Freinkel’s ground-breaking book “Plastic: A Toxic Love Story” has led to interviews with news outlets and podcasts from around the world including, Fresh Air, 60 Minutes, Marketplace, The Atlantic, the BBC, the CBC, Australian Broadcasting, as well as appearances in documentaries including the 2024 film Plastic People. She’s frequently invited to speak about plastics on college campuses, for industry groups and environmental organizations. She’s told the story of the American chestnut at colleges, arboretums, chapters of the American Chestnut Foundation and for This Old House and other podcasts.

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Freinkel’s journalism career started at the “Wichita Eagle-Beacon” in Wichita, Kansas, where she covered a range of subjects including rural health care, city hall, coyote hunts, the Kansas “brain drain”, and the changing nature of families. After moving to San Francisco, she worked for “The Recorder “newspaper and “American Lawyer” magazine, writing about legal affairs and the business of law. Her career took a new direction when she joined the staff of “Health” magazine and began writing about consumer health and medicine. 

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Since 2000, she has been a free-lance writer and editor. Her work has appeared in a variety of national publications including: the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Boston Globe, Discover, Smithsonian, Reader’s Digest, OnEarth magazine and Alta Journal. She’s also worked as a consulting editor and writer for Gates Ventures and UCSF Health.

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These days, she’s thinking about public parks, in particular, Golden Gate Park. Her Substack newsletter, 1017 Acres: Life in the Park, is part history, part travelogue, part awestruck appreciation of the people, plants, and wildlife that make up this extraordinary space.

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Freinkel is a member of North 24th Writers and Word of Mouth Bay Area (WOMBA). She and her husband live in San Francisco, where they raised their three children. 

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