18 billion pounds of plastic waste end up in the ocean every year. Almost 20 years. Jon and Jo Ann Hagler on behalf of the Jon L. Hagler Foundation. ', "Business is being lost; analysts are beginning to take notice. What if its got a chasing arrow sign on it and you think that means its getting recycled? Let's put these away and let me show you another recycling label. FRONTLINE is a registered trademark of WGBH Educational Foundation. Eighty plastic bags found inside the whale. It did a good job of doing what it was asked to do; it made life more efficient and easier. While the efforts to change consumer behavior helped clean up the more visible litter problem, they did little to address the root cause. First,. Here's this flexible bag, and it's a plastic-metal laminate. Can we come in and look? The plastic industry had brought a demonstration project here in 1994. Americas postwar boom presented endless opportunities for this new, durable, lightweight material. But it isnt just industry thats kept consumers focused on recycling for so long. Plastic Paradise "Sun offers a fresh, new voice for her generation and has made a film that can appeal to the masses" - Honolulu Pulse "Chilling film.journalist Angela Sun offers valuable new insights." --The Hollywood Reporter "Thoughtful new documentary by @sunnyangela examines the Great Pacific Garbage Patch It has really good engineering qualities; it protects food very well. News Pollution. They float in the water and get eaten by sea life. Plastics are once again on the low end of the public's opinion and now the industry is telling the public again to recycle. Once again, the industry is pushing recycling. plastic became the unrivaled material of choice for consumers. And yet it's become ground zero for The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, syphoning plastics from three distant continents. The good news is they're coming. In this independent documentary film, journalist/filmmaker Angela Sun travels on a personal journey of discovery to uncover this mysterious phenomenon. 1. The manufacturing of plastic has increased from 20 million pounds worldwide in 1927 to 115 billion in 2014. We are the shipper of the scrap. So the big plastic producers came up with a multimillion-dollar solution: advertising. We have not had any model shows around here in a long time! One recycling company here caught our attention. The photography is a strong asset, and images from Midway Island are especially striking. Amid the backlash, I headed to the Texas Gulf Coast, where oil and gas companies are under pressure from climate change and increasingly turning to plastics, now their biggest growth market. Until there is a viable option for recycling those things, we should be putting it in a landfill. Amazing work!' Every single piece of this has to be sorted in some way. How much water was withdrawn to produce this product? Plastic Paradise: The Great Pacific Garbage Patch - Archive And the numberthere's some words; it says, "1 PETE." We reached out to more than a dozen major plastic makers; the only one that would sit down with us was Chevron Phillips. Thats what it looks like when it comes in. One study estimates that 60% of ocean plastic comes from Asia. Dont tell me thats a freaking straw. Were going to have to invest in innovation, because some of these technologies still need to be further developed. Last fall, I met up with Bagaria there. Angela SunProduced by Angela Sun, Gil Elbaz, Elyssa Elbaz, Tanya Leal SotoEditor: Wendy ShueyCinematography: Joseph Ochoa, Francisco Aliwalas, Mark BellaGraphics: Jonathan Jelkin. 'Superworms' may hold the key to world's trash crisis : NPR Watch Plastic Paradise: The Great Pacific Garbage Patc - Tubi Soto, Tanya Leal (film producer). I think it is a big moment. And on the day I stopped by, local lawmakers had been invited in to hear about the benefits of a new sorting machine that industry says will make recycling plastic more economical. Would any of the trash be harmless?Use this encyclopedia article on food webs and the article on coral reef food webs to introduce students to a typical coral reef food web. Its a win-win situation. Freemans boss at the time, Larry Thomas, the head of the Society of the Plastics Industry, was blunt about it. This is everywhere in every supermarket. STEVE RUSSELL, VP, American Chemistry Council, 1995-2020: The thing that made them unique was the ability to do more with just a little bit of material; to make things that we used lighter and more efficient. Lately there's been a lot of talk about how plastics impact our lives, for better or worse. Along the way she meets scientists, researchers, influencers, and volunteers who shed light on the effects of our rabid plastic consumption and learns the problem is more insidious than we could have ever imagined. I think the chemical industry, and the plastics industry specifically, need to take very seriously this reaction thats going on. Save our Earth. Now here we are again in a crisis. Let's get these bills passed. Eleven billion. It was also a boon for oil companies as they had an entirely new market to tap from 20 million pounds in 1927 to 650 million pounds by 1943. Plastic Paradise: The Great Pacific Garbage Patch - Where Art Meets If a media asset is downloadable, a download button appears in the corner of the media viewer. But even as Liesemer and his colleagues were publicly promoting recycling, privately, the industry had long expressed doubt it was ever going to happen on a broad scale. People start pollution. Thousands of miles away from civilization, Midway Atoll is in one of the most remote places on earth. In Washington last November, during America Recycles Week. Dr. Chelsea M. Rochman, Smith Fellow in Conservation Biology, Marine Ecologist/Ecotoxicologist, Aquatic Health Program, University of California Davis'Plastic Paradise offers new and sharpened perspectives on the problem of plastics in the environment. We have to start showing success. And now Im what I've always wanted to be. If you want to step up above, you can see the machine in action. Dr. Sherri A. Mason, Professor of Chemistry, Environmental Sciences Program Coordinator, SUNY at Fredonia'We are all familiar with trash, but most of us likely are unaware of indestructible plastic trash that pollutes the oceans, contaminates our seafood, kills birds, fish, and marine mammals as well as carrying toxic substances into the environment and our bodies. Ask students to predict what might happen if turtles or seabirds become less common in a coral reef ecosystem. There are various types of plastics, and that the cost of new plastic is so low that sorting and reprocessing used plastic cant be justified economically. Were a not-for-profit. Plastic Paradise: A Swingin' Trip Through America's Polynesian Obsession: Directed by Brett O'Bourke. JIM BECKER, VP, Sustainability, Chevron Phillips: Our view is you have to be very careful with that because sometimes the substitute products can have a bigger environmental impact than the thing you are banning. Film Review: Plastic Paradise: The Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Like in the '90s, the industry has been spending money on ads. Busy lifestyles and a growing urban population mean an increase in demand for food that is fresh. 'This is an issue of vast scales. twice the size of texas or as big as the US. Then what? We said, "Next time try recycling." Yes, because we are struggling to handle our own waste. DAVID ALLAWAY, Oregon Department of Environmental Quality: Very nice to meet you. And I think whats good is that were all working together to help improve some of those recycling habits and understanding behavior. 'This is an issue of vast scales. "Give me raw material"that's all they wanted. In an underwater paradise, a plastic nightmare. An endangered sea turtle? A good substitute is a Swap Meet. I watched the film with some of my students so I can attest that it appeals to the younger generation. Demand for low-cost plastic continues to grow, and the production of new plastic is rapidly expanding. Back in Oregon, I found one of these new technologies. Modern-day miracles that were made with the help of petrochemicals. This film makes the case that the only solution is source control, and that consumers have a great deal of underutilized power.' And with all that new plastic came mountains of plastic waste. The fact that you now dont have to worry about dropping a shampoo bottle that was made out of glass on the bathroom floor because its plastic. The big problem is that it is all about money, profits. What's it like to look at a field this size and see it covered in plastic trash? For scrap. But the alternative is having plastic waste in the environment. The idea behind that particular facility is if we improve the way that recyclables move down the conveyor belt, so they get separated, we're going to create better, cleaner streams of like materials. Dr. Chelsea M. Rochman, Smith Fellow in Conservation Biology, Marine Ecologist/Ecotoxicologist, Aquatic Health Program, University of California Davis'Plastic Paradise offers new and sharpened perspectives on the problem of plastics in the environment. In New Jersey, I met a man who built a $180 million recycling business off of that waste. Sun, Angela (film director) Were they misleading the public? Planetsave'Sun offers a fresh, new voice for her generation and has made a film that can appeal to the masses.' The industry attitude was, "We'll set this up and get it going, but if the public wants it, they are going to have to pay for it.". It was manufactured. So, you're saying consumers stand here and think, "What can I recycle?" Thousands of miles away from civilization, Midway Atoll is in one of the most remote places on earth. At the time, it was one of the few atolls in the world unspoiled by human activity. MONIQUE OXENDER, Chief sustainability officer, Keurig Dr Pepper: I mean, youve got a couple hurdles, in the sense that youre going to have to have people sorting out tiny cups, right? What would happen if the corals died off? I think we were overly optimistic about the potential of recycling, and perpetuating that narrative led us astray. In the last 20 years weve seen more environmental degradations and environmental problems in Indonesia. With the help of an Indonesian journalist, we tried to speak to someone at New Harvestindo, but we were told there was no one available. "Some firms used it as a green marketing tool." Not a good idea for your wallet. Along the way she meets scientists, researchers, influencers, and volunteers who shed light on the effects of our rabid plastic consumption and learns the problem is more insidious than we could have ever imagined. Do you fundamentally think that in the United States recycling could ramp up to a capacity to handle the vast majority of plastic that's being produced? Literally me. 08/08/2014. No transcript available. But more importantly, we have to look at reuse models; using less where we can; developing new materials, which is the plastic maker's responsibility, that can be better recycled; and also really important that we deploy the technologies that are now available to us at scale. If the public thinks that recycling is working, then they're not going to be as concerned about the environment. Starting in the late '90s, Bagaria and other recycling brokers had a one-word answer to the growing plastic waste problem: China. childhood leukemia. Recyclers and the plastic makers couldn't agree on how to change the code. Earth Day was one of the largest mass protests in U.S. history. From 1990 to 2010, production more than doubled. The host takes a 2-year trip around the world to give us a better understanding of the life cycle of plastic It's . I think its a transitional moment. Yeah. So this is how it looks like when they burn it. So, contaminated plastic trash is as big a problem for you guys as narcotics and drugs coming into the country. We cannot keep just continuing this mindless consumerism, mindless consumption and dump it somewhere else. From polymers to nurdles, learn how plastic i. The big leverage is with the producers. I think we were naive. 11 Zero Waste Documentaries to Inform & Inspire Change - Sustainable Jungle We support, actually, the ACC goalsAmerican Chemistry Councilgoals of getting plastic waste out of landfills by, I think the date is 2040. When I came here in June, I asked them where did they get this from? In this independent documentary film, journalist/filmmaker Angela Sun travels on a personal journey of discovery to uncover this mysterious phenomenon. One in every 10 Americans took part in rallies, concerts and. So all the plastic will come off before the line ends. Angela Sun reveals the effects of our rabid plastic consumption as she investigates The Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Added to the plastic consumer goods swirling and settling in the way-beyond, are the estimated 640,000 tons of discarded plastic and nylon commercial fishing nets, many weighing more than a ton each, that snag on and break life-giving coral reefs, and entrap and kill larger marine animals. Soto, Tanya Leal (film producer). Timothy Hoellein, Aquatic Ecologist, Assistant Professor of Biology, Loyola University'With fantastic archival footage, revealing modern images from the pacific and thoughtful, fact-based explanation, Plastic Paradise provides an educational, hip, and very entertaining look at some of the many ways plastic is affecting us all. A year? And some children got hospitalized. We follow Angela Sun while she investigates the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, which is where the plastic waste of three different continents accumulates. And in 2018, China stopped taking imported plastic waste. We have to show hard results. There's nothing wrong with promoting recycling except when recycling sucks all the oxygen out of the room and we never do anything else. October 7, 2013 by The CALI Award. Coy Smith ran recycling centers in Southern California in the 1980s and early '90s. When they were running the advertising on television, they were not about how plastics can be recycled but all the wonderful things that plastics bring to us. At Plastic Paradise's conclusion, the viewer is left pondering that the amount of plastic in the world will increase by 400% by 2050. We've got to fix the recycling system; clearly that's job one. People all around the country bought that line and thought it was our responsibility to take care of litter. They said I couldnt dream. I believe with the proper infrastructure and the proper education and we all work together as a collective, we can. The film takes a refreshing approach of avoiding the blame game, while emphasizing that learning about the issue can lead to less plastic use by the general public.' Plastic Paradise makes the issue of plastic pollution real and relevant. Youre saying youve got plenty as it is? Most mixed plastics end up in a place like this. They're not going to be able to continue to drill that oil and gas and burn it for energy anymore because the climate can't sustain it, so this is their lifeline. I mean, absolutely societywide we bought this myth that recycling will solve the problem and we don't need to worry about the amount of plastic being produced. Smokejumping is the pinnacle of wild land firefighting. ; "Plastic Paradise"; Bullfrog Films. Timothy Hoellein, Aquatic Ecologist, Assistant Professor of Biology, Loyola University'With fantastic archival footage, revealing modern images from the pacific and thoughtful, fact-based explanation, Plastic Paradise provides an educational, hip, and very entertaining look at some of the many ways plastic is affecting us all. What does Chevron Phillips want to see happen? When you get a bale of plastic, how much of that bale is plastic that the company wants and how much of it is stuff that is just plastic that youre not going to do anything with? Elizabeth A. Newell, Stephanie Hanus, Stevie Monteiro, Destiny Harbison, and James McTighe. COY SMITH, Former board member, National Recycling Coalition: During that time, the plastics industry, they went around to states and they convinced those states to pass lawsand they did this very quietlythey passed laws that required that symbol with the number on it be put on plastic containers sold in that state. But thats not what weve been told for decades, as the things we buy have been increasingly packaged in plastic. Students will learn the unexpected economic and ecological facets of plastic pollution and ways for each of us to minimize our plastic footprint. By doing so, this film will inspire young people to act as global citizens and contribute to finding solutions for the major environmental problems of the coming century.' What does coral treat? How did it get there?The trash survey was conducted on a beach. There's going to be more plastic than ever. Did you feel like they cared more about selling plastic than they did about making recycling work? They said that the chasing arrows symbol was OK, as long as it was small and on the bottom of packaging. Plastics have been around since the 1930's. It is virtually indestructible, never deteriorates and is produced by using resources from two of the largest money making industries in the world: oil and gas. The common refrain in this whole field is that it's all up to consumers. So you can talk about this stuff a lot. It includes a good history of the genesis of the plastics industry from materials shortages during World War II, and demonstrates that things put in the environment (such as a message in a bottle) can stick around for a long time and move great distances. Funding for FRONTLINE is provided through the support of PBS viewers and by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. They say residents will put all their plastic containers in one bag. But later we surely realized that there was always another aspect of what was going on in China. You could recycle this in a lab. What we put in our recycling bins ends up in sorting plants like this one, outside of Portland. This poor sea turtle, a straw stuck in its nose, It would attract more than 35 million views. It includes a good history of the genesis of the plastics industry from materials shortages during World War II, and demonstrates that things put in the environment (such as a message in a bottle) can stick around for a long time and move great distances. In this state, none of this is recyclable. Id come to see what its archive could tell me about the evolution of the plastic problem. [Speaking Indonesian] It used to be only once a month, but now it can be two or three times a week. Americans discard more trash than any other country in the world. As I made my way through the innovation fair. That all originates with us. Plastics 101 | National Geographic - YouTube But the proof here is the dramatic amount of investment that's happening right now. I mean, China did a big one for the recycling industry, I must say. But as we continued our reporting in Oregon, we heard about a surprisingly similar effort that took place more than 25 years ago at a recycling company 50 miles away called Garten Services. Vinod Singh is the outreach manager at Far West Recycling. It then makes it's way up the food chain, ultimately into humans. I think thats true. I notice that you guys put the big chasing arrows. Called me a piece of trash and swore thats all Id ever be. Sarah Appleton, National Geographic Society. This is a documentary that should be seen by educators, students, politicians, and environmentalists alike. I mean what is the carbon footprint? It spent most of its money, millions and millions of dollars, on advertising. Old types of recycling need to be modernized and new types of recycling need to be brought on board. Youve seen California, the legislation, some bans across the country and a lot of targets on single-use plastic. plastic paradise transcriptplymouth township mi police scanner. Oh, yes. Reflection of the documentary Plastic Paradise: The Great Pacific This is from Purchase, New York. Ive got a couple of newspaper articles I want to show you from the past. Construction will eventually employ 6,000 people. The whole idea about, "Oh, just sort better. 'This is an issue of vast scales. It was created. Plastic enters the world's oceans, is broken into tiny bits, and ingested by marine life and birds. Last year, customs found that half the containers of plastic waste they inspected. They created the Council for Solid Waste Solutions, drawn from their ranks of big oil and petrochemical companies that made plastic, like Amoco, Chevron, Dow and Exxon. Plastics in the ocean have been building up for decades. Trace the history of the material that ushered in the "plastics century." Watch Think Dig Deeper Discuss Customize this lesson 403 Create and share a new lesson based on this one. Use and discard, and then this is where it all ends up. Do you think that they took a lesson away from how to fight the bans? A dead seal or sea lion? Dr. Patricia Corcoran, Associate Professor of Earth Sciences, University of Western Ontario'Angela Sun spoke with all the right people and even went to places she wasn't supposed to go in order to present the full story on plastic pollution. These Chinese children spend most of their waking hours between plumes of smoke and mountains of plastic. Additional funding is provided by the Abrams Foundation; the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation; Park Foundation; the Heising-Simons Foundation; and the FRONTLINE Journalism Fund with major support from Jon and Jo Ann Hagler on behalf of the Jon L. Hagler Foundation, and additional support from Koo and Patricia Yuen. I dont think so, because when I looked at them, at the arrows, I thought this is a way to identify the products so that the early stages of recycling can take place. Plastic Paradise: The Great Pacific Garbage Patch Trailer Angela Sun 01:58 Description Reviews Credits Cataloging Thousands of miles away from civilization, Midway Atoll is in one of the most remote places on earth. So let's take a look at these blueberries. harden plastic. Most end up in the ocean, where they pollute the water and harm marine life; the rest are burned in garbage piles, where they release harmful dioxins into the atmosphere. The recycling system that we have at the moment, its not really recycling because some part of it exportedbeing exported all over the world to be "recycled," but you never know whether its really being recycled overseas or not. Plastic films, plastic bags, the plastic wrapping that comes around a lot of packaged goods, that all goes into the garbage. As long as we didnt disclose his identity. A bunch of small but . They want to sell more plastic containers. Plastic Paradise is an excellent, accessible, and troubling documentary that reveals these issues. Sun offers a fresh, new voice for her generation and has made a film that can appeal to the masses, "Chilling filmjournalist Angela Sun offers valuable new insights. Conversely, plastics can also absorb pollutants, such as PCBs, from the seawater. Years later, we shut it down because there was no way to make money at it. Plastic Paradise engages students by illustrating how their everyday interactions with plastic are connected to pollution at the farthest, most exotic corners of the world . Plastic is Killing the Planet and Our Health - Wake Up World They would just take the low-hanging fruits. According to the filmmaker, plastic debris collects in this fashion because a combination of gyres (large systems of rotating ocean currents) serve as catchment basins, and debris that would. Angela Sun is an award-winning journalist, sports caster, and filmmaker. All Rights Reserved.Graphics by. The question that people are going to have is what are they supposed to do to make this better? Do you think that America can recycle its way out of this plastic crisis? Reduce the impact. They knew these problems existed, absolutely. Transcript Plastic Wars View film LAURA SULLIVAN, Correspondent: In 2015, a marine biologist came across a sea turtle in distress. He was checking out a recycling company that he sells his plastic to. It's margarine tubs, clamshells, deli containers. If no button appears, you cannot download or save the media.
District 3 San Antonio Map,
Greenwich High School Track,
Articles P