A Plastic Ocean Documentary
I recently watched A Plastic Ocean, a documentary that shows viewers how plastic is impacting our planet. Watching the documentary reinforced my decision to start this blog as it was full of eye-opening stats and scenes showing how plastic is taking over this world, quite literally, and I believe it will leave a lasting impression. In fact, it was the visuals from a shorter but similar video called Open Your Eyes, created by the Plastic Pollution Coalition and narrated by Jeff Bridges that encouraged me to start making changes a few years ago to cut back on single-use plastic.
The documentary starts in 2011 with journalist Craig Leeson who is searching for blue whales when he is confronted by the prevalence of plastic pollution in the ocean. A Plastic Ocean then follows Craig and free diver Tanya Streeter over the next four years as they speak with various scientists and researchers all over the world. Topics covered in the film includes, but is not limited to: plastic production, the depths at which plastic is found in the ocean, microplastics, plastic in food sources, plastics being consumed by sea birds, communities living on top of landfills, chemicals within plastic, and plastic packaging. A quick warning that this film does include some unpleasant and graphic scenes with animals.
The film is chock-full of information. For example, they share stats about plastic “since the start of the film”, such as “since you started watching this film, 19,068,000 pounds of plastic has been produced globally” (and that was an early one). Other astounding stats shared include:
63 billion gallons of oil are used every year just to supply the US with water bottles, more than 90% of which are only used once
The US throws away 38 billion bottles every year, which is roughly 2 million tons of plastic going into landfills just from plastic water bottles
In “this year” alone (released in 2016), every person on the planet was on track to consume around 300 pounds of single-use plastics
Over 80% of ocean plastics leak from land-based sources - even states not on the coastline can see waste get passed through various waterways into the ocean
Over 8 million tons of plastic is dumped into the world’s oceans every year, with more than half sinking to the bottom
Worldwide we use an estimated 1 trillion plastic bags each year, nearly 2 million per minute, with the average use time per bag of just 12 minutes
Over 90% of BPA-free plastics still release chemicals with estrogenic properties that can mess with your body
Plastic food packaging makes up the majority of municipal waste in America at around 80 million tons per year
And there are many more - the stats above are just a fraction of ones I learned while watching.
I believe this documentary should be seen far and wide, because the first step to making a change is learning about an issue. As Craig Leeson says in the film: “Once you let people know what the problem is, people have their own ideas and can contribute their own ingenuity to help solve the problem.”
And I want to leave you with one more quote I pulled from the film from Sir David Attenborough: “The whole of the ecosystems of the world are based on a healthy ocean. And if that part of the planet becomes dysfunctional, goes wrong, then the whole of life on this planet will suffer.” Every change made in the right direction helps, so please think before you consume.
You can currently watch the film on Netflix or buy or rent it on Amazon or iTunes.
Thanks so much for stopping by. Please reach out with any questions, comments, or suggestions below, through my social channels (links at the top of the page), or via email.
We only have one planet, let's be kind to it!