Show Notes
Plastic pollution has reached every part of Antarctica. British Antarctic Survey marine ecologist Dr. Clara Manno explains how macroplastics and microplastics travel to the polar region through human activity, ocean currents, and other transport pathways. Plastic has been found in snow, freshwater, sea ice, the water column, and seafloor sediments. The conversation examines how it interacts with Antarctic wildlife and marine ecosystems, including processes that help the ocean absorb carbon dioxide. Learn why Antarctica’s remoteness cannot shield it from global consumption and waste, and why reducing polar plastic pollution requires both local safeguards and coordinated international action.
Episode Guest: Dr. Clara Manno More information about Dr. Clara Manno here. Browse Dr. Clara Manno’s’ publications on Google Scholar More information about Plastic-AG here
Listen to Plastic Podcast on Spotify and Apple Podcasts For More information about the United Nations Treaty on Plastic follow the Scientists’ Coalition for an Effective Plastics Treaty on Linkedin
Episode Transcript and more information on the Pine Forest Media Website Follow Pine Forest Media on Instagram @pineforestmedia Hosted, produced, written, and edited by Clark Marchese Cover art and PFM logo by Laurel Wong. Theme music by Nela Ruiz Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
More from South Pole | Antarctic Science & Polar Exploration
Antarctic seafloor life stores carbon for centuries. Marine ecologist Dr. Narissa Bax explains Antarctic blue carbon, the carbon captured and stored by marine organisms and ocean habitats. The episode follows carbon from phytoplankton through cold-water coral gardens, sponge fields, kelp, and other seafloor ecosystems, where some of it can eventually be buried in sediment for hundreds or thousands of years. Bax examines the growing scientific effort to measure this seafloor carbon storage, its relationship with biodiversity, and how blue carbon could support marine protected areas and conservation policy. The discussion also considers bottom trawling, carbon credits, and the limits of presenting Antarctic blue carbon as a simple climate solution.
Elephant seals collect data beneath the Southern Ocean. Dr. Clive McMahon explains how researchers equip southern elephant seals with miniature conductivity, temperature, and depth sensors. As the seals dive and travel through remote waters that are difficult to observe, especially during winter, the animal-borne sensors collect information about temperature, salinity, depth, and ocean productivity before transmitting observations by satellite. The data help scientists study elephant seal tracking, foraging, body condition, and population change while improving Southern Ocean monitoring. They also reveal physical processes connected to Antarctic dense water, global ocean circulation, weather, and climate.
Jackie Ronne changed who could explore Antarctica. Polar historian Dr. Joanna Kafarowski recounts how Ronne joined the Ronne Antarctic Research Expedition in 1947 as a full expedition member and became one of the first two women to overwinter on the continent. The episode follows her journey from the National Geographic Society to Antarctica, where male expedition members initially signed a petition opposing the women’s participation. Learn how Ronne contributed to expedition operations and scientific objectives while facing isolation, sexism, and extraordinary pressure. Her story reveals the institutional barriers that kept qualified women out of polar exploration for decades.
The Antarctic Treaty turned rivalry into cooperation. Political and environmental philosopher Dr. Alejandra Mancilla traces how overlapping territorial claims, international tensions, and the Cold War led twelve countries to sign the Antarctic Treaty in 1959. The resulting Antarctic Treaty System set the continent aside for peaceful purposes and international scientific cooperation while effectively freezing competing territorial claims. The episode explores environmental protection, membership and decision-making, questions of political legitimacy, and the pressures climate change could place on polar governance. It also asks what the treaty’s model of shared guardianship might teach the rest of the world.
Pine Forest Media is proud to present Oceanography, a new podcast hosted by South Pole creator Clark Marchese. This weekly series explores the science and global cooperation needed to protect our oceans.