American.<\/p>\n Citizen Coke: The Making of Coca-Cola Capitalism If you\u2019re looking for a dramatic story of conspiracy and espionage, plenty more drama unfolds in this book by historian Bartow J. Elmore, who examines how a certain soda manufacturer has affected the environment, our wallets and our day-to-day purchasing decisions.<\/p>\n If you enjoyed this article, I\u2019d like to ask for your support. Scientific American<\/span> has served as an advocate for science and industry for 180 years, and right now may be the most critical moment in that two-century history.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve been a Scientific American<\/span> subscriber since I was 12 years old, and it helped shape the way I look at the world. SciAm <\/span>always educates and delights me, and inspires a sense of awe for our vast, beautiful universe. I hope it does that for you, too.<\/p>\n If you subscribe to Scientific American<\/span>, you help ensure that our coverage is centered on meaningful research and discovery; that we have the resources to report on the decisions that threaten labs across the U.S.; and that we support both budding and working scientists at a time when the value of science itself too often goes unrecognized.<\/p>\n In return, you get essential news, captivating podcasts, brilliant infographics, can’t-miss newsletters, must-watch videos, challenging games, and the science world’s best writing and reporting. You can even gift someone a subscription.<\/p>\n There has never been a more important time for us to stand up and show why science matters. I hope you\u2019ll support us in that mission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" November 18, 2025 2 min read Five Essential Reads on Plastic, Power, and Pollution If you enjoyed Beth Gardiner\u2019s feature about big oil\u2019s bet on plastics, here are more books curated by Scientific American By Brianne Kane edited by Jeanna Bryner The fossil-fuel industry is pivoting to plastics: massive companies are launching new refineries and<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":34342,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[1001,9660,614,362,1664],"class_list":{"0":"post-34341","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-science","8":"tag-books","9":"tag-essential","10":"tag-plastic","11":"tag-pollution","12":"tag-power"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34341","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=34341"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34341\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/34342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=34341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=34341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=34341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
by Beth Gardiner
Avery, February 2026<\/p>\nOn supporting science journalism<\/h2>\n
by Mariah Blake
Crown, May 2025<\/p>\n
by Alexander Clapp
Little, Brown and Company, February 2025<\/p>\n
by Katharine Hayhoe
Atria\/One Signal Publishers, September 2021<\/p>\n
by Bartow J. Elmore
W. W. Norton, December 2016<\/p>\nIt\u2019s Time to Stand Up for Science<\/h2>\n