SUCHI: HOW DID YOU GET INTO THIS SPECIFIC AREA OF RESEARCH? WAS THERE A SPECIFIC CATALYST?
MADELEINE:i have been participating in climate activism since i was a kid, because i grew up with a nonprofit-environmental-attorney mom who was working in areas that were really on the front lines of fossil fuel extraction. i found myself at 18 on a boat that sailed across the bermuda triangle with a bunch of researchers and musicians, and surfers; we sampled the ocean for a week, and it changed my life. that was the beginning of my microplastic research. i had the immense privilege of being on that boat, and it fundamentally shifted my understanding of the scale of this issue.
SUCHI: WHAT EXACTLY ARE MICROPLASTICS? WHERE DO THEY COME FROM? AND WHERE ARE THEY?
MADELEINE:microplastics are tiny pieces of refined oil and gas, which humans have miraculously made completely omnipresent. they're creating some serious environmental harms, possibly climate harms, and, of course, human health harms, as well.
the fundamental answer to that question is that petrochemicals, oil and gas, are extracted from beneath the surface of the earth. they are refined into various types of products, and those products are manufactured and sold, and then those products then break down into little pieces of plastic that are omnipresent and invisible.
there are a few different types of microplastics:
nanoplastics, which is when they break down to a size that we cannot see and that can infiltrate inside our cells.
microplastics that are manufactured as microplastics. this is what we call pre-production pellets: these are pellets of plastic that get transported on barges that have gaps and holes in them and inadvertently wind up covering beaches, etc, even though their intended purpose is to be molded into our laundry detergent bottles, plastic water bottles, etc.
cosmetic rinse off micro beads, which companies had the brilliant idea of putting in our toothpaste, our face wash, that, luckily, a lot of legislation has moved forward in banning, are also microplastics.
it's important to not be alarmist when we talk about the potential public health implications of microplastics pollution. the only thing worse than microplastics embedding themselves in your tissues and your placenta and sloshing around in your bloodstream is stressing about microplastics embedding themselves in your tissues and sloshing around in your bloodstream.
the climate advocate and microplastics specialist discusses the hidden world of synthetic fibers, the power of community resilience, and why creativity—not doomism—is the antidote to climate anxiety
interview by suchi jalavancha
edited for length and clarity by shira wheeler
INTERVIEW • SEPTEMBER 5, 2025
in conversation with madeleine macgillvray: microplastics, community, and the art of actionable environmentalism
SUCHI: LET'S TALK SYNTHETIC FABRICS SPECIFICALLY: WHAT ARE THE HARMS?
MADELEINE:i'll try to speak quickly about synthetic fabrics, but i'll try not to gloss over the important stuff. over a third of the global microplastics issue is from synthetic fibers. that means that fibers and textiles are over a third of the microplastics issue globally. this is an incredible opportunity, and it's why we need to support non-toxic natural fiber. buying from small scale brands like oddo are a start.
there's a huge climate impact on many levels: the transportation and the carbon required of extracting plastic from below the earth's surface; the fact that fibers are going to shed no matter what; there's workforce and workplace harm implications for the folks making our clothes. they are exposed to much higher levels of fibers that get sheared off and shed. they're basically breathing them in and have no protection. there are very few workplace protections in place for folks who are working with synthetic fabrics.
when we sweat, when we go into a sauna, when we exercise, when we are walking around in the 100 degree weather in brooklyn these days, our pores are open. and when our pores are open, it allows whatever is on the surface of our skin, to absorb whatever is laying directly on top of it. our skin is a breathing organ and synthetic fabrics are documented as being toxic.
it's really important that we don't just live in natural fiber, but also understand, especially when heat is a factor, that the implications and the harms, from a health perspective, of synthetics vastly increase.
SUCHI: HOW DO YOU SUGGEST THAT FOLKS AVOID CLIMATE DOOMISM?
MADELEINE:the antidote to anxiety is action. that is still a bit overwhelming, because i don't know about you, but to me, action implies some big thing or a longer term thing, i would like us to rephrase a tiny bit with just the addition of one word and say instead, the antidote to anxiety is an action. so it could be anything. it doesn't have to be climate related whatsoever. we are a creative species. we birth, we create worlds. this is the miracle of our existence: that we are creative.
i think too often the narrative is that we are destructive. that we're destroying the planet and we're eating up all our resources. i think if we remind ourselves that instead of being destructive, we are, in fact, inherently creative, this allows us to tap into something completely different from doomism or hope or optimism or all of these words that happen when we're trying to push forward.
Doomism, optimism and hope—none of these are relevant, in my view—although I welcome all views. It is in our human nature to continue and we will find creative ways to live.
tapping into our innate creativity to sustaining will help us avoid climate doomism. remembering that you were born instead of remembering that you're going to die. (this is an idea from the philosopher hannah arendt, i'm obsessed with her.) there's also a little nietzsche in here, and inspiration from a book i'm reading: natality by jennifer banks. it's so freaking cool.
madeleine is wearing our triangle bra, goldie tank, and sleep short. find out more about madeleine
and her work
instagram: here
website: here
photography by: suchi jalavancha
lifelong climate advocate and microplastics specialist madeleine macgillvray bridges the worlds of environmental science and conscious living. through her research on synthetic fibers and community-based environmental action, she offers a refreshingly grounded perspective on one of our most pervasive—yet invisible—environmental challenges. here, she speaks with us about the omnipresent reality of microplastics, why natural fibers matter more than we think, and how embracing our inherent creativity can transform climate anxiety into meaningful action.
SUCHI: CAN YOU TELL US A BIT ABOUT YOURSELF, AND HOW YOU DISCOVERED ODDOBODY?
MADELEINE: i'm a lifelong climate advocate and microplastics specialist. shira and i met 10 years ago through a mutual friend, marcia patmos, who has a wonderful, consciously produced fashion line in brooklyn, m.patmos. shira was about to launch oddo, and it's been so wonderful to follow along the journey.at the time, i was moving from citizen science on microplastics into fashion. there's such a direct pipeline, no pun intended, on the fossil fuel side, from microplastics to fibers.
SUCHI: HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE RECENT PREVALENCE OF INFORMATION/ATTENTION AROUND MICROPLASTICS? FROM YOUR SCIENTIFIC PERSPECTIVE, IS THERE ANY NUANCE MISSING TO THIS KIND OF EXISTING ONLINE DIALOG? AND IS THERE ANYTHING THAT YOU WOULD ADD?
MADELEINE:the more people talking about microplastics, the better. i'm all for the microplastics memes. it's insane that we have tiny particles of plastic in everything— people have to find a way to laugh about it. one meme is a picture of a spice shaker full of micro plastics! we're all made of stardust and micro plastics?!
i guess if there was nuance missing, it'd be the fact that this often comes as a response to people feeling that they cannot do anything. i've gotten dragged online for saying that microplastics memes have potential to further the conversation. yeah, it's a little bit doomist. but, it's because people really felt like they actually couldn't do anything, so we just need to shift the narrative that it's actually not totally futile to tackle this issue.
the other nuance missing, in particular, talking about research (this is why i have a job), is because there are huge silos and discrepancies between the research and the rest of us. so science communication is a real thing. a lot of headlines sensationalize.
journalists can be a little bit more discerning and we can be a little more critical. just stay curious. understand that there is going to be nuance with research. read multiple articles about these topics and try to get a more diverse perspective. but, that doesn't mean that we stop talking about it.
© oddobody 2025
