[#philosophy](/culture/new/philosophy) & culture. plastic is merging with us. We become plastic repositories simply by going about our daily lives. As plastic accumulates, it alters our relationship with ourselves: It can sterilize by blocking fallopian tubes, it can shift hormonal balances by mimicking estrogen and binding to receptors, it can shorten life spans with cancer-causing composition. To echo the sentiment of Allison Cobb: Plastic is now the self, and experiencing it is an autobiography.  Plastic’s ubiquity has made it quotidian, and it has emerged as a profound actor in the ordering and reordering of life and death on our rocky planet. Some researchers have begun using the term “Plasticene” to describe our current geologic epoch, a label that only bolsters its designation as an omen.