Rhoda Miel, our Detroit-based staff reporter, recently sat in on a Q&A event with General Motors Co. Chairman and CEO Dan Akerson.

The video below includes one of the highlights -- it's Akerson talking about the problem of insular thinking. The audio is a little difficult to understand, but we thought we'd post it anyway because many blog readers in the auto industry will be interested in anything GM's top dog has to say.

The video is from a conference in Beijing sponsored by our sister publication Automotive News. Jason Stein, editor of AN, is the moderator.

The full interview covered a wide spectrum of topics, everything from the process when he was selected to head GM, and his wife's reaction (he says he didn't tell her until they were on vacation) to his love of the new Cadillacs and the Volt and electric cars.

How often do you see polyurethane foam as the cover story in a business weekly like Barron's?

Today's issue has the story -- although the subject matter may seem more appropriate for Cosmopolitan!

The story, "Sex or Sleep?", looks at PU's growing stake in the mattress market, and what it means to activity in the American bedroom.

OK, I'll spell it out: "They induce a blissful snooze but make sex a challenge."

Sadly, polyurethane never gets mention in Miriam Gottfried's cover story. The story calls it by the generic name "memory foam," described as a "dense material that softens in reaction to body heat" that dates back to NASA research in 1966.

Memory foam has shaken up the sleepy mattress industry, accounting for almost 20 percent of the market, Barron's reported.

Check the link for the salacious details. Don't worry, it's all in good taste -- despite Rupert Murdoch's role, Barron's is still a Dow Jones flagship.

Plastics News featured the one-cup coffee maker trend a few weeks ago, highlighting the rapid growth in the segment -- and how plastics were benefitting.

Readers of that story, "Brewing up market share, 1 cup at a time," may be interested in the latest news about sector leader Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc.

The New York Times' Dealbook reported this week that Green Mountain founder Robert P. Stiller resigned his position as chairman on May 8 after he sold 5 million shares of the company's stock -- worth about $125 million -- to pay off loans he had taken against the shares.

Stiller, who is still on the company's board, now owns only about 5.4 percent of Green Mountain, down from 27.5 percent in early 2008, according to the report.

Indepedent shareholders took a bath as a result of Stiller's margin call too -- the value of Green Mountain stock lost about half their value in the past few weeks.

The Chicago Tribune is in the middle of publishing an investigative series on the safety and effectiveness of chemical flame retardants -- which are used widely in plastic foam upholstery.

The first two stories in the series, "Playing with fire," charge that the chemical industry misled consumers and legislators in order to require widespread use of flame retardants.

The second story is particular is sure to raise eyebrows. "Big Tobacco wins fire marshals as allies in flame retardant push" charges that the tobacco industry worked behind the scenes to steer the debate away from making cigarettes less hazardous -- and towards requiring wider use of flame retardant chemicals.

A primary player in the debate, according to the story, was Peter Sparber, a former Tobacco Institute executive who helped create and steer the National Association of State Fire Marshals.

The meat for the report came from tobacco industry documents that became public after cigarette companies settled lawsuits over the health costs of treating smokers, according to the Tribune.

Watch for the next two installments in the series on Wednesday and Thursday.

A controversial pro-plastics section has been removed from a proposed environmental curriculum in California, according to a report by California Watch.

Last year California Watch had reported that Gerald Lieberman, a private consultant hired by California school officials, added a new section to the 11th-grade teachers' edition textbook called "The Advantages of Plastic Shopping Bags," with the title and some of the textbook language inserted almost verbatim from letters written by the American Chemistry Council.

In the wake of that disclosure, the state Environmental Protection Agency took another look at the proposed curriculum, which is part of a statewide K-12 curriculum on the environment.

In a follow-up story posted last week, Suzanne Rust of California Watch reported that the curriculum has been rewritten.

The lesson (PDF) "no longer includes a section titled, 'The Advantages of Plastic Shopping Bags,' and it incorporates more recent and relevant recycling statistics," she wrote.

The story quotes Bryan Ehlers, Cal/EPA's assistant secretary for education and quality programs, who said: "We went back and looked at the whole unit and really picked through it with a fine-tooth comb."

"Our concern always with the curriculum was to ensure integrity and accuracy," Ehlers said.

In "Advantages of Plastic Shopping Bags" workbook section had asked students to list some advantages of plastic bags. The correct answer, according to the teachers' edition, was: "Plastic shopping bags are very convenient to use. They take less energy to manufacture than paper bags, cost less to transport and can be reused."

California Watch is an initiative of the Center for Investigative Reporting.

Summer break is almost here -- so it's a good time to start thinking about education opportunities for the next school year.

DME Co. announced today that it is accepting applications for its DME Plastics University Scholarship Program through July 15 for the 2012 fall semester.

The program offers $1,000 scholarships to increase the number of highly-skilled workers in the plastics industry. Scholarships are for students enrolled in plastics manufacturing-related programs.

Scholarship applications are available at www.dme.net/education.

To be eligible, students must attend an accredited trade school/university offering a two-year certificate, two-year associate or four-year bachelor's degree in a plastics manufacturing-related field.

Madison Heights, Mich.-based DME said students enrolled in related coursework will be considered if they demonstrate a strong academic emphasis and interest in plastics.

CNN's Jane Velez-Mitchell covered the debate over sustainability of PET water bottles yesterday, and while the report is worth a look, it also has some serious problems.

With a "Ban the Bottle" graphic looming in the background, Velez-Mitchell tells viewers that she has an ally -- none other than 84-year-old Jean Hill, who led the effort to ban single-serve PET water bottles in Concord, Mass. (See PN's April 26 story, "Concord, Mass., voters pass ban on PET water bottles ")

I enjoyed hearing what Hill has to say -- it's the first time I've seen her on camera. Her message is that the bottle ban in Concord is a big deal, and the media's coverage has been shallow.

She's absolutely right about that.

Velez-Mitchell is a little over-the-top, literally applauding Hill and saying "Thank you for leading the crusade against plastic bottles." But that's her opinion, so it's OK.

But then the story stumbles by using some discredited information.

Velez-Mitchell describes the garbage patch as "a giant mound of garbage ... bigger than Texas in the Pacific Ocean." That's hyperbole that's been discredited by ocean researchers.

She also cites a website (thinkoutsidethebin.com) that says plastic debris kills 100,000 marine animals a year. Remember that one? I wrote last year about how Harold Johnson, a Saco, Maine, journalist and author of "The Flotsam Diaries" blog, researched and discredited the oft-cited number.

Note to CNN: Interesting story, but don't believe everything you read on the internet.

Torrance, Calif.-based storage case maker Pelican Products Inc. received major coverage on page 1 in the April 29 Los Angeles Times business section.

The 1,126-word article, one in the Times' "Made in California" series, includes descriptions of Pelican's quick-mold-change and automated production processes.

"The new tool goes in and we're making a new case, all in less than 10 minutes" rather than the previous change time of about 18 hours, Lyndon Faulkner, Pelican chief executive officer, says in Ronald D. White's report, headlined "Pelican Products proves as durable as the storage cases it makes."

Last year Pelican was one of the winners of a Plastics News Excellence Award. The company, which does injection and rotational molding, picked up the award for industry/public service.

(Thanks to Roger Renstrom, our long-time West Coast correspondent, for suggesting this item).

Auburn, N.Y.-based custom injection and blow molder Currier Plastics Inc. recently hosted 60 local second graders.

The pupils were learning about manufacturing in their social studies unit, according to "Currier Plastics shows second-graders their future can be both bright and local," a story in Auburn's The Citizen.

"We were studying a unit in social studies on manufacturing," teacher Ann Kott told the newspaper. "We thought, 'What would be a good way to bring this to life for them?'"

The visit to Currier Plastics helped the pupils learn the importance of math and science, gave them a peek at how computers are used in a modern factory, and helped them realize that there are local jobs available in the manufacturing sector.

Currier was founded in 1982 by the late Raymond Currier, an engineer that bought two injection molding machines to form his own business. His son, John Currier, is currently the company's president.

The company takes pride in its work with the local community -- Plastics News' Frank Antosiewicz mentioned the efforts in a story last year about a $2 million expansion that included adding more blow molding and injection molding equipment.

"Herman Avenue second graders have been visiting Currier Plastics for about 15 years now," John Currier said in a recent press release, "and my son Tim was in one of the first classes to visit. He now works in our maintenance department."

When the plastics industry talks about "sustainability," usually the emphasis is on things like energy efficiency, recycling or carbon footprint.

But reaching out to the local community, and getting teachers and students to understand the importance and impact of the industry, is just as important to plastics sustainability in future generations.

The plastic debris problem in the ocean could be worse than some studies have estimated, according to a new report.

University of Washington oceanographer Giora Proskurowski and Tobias Kukulka of the University of Delaware say they found that high winds push lightweight plastic particles deep below the ocean surface -- deeper than previous studies had realized.

That meant decades of research on plastic marine debris may in some cases vastly underestimate the true amount of plastic debris in the oceans, Proskurowski said in a news release from UW.

Proskurowski's data came from a 2010 North Atlantic expedition, where he and his team collected samples at the surface, plus an additional three or four depths down as far as 100 feet.

"Almost every tow we did contained plastic regardless of the depth," he said.

Proskurowski said more research is needed, because at this point oceanographers just don't have a good handle on how much plastic is in the ocean.

He added: "On this topic, what science needs to be geared toward is building confidence that scientists have solid numbers and that policy makers aren't making judgments based on CNN reports."

Research for the report included data from the Sea Education Association's Plastics at SEA program.