And the next thing you know, all of the plastic containers have these symbols on them. Documentary on the perfect invention of plastic, yet its durability has built up in oceans and is killing species that are full of its waste. The question that people are going to have is what are they supposed to do to make this better? Once a completely natural product, much of today's plastic is man-made and largely dependent upon fossil fuels. On a bright day last summer, Larson and fellow . Reveals the history and worldwide scope of plastics pollution, investigates its toxicity and explores solutions. 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. Some, like Keurig, saw a need for better technology. Let's just go knock and see if maybe someone will talk to us. Not a good idea for the Earth. One internal document from the Society of the Plastics Industry cautioned "the techniques of cleaning and separating the mixed plastics has not been developed for large scale economic application. Her documentary, Plastic Paradise, reveals the devastating truths around single-use plastics and the reality of what they are doing to our oceans & marine life on a massive and rapid scale. And you just need to sort out your recyclables and do your part. The Legislature wants to impose new fees on plastic makers and restrict single-use plastics. My college age son thinks it is 'right on.' Plastic Paradise is another documentary on the topic of plastic waste and our oceans. If you have questions about licensing content on this page, please contact ngimagecollection@natgeo.com for more information and to obtain a license. What does Chevron Phillips want to see happen? But if it's not happening in Oregon, it makes me wonder what's going on in the rest of the country. The film's haunting message highlights the importance of society transitioning to the existing truly biodegradable polymers wherever possible and as soon as possible.' [CDATA[ A good substitute is a Swap Meet. I mean, China did a big one for the recycling industry, I must say. A dead seal or sea lion? And the remaining plastic waste will then be disposed of. 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. Oh, man! This is the world we see. The film is excellent--in its timeliness, its depth, and its presentation. I said everybody up here said they don't want the plant. We need to confirm if the data that we have is correct or not. The table is set with polyethylene products, too. Making recycling work was a way to keep their products in the marketplace. The reality is, for all the ads and promises over the years, it's estimated that no more than 10% of plastic has ever been recycled. To appease government officials, the industry funded a local recycling pilot project. plastic became the unrivaled material of choice for consumers. Its the biggest Ive seen. TV-PG. 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. 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. But you're talking about couple of companies. It didnt make any sense. Let me continue to use it. 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. A PLASTIC OCEAN. So you can talk about this stuff a lot. I strongly recommend this film as an instructional tool to connect ecology, communication, and global service. No transcript available. Some were very skeptical but felt they had to do it. Coy Smith ran recycling centers in Southern California in the 1980s and early '90s. To the best of my knowledge there has been no life cycle analysis of plastic. Sun, Angela (film producer) In a highly controversial action, one county in New York state has voted to ban all packaging made of two kinds of plastic. And then they said its from Harvest, they call it. So, you're saying consumers stand here and think, "What can I recycle?" Dr. Garen Baghdasarian, Professor of Biology, Chair of Life Sciences, Santa Monica College'Filmmaker Angela Sun tells a compelling story about the plethora of harmful impacts associated with non-degradable plastic, particularly in regard to the marine environment, while recognizing that the properties of plastic have enhanced our quality of life in many ways. Many U.S. cities are taking steps to ban plastic grocery bags. As of today, plastic bags are banned in Jersey City. That's just freaking. We support, actually, the ACC goalsAmerican Chemistry Councilgoals of getting plastic waste out of landfills by, I think the date is 2040. It holds one of the worlds largest collections of industrial history. Some items, like soda bottles and milk jugs, are easier to recycle, so theres money to be made. Literally me. They say residents will put all their plastic containers in one bag. 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. In the last 20 years weve seen more environmental degradations and environmental problems in Indonesia. That turtle video certainly did have an impact. 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. And yet it's become ground zero for The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, syphoning plastics from three distant continents. Film Review: Plastic Paradise: The Great Pacific Garbage Patch. If you want to step up above, you can see the machine in action. "The code is being misused.". Use this infographic to explore how plastic pollution is affecting ocean life on a remote Pacific island. At Hagley, we found a collection of internal plastic industry documents about this period of time when the industry was in the crosshairs of the environmental movement and plastics were under attack. Thomas wrote a confidential memo in 1989 about the precarious position the industry was in. She is known for her stylized images of ordinary objects. The Hollywood Reporter'The film everyone needs to see.' The plastic industry had brought a demonstration project here in 1994. The plastic industry that you were working with agreed to these and signed on to this report. Plastics are once again on the low end of the public's opinion and now the industry is telling the public again to recycle. As I made my way through the innovation fair. 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. In the meantime, let me just recycle this.". And that's the way recycling has been sold as well, OK? An endangered sea turtle? 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. Americans discard more trash than any other country in the world. It is, and it performs very well. Conversely, plastics can also absorb pollutants, such as PCBs, from the seawater. Plastic Paradise is an excellent, accessible, and troubling documentary that reveals these issues. The producers know what the environmental impacts of these different formats are, but they don't disclose it. 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. 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. If youre in politics, youre in deep trouble with a 35% rating. 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. The big problem is that it is all about money, profits. Stuck with plastics they couldnt sell, Smith and other recyclers met with representatives from the plastic industry. Chevron Phillips would like to see all of that plastic recycled back to make new plastic things. I watched the film with some of my students so I can attest that it appeals to the younger generation. What if its got a chasing arrow sign on it and you think that means its getting recycled? Her video of the encounter quickly went viral. Yes, because we are struggling to handle our own waste. In response, many companies, including plastic makers, and even some environmentalists got behind an iconic ad campaign that focused attention on the publics role. One recycling company here caught our attention. ThermaSet is the future. The industry is not telling the public just to recycle. Ask students to predict what kinds of floating trash might be most harmful to ocean life and why. Dr. Mike SanClements, Staff Scientist, The National Ecological Observatory Network, Affiliate Faculty, Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, University of Colorado-Boulder'Sun's documentary sends a clear and coherent message about one of the major environmental problems we face today. How did it get there?The trash survey was conducted on a beach. So this is how it looks like when they burn it. Almost 20 years. Industry would only switch to a triangle, which recyclers said was too similar to the chasing arrows. Recycle, bury, what to do with it? and focus public attention on a growing problem. When you look at plastic, you know how it helps things stay fresh and safe and light. We could ship scrap and hope that it is being recycled in the way it should be, or the other way is come here, see how serious he is about doing it the right way. This million-dollar plastic sorting system in Salem is the first of its kind in the world. It was manufactured. 18 billion pounds of plastic waste end up in the ocean every year. Do your part, save the Earth, recycle. Have each group report their findings to the class. What do you think? Do you think that the company feels so strongly that it is willing to make less money? We can't delay this for another 10, 20, 30 years or we're going to be. Plastic Paradise makes the issue of plastic pollution real and relevant. How many discarded fishing nets are in oceans worldwide? There's dissatisfaction about what's going on with the solid waste issue." Freemans boss at the time, Larry Thomas, the head of the Society of the Plastics Industry, was blunt about it. From polymers to nurdles, learn how plastic i. It's hard to have faith in the plastics industry when it got out of its crisis in the '90s by telling Americans to recycle, even though they knew it was not economically viable. Dr. Kirk J. Havens, Director, Coastal Watersheds Program, Virginia Institute of Marine Science, College of William and Mary'I believe that this film portrays the state of the plastic marine debris issue accurately. Planetsave'Sun offers a fresh, new voice for her generation and has made a film that can appeal to the masses.' This is from California. Her film articulates this message in a way that will resonate with anyone that cares about nature and the environment. Good stuff, easy to do. The Rights Holder for media is the person or group credited. The Hollywood Reporter'The film everyone needs to see.' There shouldn't be any more talk about it! 08/08/2014. Well, that is a challenge. Existing customers, please log in to view this film. Her documentary, Plastic Paradise, reveals the devastating truths around single-use plastics and the reality of what they are doing to our oceans & marine life on a massive and rapid scale. And Im afraid that the same thing is happening right now. What items were the least common? twice the size of texas or as big as the US. That kind of implies that thats where the responsibility lay. 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 bags are essentially indestructible, yet they're used and thrown away with reckless abandon. And this one talks about the cost of separating plastics from other trash. And you don't think this is just an industry coming up with a way to get out of a crisis? A barge filled with garbage is causing quite an international stink. We've got to fix the recycling system; clearly that's job one. In New Jersey, I met a man who built a $180 million recycling business off of that waste. How do you get it to a place where 100% of this plastic getting recycledhow do you get there? Can we come in and look? Back then, one of the vice presidents at the Society of the Plastics Industry was Lew Freeman. But by 1970, the plastic industry would have to confront the turbulent times of Americas environmental awakening. Using the infographic and a world map, point out the pattern of ocean currents. While the efforts to change consumer behavior helped clean up the more visible litter problem, they did little to address the root cause. I met up with Yuyun Ismawati in a small rural community nearby. Its very confusing to a lot of people. It all made me wonder whether the plastic industry is just recycling old ideas. This is it. My college age son thinks it is 'right on.' Our member companies, SABIC and Shell and LyondellBasell, all of whom have made major announcements in traditional and advanced recycling to begin to intervene in that space in order to bring their scale, their technical know-how and their capacity to start providing products that are based on waste. Starring Angela Sun Wallace J. Nichols. 115 billion pounds. They want to sell more plastic containers. What about all of these? So if the California market changes, we know it's going to put pressure on the kind of products that are out there. With Josh 'Shag' Agle, Jeff 'Beachbum' Berry, Drew Birch, Richard Boccato. It just keeps getting better, doesnt it? STATE REP. LORENA GONZALEZ (D-San Diego): Yeah. Dr. Joel Baker, Director, UW Puget Sound Institute, Professor and Port of Tacoma Chair in Environmental Science, University of Washington Tacoma'Angela Sun has found a way to present the imminent dangers of plastics pollution in a jarringly visual and inquisitive formatSignificant take-home messages include a misconception of just how few plastic products are recyclable, and that plastics production will continue to increase as long as the demand for plastic products remains. Will Posegate is the chief operating officer of Garten. In this video I take you on a Swap Meet tour where we will se. Plastic is different than any The film is excellent--in its timeliness, its depth, and its presentation. The customs document we had said the company was getting plastic from the U.S. With no one from New Harvestindo willing to speak to us, we still wanted to know what they were doing with all those bales of plastic waste and whether it was all being recycled. Smokejumping is the pinnacle of wild land firefighting. We are the shipper of the scrap. I mean, you got handed this task to recycle plastic in the United States. I guess I think of it more as an investment in managing plastic waste. You'll receive access to exclusive information and early alerts about our documentaries and investigations. The Midwest Book Review'Intriguing..chilling filmJournalist Angela Sun offers valuable new insights.' 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.' And this was in 1973. Because what it allows industry to do, is it allows industry to keep the conversation focused on recycling and never move the conversation on to the bigger issues, which are the full environmental impacts of all this stuff. One of those companies is DuPont, and on the grounds of the first du Pont family home, I found the Hagley Library. People start pollution. Our newest CALI Award winner is Angela Sun - Storyteller, Adventure Traveller, Sports Lover. By 1987, a wandering barge called the Mobro became an emblem of the growing crisis. childhood leukemia. 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. We dont think that were being misleading because technically it is recyclable. To preview films or license them for streaming, you must register and login. The Garten Foundation of Salem unveiled a new sorting machine that may change the way we recycle forever. One study estimates that 60% of ocean plastic comes from Asia. How could they go into all of these communities and tell people "You just have to recycle" when they knew there were so many problems and so many hurdles? Here we are at our GDB South Brunswick facility. Big. National Geographic Headquarters 1145 17th Street NW Washington, DC 20036. And some children got hospitalized. Did you feel like they cared more about selling plastic than they did about making recycling work? Thousands of miles away from civilization, Midway Atoll is in one of the most remote places on earth. Watertight and endlessly malleable, plastic is the perfect invention yet, its miraculous durability is also its curse because it never goes away. The group had a plan and turned to a veteran of the industry, Ron Liesemer, to execute it. For scrap. The film provides graphic proof of this phenomenon. and industry is investing tens of billions of dollars in new plastic plants. A lot of that waste is ending up in the ocean. But later that night, on a back street, I met up with a New Harvestindo worker who agreed to talk to me about what the company does with its plastic waste. Sarah Appleton, National Geographic Society. What we put in our recycling bins ends up in sorting plants like this one, outside of Portland. Theres no one that would even take it if I paid them to take it." Remember, a lot of the plastic packaging that you have in your kitchen is recyclable. He was checking out a recycling company that he sells his plastic to. The film won many awards and was released in 2013. I believe with the proper infrastructure and the proper education and we all work together as a collective, we can. 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. "Give me raw material"that's all they wanted. He now heads a local environmental coalition, but he remembers a pivotal board meeting in the late '80s, when the industry was worried about its public image. Plastic Paradise | Bullfrog Films: 1-800-543-3764: Environmental DVDs and Educational DVDs is a leading source of educational DVDs & videos, with a collection of over 700 titles in these main subject areas: Environment Globalization Sustainability Climate Change Social Justice Developing World Indigenous Peoples Earth Science Life Science Honolulu Pulse'Offers some alarming information that might cause viewers to think twice about buying one-time-use water bottles.' based on Indonesian customs documents wed obtained. And we sold that $1.5 million machine for scrap. Last fall, I met up with Bagaria there. ", "Eye-opening insightPlastic Paradise provides an informative, timely and, relevant look at the consequences of plastic consumption", "A film that moves the grassroots and has the audience thinking twice, before grabbing a straw to go with a beverage.". Angela Sun provides an excellent model of how one curious person can use her talents to follow her interests, speak from the heart, and contribute to improving the world. And by impacts, I don't mean whether or not it can be recycled. Welcome to EPAs 2019 America Recycles Innovation Fair. As we continued reporting, we found even more internal documents and court filings and spoke with over a dozen industry insiders, including three top executives who represented the big plastic producers and agreed to talk publicly for the first time. It is ultimately getting recycled. But more than half of all people that live in the Portland area believe this belongs in the curbside container. This is the big war. We have to start showing success. After the community complained to the government about the burning, the dumping stopped here. Were they misleading the public? Because we thought that it was getting recycled gave us the freedom"OK, no problem. And I think whats good is that were all working together to help improve some of those recycling habits and understanding behavior. Modern-day miracles that were made with the help of petrochemicals. This is one of the easiest visualizations of how humans (not all, but many) have lost connection with the environment--a sad state of affairs--but the truth.' Plentiful supplies of natural gas are driving down the cost of making plastic. Behind the lens, Angela directed and produced the award-winning feature documentary film "Plastic Paradise: The Great Pacific Garbage Patch" currently on the film festival circuit and set to release later this year. We need to increase the interest in and demand for recycled materials and more products made from recycled materials. I think we were naive. You also have to really build up the infrastructure for collection. Students will learn the unexpected economic and ecological facets of plastic pollution and ways for each of us to minimize our plastic footprint. Because the average person saw the symbol, they know the symbol and said, "Well, its recyclable, right?". We cannot keep just continuing this mindless consumerism, mindless consumption and dump it somewhere else. 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. How does this conflict compare to what you saw happen in the '80s and '90s when this last came up with this kind of fervor? 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. I was the front man for the plastics industry, no getting around it. A bunch of small but . This is an American city, a real community of homes and homemakers like thousands of others across the nation. I mean, it says "sorts out the problems.". Angela Sun is an award-winning journalist, sports caster, and filmmaker. harden plastic. What items were most common? We wanted to see for ourselves what was happening to the plastic coming here. I mean, how big a problem do you think these kinds of dumping grounds are in Indonesia? Producers should disclose the environmental impacts of their materials publicly. YUYUN ISMAWATI, Co-founder, Nexus3 Foundation: Yeah. Itll be great. Let's do right by our future. Devastating Plastic Paradise Documentary Shows How Our Trash Lands up in the Pacific Ocean (VIDEO) Environment. Because that's how big a demand of manufacturing was there in China. Americans need to know that your waste ended up here. This is a documentary that should be seen by educators, students, politicians, and environmentalists alike. Once in the ocean there is really no way to get it out, other than hope that it washes up on a shore and is collected. 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. General Information . These chemicals can then enter the food chain when consumed by marine life. You guys have been around for a long time. were contaminated with trash and plastic that cant be recycled. So this is classic. 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 big problem is that it is all about money, profits. The most famous one, with the crying Indian. Yes, it would. His company buys throwaway plastic from some of the largest big-box stores in the U.S. Then what? When Sun tells us at the end of the film that the amount of plastic in the world will quadruple by the . There are a lot of different kinds of plastics that have to be sorted. We need more work. Considering the creation of plastic was used as a substitute for . This is the same kind of thinking that ran in the '90s. In small groups, explore the impact of ocean plastics on coral reef species by having students research the impact of ghost nets on sea turtles, the ingestion of plastic by Pacific seabirds, and the ingestion of plastic particles by coral polyps. This is the first time youve ever seen companies from across the whole supply chain all coming together to say, "We need to fix this.". Liesemer was sent to Minnesota on an urgent mission. It really became a metaphor of, "We are bumping up against limits here. Bagaria had come to make sure his plastic was actually being recycled and turned into tiny pellets that are used to make new plastic products. How much responsibility do you feel like you have over what's happening here? Its going to be the largest plant of its kind in the world. This is from Purchase, New York. Lead editor, Wendy Shuey; cinemtaography, Francisco Aliwalas [and 6 others]; music by APM Music [and 6 others]. Recyclers and the plastic makers couldn't agree on how to change the code. It was a critical moment. Demand for low-cost plastic continues to grow, and the production of new plastic is rapidly expanding. FRONTLINE is a registered trademark of WGBH Educational Foundation. and came up with a report identifying key problems with the numbering code. 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. It was, "We need to be doing things.". Forty years on, despite a plastic crisis thats been getting worse, the industrys future seems bright. Register to request a quote. See it and share it with others!' Were going into the office. Drawing from the expertise of a diversity of scientists, activists and management practitioners in the field, this film introduces its audience to issues regarding plastic production and waste-management, plastic contamination in the ocean and the hazards of plastic and its chemical cocktail to humans and wildlife.' Coming up with ways to have their product perceived as more recyclable and more environmental makes their product look better. A major showdown is shaping up in California. [Expletive] Christ, that is plastic. In this independent documentary film, journalist/filmmaker Angela Sun travels on a personal journey of discovery to uncover this mysterious phenomenon. [Speaking Indonesian] It depends on the condition of the bales. The film's haunting message highlights the importance of society transitioning to the existing truly biodegradable polymers wherever possible and as soon as possible.' What are we looking at? We have to show hard results. 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. But the proof here is the dramatic amount of investment that's happening right now. How are those two things going to meet anywhere in the middle? What does coral treat? Until there is a viable option for recycling those things, we should be putting it in a landfill.
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plastic paradise transcript