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This story begins with a single plastic bag
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to carry home a single container of peach yogurt
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Once I got home I shoved the bag
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in with all the other bags next to another bag full of other bags
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And I never really thought about it
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Maybe I tried NOT to think about it
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I mean I�m an average guy I�m not what you�d consider a tree-hugger
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I try to be informed. I try to do the right thing but I find
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that it can be a bit overwhelming at times
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I live in a small town in Colorado
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and it wasn�t until my town challenged another town
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a few hours away to see who could reduce
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their use of plastic bags the most that
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I first started to think about plastic bags and what we do with them
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I mean we all have a lot of bags right
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Everybody does the same thing
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We collect them, we shove them anywhere they�ll go
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like under the sink, into closets, junk drawers
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We throw a pile away every now and then just to be done with them
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because they're disposable, right?
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They were created to be thrown away
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But let�s face it: there�s a dirty little secret here
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even if we won�t admit it
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Just because plastic is disposable
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doesn�t mean it just goes away
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After all, where is away?
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There is no away
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It actually sticks around for a really long time
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That got me thinking about all the endless products made of plastic
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A lot of them designed to be used for less than one day
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Heck, less than fifteen minutes even
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Once I began looking around
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pretty much everything seemed to be made of plastic
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Could all this plastic in my life maybe be bad for me?
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So I started looking into it
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The fact that it is everywhere
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The way it doesn�t go away
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The way it pollutes
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the way it flies and floats and drifts
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and clogs and entangles
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The way it gets into things so big and so small
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the way we can't escape it anymore
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the way, eventually, we may not have any recourse
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we'll all just simply all have to stand up and say
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Bag It
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You know that thing when you learn something for the first time
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and then it starts popping up everywhere?
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Like, you meet someone for the first time
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and everywhere you go there�s that person
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That was what it was like for me with plastic bags
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They were everywhere
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Let me just say this
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first of all:
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Plastic is an incredible material
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It�s lightweight, it�s moldable,
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durable, versatile, inexpensive
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You can do amazing things with plastic
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In the 1960's, the idea of plastic being the wave
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of the future seemed like a bit of a joke
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I just want to say one word to you
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Just one word
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Are you listening?
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Yes, I am.
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Plastics.
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Exactly how do you mean?
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There�s a great future in plastics.
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In retrospect, this scene seems less like a joke and more like a prophecy
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We were fed the concept of disposable living
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Life would be easier and more convenient
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Why do the dishes when you can just throw them away?
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Plastic is an incredibly valuable resource
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It�s something that really has a purpose in this society
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and it needs to be used for that purpose
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Petroleum is way too scarce and way too important
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to us to be thrown away as a plastic bag.
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Plastic bags are made of polyethylene
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which is a polymer made of ethylene monomers
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which is made from
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well, actually, what they�re made from is a really good question
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The United States uses, you know, roughly
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estimates are about 100 billion plastic bags per year
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It takes about 12 million barrels of oil.
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In North American because we have an abundant supply of natural gas
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they�re predominantly made out of natural gas
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The key feedstock for making plastics is petroleum
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In North America we don�t use oil, we use natural gas.
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Plastic bags
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are made of polyethylene
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The building block is oil.
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The bottom line is, they�re made from fossil fuels
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which are non-renewable resources
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That means, once they�re are gone, there isn�t any more.
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And in this very short amount of time
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we�re up to consuming about a million a minute
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World plastic bag consumption is estimated
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at about 500 billion bags per year.
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So how do we learn how to shop
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like our grandparents did?
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I mean we haven�t always had plastic. Right?
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What if we shopped using our bags over and over
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you know, old school?
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Some say that plastic bags have been singled out
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that they have become an easy target
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That there are much bigger
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environmental issues out there
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So why pick on plastic bags?
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It would be great to come up with
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the real cost of a plastic bag
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because that is the number one consumer item in the world
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We are not going to use those little plastic produce bags
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We have our own bags
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Here we go.
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Here we go.
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I�m going to use my own bag
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for some deluxe salted nuts
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There we go
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Anne is the creative director at a newspaper
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Thankfully, she�s pretty much on board for all of this
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Plastic bags are being banned around the world
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From New Delhi India and Bangladesh
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where bags were clogging storm drains
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and were contributing to severe floods
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to the kingdom of Bhutan
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where bags were banned to better foster
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gross national happiness
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In 2008, China banned ultra-thin plastic bags
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It�s estimated that in the first year
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it eliminated 40 billion
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In May of 2009
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the state of South Australia banned plastic bags
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hoping to set an example for the rest of the nation
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Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya, Zanzibar
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and South Africa have all banned ultra- thin plastic bags
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Many countries and cities in Europe
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have either banned
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or placed fees on plastic bags
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Ireland placed a fee on plastic bags
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and reportedly reduced consumption 90 percent in the first year
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What�s the policy on plastic bags?
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Like plastic carry-away bags
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They�re 22 cents each.
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22 cents?
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Yeah.
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Okay.
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It�s the government�s policy, it�s not actually the shop policy
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Is that all of Ireland?
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Do you find that most people
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do most people not take them?
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Do they bring their own bag?
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Yeah, most people won�t take them.
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How fast did you see a difference from when the tax went in?
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It was instant. It was an overnight success as a campaign.
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If you want to find out
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what the people really think in Ireland
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there�s only one place to go
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to the pub.
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Plastic bags in the bushes
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plastic bags in the rivers
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plastic bags in the canals
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plastic bags everywhere.
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Yeah, it has cleaned up the countryside an awful lot.
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A pint of Guinness doesn�t come in plastic
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Slancha
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In England, the village of Modbury became Europe�s first plastic bag free town
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when the local merchants got together
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and decided to voluntarily do something to help protect
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their coastal environment.
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We live 4 miles from some of the most beautiful coastline in the UK
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You know, what legacy are we leaving
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It�s really not to be quite selfish for the moment
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and to think about the next generations to come.
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In environmental news
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a top UN official is urging a global ban
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on plastic bags
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in part because
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plastic is the most pervasive form of ocean litter
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Achim Steiner, Executive Director of the U.N Environment Program
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said quote �Single use plastic bags
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which choke marine life
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should be banned or phased out rapidly everywhere
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There is simply zero justification for manufacturing them anymore, anywhere
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So what are we doing here at home?
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Thirty rural communities in Alaska have banned plastic bags completely
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In June of �09, Washington DC became the first US city
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to place a fee on plastic bags.
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California has been at the forefront of the plastic bag debate
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San Francisco becomes the first city in the nation to ban plastic bags.
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In San Francisco, those ubiquitous plastic shopping bags
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have been ordered to Get out of town
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People think San Francisco is a bunch of crazy radicals
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We didn�t want to pursue a ban
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So we tried for a year
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to move forward with a fee
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We thought that�s the most progressive way to do it
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it�s the fairest way to do it
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If you don�t use bags, you don�t pay
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But the plastic bag lobby of the American Chemistry Council
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quietly pushed through a law
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prohibiting charging fees for plastic bags
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anywhere in the state of California
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The plastic bag lobby basically
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pushed us into a corner through
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strong arm tactics, back door deals in Sacramento
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with our legislature
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We had no option
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The predictions from the plastic industry was
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doom and gloom
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You know, San Francisco will grind to an absolute halt
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How can they live without plastic bags?
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In the two years since we�ve had it in place
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not one single complaint in our office, not one.
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After San Francisco, other towns in California tried to pass their own bans
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The American Chemistry Council�s and other pro-plastic groups� response?
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Was to sue
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They claimed
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it would just make people use paper bags instead
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which would be even worse for the environment.
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Even though city governments are being fought every step of the way
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a lot of retailers have decided to take matters into their own hands.
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At Costo and Sam�s Club
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people have never been given bags
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On earth day of 2008
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Whole Foods became the first U.S. Supermarket
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to completely do away with plastic bags
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It�s paper versus plastic
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And what do you do?
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And I guess tote bags are the thing.
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That�s what I�ve heard on the streets.
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You could get a nice tote to go with your sweaters
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Yeah well you know once I get my Bedazzler
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I could you know...
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Oftentimes the plastics industry
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will say when you�re making the choice between paper of plastic
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plastic is the better choice environmentally
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Plastic is very lightweight
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It takes fewer fossil fuels to transport plastic
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So what�s left out of the equation
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very conveniently is
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what happens to our plastic
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when it winds up into the ocean
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If that were quantified
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and if that became part of the analysis
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there would be no contest
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The eternal question: paper or plastic
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How did San Francisco justify using paper?
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The paper bags in San Francisco
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many of them are 100% recycled content
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and that means that no new trees are being cut down
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Paper bags are being recycled at least ten times
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more than plastic bags are being recycled
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That significantly changes their environmental impact
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So I think we have to really watch out for
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the lobbying efforts of the American Chemistry Council
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and other plastics industry
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They�re really trying to protect their market share and their profits
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That�s the bottom line
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So who is the American Chemistry Council, anyway?
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Well, the American Chemistry Council, otherwise known as the ACC
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with over 130 member corporations
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basically protects the interest of plastics and chemicals
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One of the ACC�s branches is the Progressive Bag Affiliates
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and the Progressive Bag Affiliates
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has formed groups with friendly names like the Coalition
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to Support Plastic Bag Recycling
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And then there�s Save the Plastic Bag...
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you know, like Save the Rainforest
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or Save the Panda, or Save the Manatee
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Yeah, Save the Plastic Bag
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00:13:51,410 --> 00:13:54,790
Just reading our e-mails from the plastic industry
270
00:13:54,800 --> 00:14:00,440
So far, this many people have agreed to be in the film
271
00:14:00,450 --> 00:14:02,800
If we�re going to be more than one-sided
272
00:14:02,810 --> 00:14:05,390
we need to hear from more than one side
273
00:14:05,400 --> 00:14:11,400
and if one side won�t talk to us... kind of problematic
274
00:14:12,690 --> 00:14:14,010
Ooh, ooh, no bag, no bag
275
00:14:14,020 --> 00:14:16,940
Thanks. I didn�t bring a bag but...
276
00:14:16,950 --> 00:14:17,310
Would you like a bag?
277
00:14:17,320 --> 00:14:18,720
No, no, no. Thanks.
278
00:14:18,730 --> 00:14:20,920
I�m going to do it commando style
279
00:14:20,930 --> 00:14:21,660
Alright!
280
00:14:21,670 --> 00:14:25,020
You don�t even need a bag for your produce
281
00:14:25,030 --> 00:14:26,510
Did you know that?
282
00:14:26,520 --> 00:14:27,290
Yeah.
283
00:14:27,300 --> 00:14:31,880
Yeah. I like my lettuce loose... like my ladies!
284
00:14:31,890 --> 00:14:33,150
Are you sure you don�t need a bag?
285
00:14:33,160 --> 00:14:34,970
We�ve got bags on sale for 99 cents.
286
00:14:34,980 --> 00:14:40,980
I got it covered. I got it covered. I can do it. I can do this. Oh thank you. K.
287
00:14:42,760 --> 00:14:48,760
Thank you so much. Have a good day.
288
00:14:53,350 --> 00:14:55,780
People kept referring to plastic bags
289
00:14:55,790 --> 00:14:59,900
as this thing called a single- use disposable
290
00:14:59,910 --> 00:15:03,260
Single-use disposable plastic
291
00:15:03,270 --> 00:15:04,510
Think about it
292
00:15:04,520 --> 00:15:06,220
Why would you make something
293
00:15:06,230 --> 00:15:08,760
that you�re going to use for a few minutes
294
00:15:08,770 --> 00:15:10,610
out of a material
295
00:15:10,620 --> 00:15:12,880
that�s basically going to last forever
296
00:15:12,890 --> 00:15:16,060
and you�re just going to throw it away?
297
00:15:16,070 --> 00:15:22,070
What�s up with that?
298
00:15:23,400 --> 00:15:26,180
From things like yogurt containers, yogurt tubes
299
00:15:26,190 --> 00:15:28,060
plastic forks, plastic spoons
300
00:15:28,070 --> 00:15:30,220
don�t even get me started on Snackables
301
00:15:30,230 --> 00:15:31,590
stackables, Lunchables
302
00:15:31,600 --> 00:15:33,070
pizza on a cookie
303
00:15:33,080 --> 00:15:34,430
to- go containers
304
00:15:34,440 --> 00:15:38,090
all kinds of packaging created to be ripped off then tossed off
305
00:15:38,100 --> 00:15:40,270
sandwich bags, snack bags, candy wrappers
306
00:15:40,280 --> 00:15:41,080
drinking straws...
307
00:15:41,090 --> 00:15:43,270
and of course, the big three
308
00:15:43,280 --> 00:15:47,420
the three things that we Americans love to use and throw away the most.
309
00:15:47,430 --> 00:15:50,390
Bags, bottles, and cups.
310
00:15:50,400 --> 00:15:53,620
So I just went into a very well known coffee chain
311
00:15:53,630 --> 00:15:55,250
Which will remain nameless
312
00:15:55,260 --> 00:15:58,590
Let�s just say that it rhymes with �Marbucks.�
313
00:15:58,600 --> 00:16:00,700
And everybody�s sitting around drinking coffees
314
00:16:00,710 --> 00:16:02,580
and lattes, and chais,
315
00:16:02,590 --> 00:16:03,910
and soy mochas
316
00:16:03,920 --> 00:16:06,700
and everybody has a to-go cup
317
00:16:06,710 --> 00:16:10,660
The to-go cup is for things to go
318
00:16:10,670 --> 00:16:16,670
Which, uh, coincidentally has a little lining on the inside made out of plastic
319
00:16:16,900 --> 00:16:17,410
Did you know that?
320
00:16:17,420 --> 00:16:22,820
Your cardboard coffee cup has a lining made out of plastic?
321
00:16:22,830 --> 00:16:28,830
Let�s take a disposable, single-use coffee cup, of which we use 300 million a day
322
00:16:30,770 --> 00:16:35,000
You drink the coffee in 10, 20 minutes.
323
00:16:35,010 --> 00:16:38,250
If it�s a Styrofoam package, that package is going
324
00:16:38,260 --> 00:16:43,620
to be around longer than the statue of David.
325
00:16:43,630 --> 00:16:46,590
Now, we�re being convinced by marketing geniuses
326
00:16:46,600 --> 00:16:52,600
that we�re supposed to use to go cups... in our own homes!
327
00:17:02,030 --> 00:17:06,160
So we just found out some very exciting news
328
00:17:06,170 --> 00:17:06,790
Yes
329
00:17:06,800 --> 00:17:07,660
Didn�t we?
330
00:17:07,670 --> 00:17:09,080
Yes, we did
331
00:17:09,090 --> 00:17:11,440
We�re going to have a baby.
332
00:17:11,450 --> 00:17:12,530
We�re having a baby.
333
00:17:12,540 --> 00:17:18,540
We�re having a baby!
334
00:17:20,870 --> 00:17:22,310
Well I�m a little freaked out
335
00:17:22,320 --> 00:17:23,430
Yeah, well, so am I.
336
00:17:23,440 --> 00:17:26,000
You are? Yeah. OK. Good.
337
00:17:26,010 --> 00:17:27,000
And excited
338
00:17:27,010 --> 00:17:27,880
And excited
339
00:17:27,890 --> 00:17:28,960
And excited
340
00:17:28,970 --> 00:17:34,650
Yup. Better clean this place up. Pink... or blue?
341
00:17:34,660 --> 00:17:36,280
How about yellow or green?
342
00:17:36,290 --> 00:17:37,890
Green!
343
00:17:37,900 --> 00:17:40,710
OK, let me just clarify something: when I said I was freaked out,
344
00:17:40,720 --> 00:17:43,140
I am freaked out, but not in a bad way.
345
00:17:43,150 --> 00:17:45,250
I�m very excited about having a baby
346
00:17:45,260 --> 00:17:50,050
But I�m also freaked out about this whole plastics issue.
347
00:17:50,060 --> 00:17:56,060
You know, how it's going to affect our baby. Our baby's health... I gotta find out more.
348
00:17:59,540 --> 00:18:04,490
Why should we make a cup or a piece of cutlery
349
00:18:04,500 --> 00:18:06,460
that you gonna be using for five minutes,
350
00:18:06,470 --> 00:18:12,290
why should we make it out of a drop of oil that takes 70 million years to make?
351
00:18:12,300 --> 00:18:14,270
It�s not making sense
352
00:18:14,280 --> 00:18:20,280
In 1970, the United States was one of the largest exporters of oil.
353
00:18:20,820 --> 00:18:26,820
And here we are in 2008, and we are the largest importer of oil.
354
00:18:27,430 --> 00:18:33,430
The sheer numbers of packaging that we�re each individually responsible for are staggering
355
00:18:35,240 --> 00:18:40,280
The average American contributes 800 pounds of packaging
356
00:18:40,290 --> 00:18:46,290
to the waste stream per person per year
357
00:18:46,460 --> 00:18:52,460
This is packaging rage, an affliction suffered daily by millions.
358
00:19:02,770 --> 00:19:05,160
Think about how ridiculous it�s become
359
00:19:05,170 --> 00:19:08,400
We package everything in plastic
360
00:19:08,410 --> 00:19:13,400
Even things that are already perfectly packaged by nature come packaged in plastic
361
00:19:13,410 --> 00:19:15,790
We package paper in plastic
362
00:19:15,800 --> 00:19:20,740
We even package plastic in plastic
363
00:19:20,750 --> 00:19:25,910
One single-use disposal item we can definitely avoid is disposable diapers
364
00:19:25,920 --> 00:19:30,290
It says �Buy cloth diapers instead of disposables and save up to $1,200.�
365
00:19:30,300 --> 00:19:32,530
That�s good. That�s the diaper right there?
366
00:19:32,540 --> 00:19:33,610
It�s beautiful
367
00:19:33,620 --> 00:19:34,640
It�s very stylish
368
00:19:34,650 --> 00:19:36,360
It�s very stylish.
369
00:19:36,370 --> 00:19:41,580
It also says reusable cloth diapers prevent up to one ton of landfill waste.
370
00:19:41,590 --> 00:19:43,340
So you don�t have to throw them away
371
00:19:43,350 --> 00:19:44,250
You don�t throw them away
372
00:19:44,260 --> 00:19:45,570
That�s good.
373
00:19:45,580 --> 00:19:46,200
You wash them
374
00:19:46,210 --> 00:19:52,210
Alright. I�m in.
375
00:19:56,040 --> 00:19:59,110
I�ve done several images on single use disposable plastics.
376
00:19:59,120 --> 00:20:02,620
One of them is an image of 60,000 plastic bags,
377
00:20:02,630 --> 00:20:07,260
which is the number of plastic bags, sacks, and wraps
378
00:20:07,270 --> 00:20:13,270
consumed in the United States every 5 seconds
379
00:20:23,550 --> 00:20:25,140
Plastic water bottles
380
00:20:25,150 --> 00:20:29,330
That to me is another one of the most insane things in our world right now.
381
00:20:29,340 --> 00:20:35,140
There are 1.2 billion people -- almost 20 percent of the world�s population --
382
00:20:35,150 --> 00:20:39,870
who lack access to safe drinking water on a daily basis.
383
00:20:39,880 --> 00:20:41,950
And at the same time as that is happening,
384
00:20:41,960 --> 00:20:47,960
we�re spending untold amounts of money and resources shipping tap water from Fiji to Miami,
385
00:21:04,210 --> 00:21:07,360
Bottled water has now surpassed sales of beer and milk
386
00:21:07,370 --> 00:21:09,710
and analysts think that within three years it may surpass soda sales
387
00:21:09,720 --> 00:21:14,190
We go through the equivalent of 17 million barrels of oil making the
388
00:21:14,200 --> 00:21:16,810
bottles that are used in the United States each year
389
00:21:16,820 --> 00:21:21,430
Making those bottles generates two and a half million tons of carbon dioxide.
390
00:21:21,440 --> 00:21:25,800
They had hundreds of millions of dollars to spend telling us to drink more water.
391
00:21:25,810 --> 00:21:30,710
They used celebrities and models and used athletes so that their product was linked with wellness.
392
00:21:30,720 --> 00:21:36,050
Utilities don�t have millions of dollars hanging around in their budgets to spend on advertisements saying
393
00:21:36,060 --> 00:21:40,530
"Drink from your sink;" you know,
394
00:21:40,540 --> 00:21:46,540
And so the category grew and grew, and in 2008,
395
00:21:47,260 --> 00:21:51,910
What is plastic made out of? Do you know?
396
00:21:51,920 --> 00:21:57,050
Not really. No
397
00:21:57,060 --> 00:22:00,150
I have no idea what the chemical compound is
398
00:22:00,160 --> 00:22:02,950
Plastic is made of... plastic
399
00:22:02,960 --> 00:22:08,960
Plastic is made of Yellow Dye No. 5
400
00:22:13,510 --> 00:22:16,430
It turns out one of the biggest environmental consequences
401
00:22:16,440 --> 00:22:22,440
of making bottled water is making the plastic that makes up the bottle.
402
00:22:22,460 --> 00:22:27,750
If you were to fill any bottle about 25 percent of the way up with petroleum
403
00:22:27,760 --> 00:22:32,370
that�s the amount of oil required the make the bottle itself
404
00:22:32,380 --> 00:22:33,930
But that�s not the whole story
405
00:22:33,940 --> 00:22:36,070
On top of it, we then have to transport it
406
00:22:36,080 --> 00:22:39,980
If you�re moving it a long way, it requires a lot more energy,
407
00:22:39,990 --> 00:22:45,990
maybe as much as another quarter.
408
00:22:51,240 --> 00:22:54,530
It would be nice if people started to think of
409
00:22:54,540 --> 00:22:59,420
buying single use bottled water like driving a Hummer.
410
00:22:59,430 --> 00:23:05,070
Because it�s basically what it is.
411
00:23:05,080 --> 00:23:07,510
They don�t necessarily do it this way in the rest of the world
412
00:23:07,520 --> 00:23:13,520
Enter Germany, home of the bratwurst, Beethoven, BMW and Oktoberfest oompah bands
413
00:23:14,220 --> 00:23:18,320
They also take the recycling of plastics very seriously.
414
00:23:18,330 --> 00:23:24,240
I basically collect all the plastic bottles, and just carry them to the supermarket,
415
00:23:24,250 --> 00:23:30,250
and you put them into this machine and you get a receipt back and with this receipt it�s worth money.
416
00:23:31,510 --> 00:23:34,940
This bottle is getting used a couple of times
417
00:23:34,950 --> 00:23:40,950
As you can see there are like the little marks on it which says how often this bottle is in this recycling circle.
418
00:23:42,610 --> 00:23:46,020
And this one is 22nd times.
419
00:23:46,030 --> 00:23:52,030
They�re getting cleaned, refilled, relabeled and coming back into the circle.
420
00:23:53,370 --> 00:23:57,920
So this is all the plastic that I collected this year so far
421
00:23:57,930 --> 00:23:58,980
This is Beth Terry
422
00:23:58,990 --> 00:24:03,340
Two years ago she decided to stop using plastic altogether,
423
00:24:03,350 --> 00:24:06,020
and whatever plastic she can't avoid, she saves
424
00:24:06,030 --> 00:24:09,400
These are like used spaghetti sauce jars
425
00:24:09,410 --> 00:24:15,410
And so I just take them with me to the store. So there�s sugar that I can get in bulk... and lentils.
426
00:24:15,900 --> 00:24:19,400
I stopped using plastic bags because I just... hate them
427
00:24:19,410 --> 00:24:24,400
But Michael is a real conservation, use-what-you-have kind of person,
428
00:24:24,410 --> 00:24:27,830
so he washes out the plastic bags that we already have.
429
00:24:27,840 --> 00:24:29,180
This is our bathroom
430
00:24:29,190 --> 00:24:32,800
The easiest thing in the bathroom is just not to use liquid soap
431
00:24:32,810 --> 00:24:34,640
You know. So we use bar soap
432
00:24:34,650 --> 00:24:37,410
Beth uses an antique all-metal razor
433
00:24:37,420 --> 00:24:38,870
She swears by it.
434
00:24:38,880 --> 00:24:44,280
- You need three blades, you know why? - But you don�t
435
00:24:44,290 --> 00:24:47,460
Because the first blade pulls the hair out, and then the second blade pulls it out a little more and smacks it around
436
00:24:47,470 --> 00:24:51,770
You�re a product of marketing!
437
00:24:51,780 --> 00:24:53,520
When I was growing up, we didn�t have bottled water
438
00:24:53,530 --> 00:24:58,140
I mean, people made jokes about Evian being �naive� spelled backwards
439
00:24:58,150 --> 00:25:04,010
I think that, for me, it was the idea of harming other living creatures
440
00:25:04,020 --> 00:25:05,840
and other people and harming the planet.
441
00:25:05,850 --> 00:25:07,750
That�s what really woke me up.
442
00:25:07,760 --> 00:25:12,770
Making changes in your own life gives you a sense of ownership
443
00:25:12,780 --> 00:25:15,330
It makes you feel like We�ve got to do so much more
444
00:25:15,340 --> 00:25:17,080
I�ve got to talk to other people
445
00:25:17,090 --> 00:25:18,750
I�ve got to talk to my representatives.
446
00:25:18,760 --> 00:25:20,620
I�ve got to start writing to companies
447
00:25:20,630 --> 00:25:22,660
I�ve really got to up my game
448
00:25:22,670 --> 00:25:26,810
But I think it starts on the individual level.
449
00:25:26,820 --> 00:25:31,860
When we started our film, Seattle�s City Council had already approved legislation
450
00:25:31,870 --> 00:25:37,870
placing a fee on disposable plastic and paper bags;
451
00:25:40,480 --> 00:25:46,480
They dropped $200,000 into a campaign to get signatures to put the ordinance on the ballot
452
00:25:49,010 --> 00:25:55,010
By August of 2009, the ACC had upped their spending to 1.4 Million dollars
453
00:25:56,790 --> 00:26:02,760
So why would the plastics industry spend over a million dollars fighting a bag tax in Seattle?
454
00:26:02,770 --> 00:26:08,770
Well, it�s not all about Seattle. They worry about other cities and want to get the message out fast.
455
00:26:09,940 --> 00:26:15,940
I feel a real responsibility as an American to stand up to these American corporations and say,
456
00:26:30,200 --> 00:26:36,200
I�m angry. They have no business being here: I want their hands off Seattle!
457
00:26:38,050 --> 00:26:44,050
So, I just want to say that we took on the most powerful industry in the country
458
00:26:45,360 --> 00:26:47,410
So, I think we won.
459
00:26:47,420 --> 00:26:49,390
Thank you so much for everything you�ve done
460
00:26:49,400 --> 00:26:55,400
Keep on the good fight
461
00:27:04,570 --> 00:27:07,550
Every time we go and we buy something,
462
00:27:07,560 --> 00:27:10,180
we decide who we give our money to
463
00:27:10,190 --> 00:27:15,130
This machine can stop as soon as we decide to say
464
00:27:15,140 --> 00:27:17,710
�No. I do not want that plastic bag
465
00:27:17,720 --> 00:27:21,170
I do not want to buy your stuff and throw it away.�
466
00:27:21,180 --> 00:27:23,320
So here�s a recap of the basics
467
00:27:23,330 --> 00:27:26,290
The way I see it: Bring your own bag
468
00:27:26,300 --> 00:27:28,690
Bring your own coffee cup.
469
00:27:28,700 --> 00:27:29,920
Bring your own water bottle.
470
00:27:29,930 --> 00:27:32,540
Oh and bring your own brain
471
00:27:32,550 --> 00:27:34,180
Consider less packaging
472
00:27:34,190 --> 00:27:36,320
Go single-use free for a single day
473
00:27:36,330 --> 00:27:37,400
Start there
474
00:27:37,410 --> 00:27:38,860
Become aware of your habits.
475
00:27:38,870 --> 00:27:40,530
It�s not as easy as you think
476
00:27:40,540 --> 00:27:41,580
But guess what?
477
00:27:41,590 --> 00:27:44,940
It makes you think!
478
00:27:44,950 --> 00:27:50,950
Ice cream doesn�t come in plastic
479
00:27:58,060 --> 00:28:03,140
So, it seems like in this society, we like to consume
480
00:28:03,150 --> 00:28:07,690
And a lot of the stuff that we like to consume is made of plastic or it comes in plastic
481
00:28:07,700 --> 00:28:13,530
But once we�re done with that, where does it go?
482
00:28:13,540 --> 00:28:15,540
We put out garbage at the end of the driveway
483
00:28:15,550 --> 00:28:19,110
and the sanitation crew comes and picks it up and it goes away
484
00:28:19,120 --> 00:28:21,240
Where�s away?
485
00:28:21,250 --> 00:28:22,410
You know?
486
00:28:22,420 --> 00:28:24,370
There is no away!
487
00:28:24,380 --> 00:28:28,060
If you can imagine Yankee stadium, as a Tupperware container
488
00:28:28,070 --> 00:28:31,660
We fill it three times a day with garbage here in New York City
489
00:28:31,670 --> 00:28:36,160
And certainly a huge amount of it is also plastics.
490
00:28:36,170 --> 00:28:38,210
Here we are in New York City
491
00:28:38,220 --> 00:28:44,220
I�ve got my man purse. OK?
492
00:28:46,040 --> 00:28:50,370
Something. Oooh, look at that. Oh sorry. Yeah, see that thing?
493
00:28:50,380 --> 00:28:51,950
Look at that
494
00:28:51,960 --> 00:28:55,930
Okay, that is not wildlife, people. Okay?
495
00:28:55,940 --> 00:29:01,660
That is not nature. That�s a plastic bag
496
00:29:01,670 --> 00:29:03,850
It�s a bit of a workout to chase them around.
497
00:29:03,860 --> 00:29:07,220
I don�t have to go to the gym now.
498
00:29:07,230 --> 00:29:11,370
If I just say �plastic bags,� to you, �in New York.� What do you say?
499
00:29:11,380 --> 00:29:12,240
We use them,
500
00:29:12,250 --> 00:29:15,630
They�re a convenience for a couple of minutes, a couple of hours,
501
00:29:15,640 --> 00:29:21,640
and they remain an environmental burden for hundreds of years.
502
00:29:21,740 --> 00:29:26,300
One of the biggest problems in the city is that we use about a billion plastic bags a year
503
00:29:26,310 --> 00:29:31,570
People joke that the New York City flower is a plastic bag stuck in a tree.
504
00:29:31,580 --> 00:29:35,590
That�s a bad emblem.
505
00:29:35,600 --> 00:29:38,060
Hi, welcome to Wendy�s, what can I get for you today?
506
00:29:38,070 --> 00:29:40,400
Um, I have a question for you
507
00:29:40,410 --> 00:29:46,410
I�m trying not to use packaging and I brought my own plate and my own cup.
508
00:29:47,570 --> 00:29:51,510
Is it possible to get it served on my own plate?
509
00:29:51,520 --> 00:29:52,580
Hold on one second
510
00:29:52,590 --> 00:29:54,110
Thanks
511
00:29:54,120 --> 00:29:59,010
We cannot put it on ourselves, but we can give it to you and you can put in on though
512
00:29:59,020 --> 00:30:04,010
Me taking their food out of their packaging and putting it on my own plate,
513
00:30:04,020 --> 00:30:05,950
sort of defeated the whole purpose.
514
00:30:05,960 --> 00:30:08,880
So, I decided to try Taco Bell.
515
00:30:08,890 --> 00:30:10,680
I�m sorry, sir, we can�t do that.
516
00:30:10,690 --> 00:30:15,910
That�s called cross contamination, and we can�t take anything from the outside in.
517
00:30:15,920 --> 00:30:21,920
Oh. Are you able to put a soda in my own glass?
518
00:30:25,120 --> 00:30:26,970
Cross contamination. Okay!
519
00:30:26,980 --> 00:30:30,850
It�s not exactly true they can�t take anything through the window.
520
00:30:30,860 --> 00:30:36,710
They�re fine taking our cross- contaminated money
521
00:30:36,720 --> 00:30:42,720
I'm sorry you can't film here, ma'am!
522
00:32:01,970 --> 00:32:05,360
There�s no ah-haa moment, it�s just sort of hacking away at it little by little
523
00:32:05,370 --> 00:32:10,670
And that�s how you can go a year and end up with 32 pounds of garbage
524
00:32:10,680 --> 00:32:14,640
Okay, I get this whole concept of using less and producing less waste,
525
00:32:14,650 --> 00:32:18,260
but with plastic packaging, can't we just recycle it?
526
00:32:18,270 --> 00:32:22,110
I spend a lot of time in my book asking �Is recycling doing any good?
527
00:32:22,120 --> 00:32:24,470
Is it worthwhile, should we continue to do it?�
528
00:32:24,480 --> 00:32:27,770
And the short answer is a resounding �Yes, yes, yes.�
529
00:32:27,780 --> 00:32:31,860
It saves enormous amounts of energy to make new goods from old goods
530
00:32:31,870 --> 00:32:34,500
instead of continually pulling raw materials from the earth,
531
00:32:34,510 --> 00:32:36,720
and transforming them, transporting them, and then
532
00:32:36,730 --> 00:32:39,170
sending them on this one way trip to the landfill.
533
00:32:39,180 --> 00:32:41,700
For every barrel of waste we put on the curb,
534
00:32:41,710 --> 00:32:45,310
there are 71 barrels of waste generated upstream
535
00:32:45,320 --> 00:32:46,650
in making all these consumer goods.
536
00:32:46,660 --> 00:32:49,410
And every time we recycle whatever we can,
537
00:32:49,420 --> 00:32:52,230
we�re chipping away at those 71 barrels upstream.
538
00:32:52,240 --> 00:32:56,100
This stuff isn�t recyclable-
539
00:32:56,110 --> 00:32:56,920
It�s recyclable.
540
00:32:56,930 --> 00:32:57,810
ANNE No, it�s not.
541
00:32:57,820 --> 00:32:58,890
That�s recyclable.
542
00:32:58,900 --> 00:32:59,400
No, it�s not.
543
00:32:59,410 --> 00:33:01,320
You put it all in there and they�ll figure it out.
544
00:33:01,330 --> 00:33:03,820
There, there�s the thing.
545
00:33:03,830 --> 00:33:06,260
See? Recycle.
546
00:33:06,270 --> 00:33:09,980
Why would they put that on if you can�t recycle it?
547
00:33:09,990 --> 00:33:11,360
Right. Okay.
548
00:33:11,370 --> 00:33:12,510
I�ll do it.
549
00:33:12,520 --> 00:33:13,210
Thank you.
550
00:33:13,220 --> 00:33:14,650
You shouldn�t be carrying stuff.
551
00:33:14,660 --> 00:33:18,410
No, you shouldn�t.
552
00:33:18,420 --> 00:33:22,270
I thoroughly believe people are recycling because they think it�s the right thing to do
553
00:33:22,280 --> 00:33:25,870
As soon as they get rid of it, into that container, they never think about it any more
554
00:33:25,880 --> 00:33:29,890
I don�t even think they know where it goes after it leaves our site
555
00:33:29,900 --> 00:33:32,890
I don�t know where it goes after it leaves this site!
556
00:33:32,900 --> 00:33:36,220
I think it could be a feel-good thing for people.
557
00:33:36,230 --> 00:33:38,750
I have such a love-hate relationship with recycling.
558
00:33:38,760 --> 00:33:42,790
Because I love recycling in that it�s sort of an on-ramp
559
00:33:42,800 --> 00:33:46,230
or a gateway drug to bigger, better environmental activism.
560
00:33:46,240 --> 00:33:49,680
But what I hate about it is it lulls people into thinking that they�re making a difference.
561
00:33:49,690 --> 00:33:52,270
You know, you buy this thing, you know that it�s overpackaged.
562
00:33:52,280 --> 00:33:56,330
But at least you can recycle it. You put it in that blue bin and it�s like Ahhhhhh.
563
00:33:56,340 --> 00:33:58,300
This is recycling arrows
564
00:33:58,310 --> 00:33:58,850
Yeah
565
00:33:58,860 --> 00:34:01,030
It�s a chasing arrow
566
00:34:01,040 --> 00:34:04,490
So most people would assume that means, �Hey I can recycle that.�
567
00:34:04,500 --> 00:34:09,080
Yeah, that was brilliant marketing on the American Chemistry Council
568
00:34:09,090 --> 00:34:10,540
and the American Plastic Council�s part.
569
00:34:10,550 --> 00:34:16,220
They use that chasing arrow to make us all think that it�s all recyclable.
570
00:34:16,230 --> 00:34:20,440
Turns out, there�s no regulation with the recycling symbol.
571
00:34:20,450 --> 00:34:25,260
We�ve been duped into believing that all these products are getting recycled.
572
00:34:25,270 --> 00:34:31,270
The truth is that really only a few of those numbers, 1 and 2, are highly recycled.
573
00:34:31,720 --> 00:34:37,120
Those other numbers are going straight to the landfill or the incinerator.
574
00:34:37,130 --> 00:34:39,900
Okay I�ve seen these numbers on the bottom of plastic before,
575
00:34:39,910 --> 00:34:43,140
and I always wondered what they meant...
576
00:34:43,150 --> 00:34:48,700
And now the society of plastics industry coding system:
577
00:34:48,710 --> 00:34:52,620
Number 1: polyethylene terephthalate
578
00:34:52,630 --> 00:34:56,360
Number 2: high density polyethylene
579
00:34:56,370 --> 00:35:00,660
Number 3: polyvinylchloride
580
00:35:00,670 --> 00:35:03,860
Number 4: low density polyethylene
581
00:35:03,870 --> 00:35:06,600
Number 5: polypropylene
582
00:35:06,610 --> 00:35:09,250
Number 6: polystyrene
583
00:35:09,260 --> 00:35:14,480
And number 7?
584
00:35:14,490 --> 00:35:17,390
Other!
585
00:35:17,400 --> 00:35:23,140
I was feeling pretty confused as to which plastics could and couldn�t be recycled
586
00:35:23,150 --> 00:35:26,290
So I decided to put on a recycling challenge,
587
00:35:26,300 --> 00:35:30,700
in order to find out if other people were as confused as I was.
588
00:35:30,710 --> 00:35:34,090
I recycle, so I think I know things that should be recycled.
589
00:35:34,100 --> 00:35:36,970
Here�s your recycling bin. Here�s your trash can
590
00:35:36,980 --> 00:35:38,210
Aaaand, Go
591
00:35:38,220 --> 00:35:39,880
Well, guess what.
592
00:35:39,890 --> 00:35:45,130
It turns out that everyone was pretty much as confused as I was.
593
00:35:45,140 --> 00:35:47,350
Especially the bagpiper.
594
00:35:47,360 --> 00:35:50,570
For those of you looking for an easy answer, there isn�t one.
595
00:35:50,580 --> 00:35:54,310
Every municipality across the country has different guidelines
596
00:35:54,320 --> 00:35:55,820
as to what they do and don�t accept.
597
00:35:55,830 --> 00:35:58,430
With a lid, you can�t. My wife taught me that one.
598
00:35:58,440 --> 00:35:59,790
Good, good, good.
599
00:35:59,800 --> 00:36:00,940
Do you recycle these?
600
00:36:00,950 --> 00:36:02,820
Well, I�d be giving it away wouldn�t I?
601
00:36:02,830 --> 00:36:05,410
Yeah, you�re pretty sharp.
602
00:36:05,420 --> 00:36:11,420
The most common items taken are Number 1 and Number 2, but only the bottles.
603
00:36:16,030 --> 00:36:20,800
Currently in the U.S., recycled plastic bottles are not made back into new bottles
604
00:36:20,810 --> 00:36:24,810
but are downcycled into products that can not then be recycled.
605
00:36:24,820 --> 00:36:27,050
So they tend to get just one more life.
606
00:36:27,060 --> 00:36:33,060
Unlike an aluminum can or a glass container that can theoretically be recycled forever.
607
00:36:34,160 --> 00:36:39,440
The plastics industry, they like to buy, fresh out of the refineries,
608
00:36:39,450 --> 00:36:45,450
plastic pellets that they can turn into really clean high grade material;
609
00:36:45,480 --> 00:36:48,810
so they don�t really even want the recycled content back.
610
00:36:48,820 --> 00:36:51,970
Their only incentive in promoting recycling
611
00:36:51,980 --> 00:36:56,680
is to be able justify to the consumer that this product is good.
612
00:36:56,690 --> 00:36:59,350
If they don�t want it, where does it go?
613
00:36:59,360 --> 00:37:03,870
Well, as a matter of fact, a lot of our plastic goes to Asia.
614
00:37:03,880 --> 00:37:05,890
Shiploads of our plastic garbage is going over there.
615
00:37:05,900 --> 00:37:09,580
And the reason it�s going over there is it�s yucky to reprocess it.
616
00:37:09,590 --> 00:37:12,130
It�s technically impossible to really recycle it.
617
00:37:12,140 --> 00:37:15,730
It�s dirty and stinky and gross and we don�t want that stuff here.
618
00:37:15,740 --> 00:37:18,380
What they do is they take it into a big yard and they pop it open
619
00:37:18,390 --> 00:37:21,150
open and they have people working under very low wages
620
00:37:21,160 --> 00:37:23,310
with very bad working conditions,
621
00:37:23,320 --> 00:37:28,050
and they will cherry pick out the things that they can melt down and do something with.
622
00:37:28,060 --> 00:37:32,350
But the human rights and labor issues related with that
623
00:37:32,360 --> 00:37:37,810
the toxicity issues of some of the open plastic melting that they do
624
00:37:37,820 --> 00:37:42,380
-- to me those do not fit in a recycling model.
625
00:37:42,390 --> 00:37:44,040
Recycling can�t do everything for us.
626
00:37:44,050 --> 00:37:47,550
It�s more important to reduce what we consume
627
00:37:47,560 --> 00:37:49,430
and to reuse things that have already been made.
628
00:37:49,440 --> 00:37:53,110
But even more important is this fourth R, which comes ahead of these three.
629
00:37:53,120 --> 00:37:56,900
And it�s Redesign: redesigning goods to last longer,
630
00:37:56,910 --> 00:38:02,510
to contain fewer toxins, and to be easier to take apart and rebuild or repair.
631
00:38:02,520 --> 00:38:07,800
Michael Braungart is a German chemist well known for his cradle to cradle concept.
632
00:38:07,810 --> 00:38:13,810
So you define everything no longer from cradle to grave but from cradle to cradle.
633
00:38:14,830 --> 00:38:19,120
So you always plan the next life of a product in it.
634
00:38:19,130 --> 00:38:23,960
We have this idea that our worth as a nation is based on gross national product.
635
00:38:23,970 --> 00:38:28,260
And that consumption and a high standard of living equals happiness.
636
00:38:28,270 --> 00:38:32,480
The number one thing that makes people happy is the strength of our social relations.
637
00:38:32,490 --> 00:38:36,660
If we stop putting so much of our life energy into getting more and more and more stuff
638
00:38:36,670 --> 00:38:39,300
we take it out of that system
639
00:38:39,310 --> 00:38:42,410
and we plug it into our communities and families and friends,
640
00:38:42,420 --> 00:38:48,420
not only do we create less waste, but we actually have more fun.
641
00:38:49,580 --> 00:38:53,810
Buy less stuff, that is the simplest thing that I can say to people.
642
00:38:53,820 --> 00:38:59,820
How about not using something that needs to be disposed of or dealt with in the first place?
643
00:39:00,420 --> 00:39:05,450
Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without.
644
00:39:05,460 --> 00:39:10,310
If you don�t need it, don�t buy it.
645
00:39:10,320 --> 00:39:14,390
We think of a lot of plastic products as being cheap and disposable.
646
00:39:14,400 --> 00:39:17,450
If it breaks, no problem, just get another one.
647
00:39:17,460 --> 00:39:22,060
But here�s the thing: disposable plastic isn�t really that cheap.
648
00:39:22,070 --> 00:39:23,640
Someone has to pay.
649
00:39:23,650 --> 00:39:29,650
Whether it�s the cost of making it, transporting it, or the cost of throwing it �away.�
650
00:39:30,060 --> 00:39:33,160
And how about the unquantifiable amount it costs
651
00:39:33,170 --> 00:39:36,760
when plastics end up loose in the environment?
652
00:39:36,770 --> 00:39:42,770
who pays for that?
653
00:39:44,130 --> 00:39:49,810
So I recently found out that there is all this trash sitting in the middle of the ocean.
654
00:39:49,820 --> 00:39:51,420
And a lot of this trash is plastic.
655
00:39:51,430 --> 00:39:54,760
And, my first thought was, well, alright, but that�s...
656
00:39:54,770 --> 00:39:56,200
I didn�t do that.
657
00:39:56,210 --> 00:39:58,920
Where does that trash come from?
658
00:39:58,930 --> 00:40:03,080
Trash gets loose on the land, it blows into a river,
659
00:40:03,090 --> 00:40:06,240
and the trash goes into the ocean.
660
00:40:06,250 --> 00:40:09,480
So, that is our plastic out there.
661
00:40:09,490 --> 00:40:13,650
And there�s a lot of it.
662
00:40:13,660 --> 00:40:16,250
People ask me: Why should I care about the ocean?
663
00:40:16,260 --> 00:40:17,590
It seems so obvious.
664
00:40:17,600 --> 00:40:20,990
The ocean is the cornerstone of earth�s life support system.
665
00:40:21,000 --> 00:40:25,660
It shapes climate and weather; it holds most of life on earth.
666
00:40:25,670 --> 00:40:27,420
Ninety-seven percent of earth�s water is there.
667
00:40:27,430 --> 00:40:29,700
It�s the blue heart of the planet.
668
00:40:29,710 --> 00:40:32,330
We should take care of our heart.
669
00:40:32,340 --> 00:40:38,340
It�s what makes life possible for us.
670
00:40:41,470 --> 00:40:47,470
We still have a really good chance to make things better than they are.
671
00:40:48,280 --> 00:40:51,650
They won�t get better unless we take the action
672
00:40:51,660 --> 00:40:53,780
-- and inspire others to do the same thing.
673
00:40:53,790 --> 00:40:55,810
No one is without power.
674
00:40:55,820 --> 00:41:01,820
Everybody has the capacity to do something.
675
00:41:02,980 --> 00:41:06,060
How bad is the situation with plastic in the ocean?
676
00:41:06,070 --> 00:41:08,250
I think it�s bad because it�s unnecessary.
677
00:41:08,260 --> 00:41:09,580
It doesn�t have the be there.
678
00:41:09,590 --> 00:41:13,230
There are clear environmental consequences in terms of that we know
679
00:41:13,240 --> 00:41:17,890
that over 260 species that are affected by plastic debris,
680
00:41:17,900 --> 00:41:19,010
through entanglements and ingestion.
681
00:41:19,020 --> 00:41:22,470
So just based on the statistics of production,
682
00:41:22,480 --> 00:41:24,350
how we�ve gone from half a million tons of plastic per year produced
683
00:41:24,360 --> 00:41:29,360
in the 1950's to over 260 million tons today.
684
00:41:29,370 --> 00:41:30,830
To put that into context, okay
685
00:41:30,840 --> 00:41:33,680
-- the first decade of this century, by 2010,
686
00:41:33,690 --> 00:41:38,160
will have produced more plastic than the whole of the century that preceded.
687
00:41:38,170 --> 00:41:43,080
And most of that material is going to make throwaway items
688
00:41:43,090 --> 00:41:47,720
that are then ending up in landfill or the ocean.
689
00:41:47,730 --> 00:41:53,460
Eighty percent of all marine debris actually starts from a land-based source.
690
00:41:53,470 --> 00:41:55,890
All drains do lead to the ocean.
691
00:41:55,900 --> 00:41:58,020
We dump things.
692
00:41:58,030 --> 00:42:02,260
They end up going down a storm drain or into a wetland,
693
00:42:02,270 --> 00:42:08,270
going down streams and rivers, straight into the Atlantic or Pacific Ocean.
694
00:42:09,810 --> 00:42:13,610
It�s estimated that about six million pieces of litter enter the oceans
695
00:42:13,620 --> 00:42:19,020
every day and that the majority of this is plastic.
696
00:42:19,030 --> 00:42:23,220
Camillo Beach has a very white sand look,
697
00:42:23,230 --> 00:42:25,200
and it�s not really sand at all,
698
00:42:25,210 --> 00:42:28,200
it�s mostly white plastic covering the beach,
699
00:42:28,210 --> 00:42:33,880
sometimes up to a foot thick of plastic pieces.
700
00:42:33,890 --> 00:42:35,950
Wait a second. This is Hawaii?
701
00:42:35,960 --> 00:42:39,660
I�ve seen pictures of Hawaii. Hawaii is beautiful.
702
00:42:39,670 --> 00:42:43,860
This is not what a beach in Hawaii is supposed to look like.
703
00:42:43,870 --> 00:42:47,690
There�s just far too much of it in our ocean right now,
704
00:42:47,700 --> 00:42:53,700
and what is washing up on our beaches is a small indication of what�s really out there.
705
00:42:54,160 --> 00:42:57,750
Mainly what we find are fragments of plastic.
706
00:42:57,760 --> 00:42:59,980
Stuff like this.
707
00:42:59,990 --> 00:43:03,670
And all this debris is coming from the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre,
708
00:43:03,680 --> 00:43:06,300
or the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
709
00:43:06,310 --> 00:43:08,970
There are actually five major �gyres� --
710
00:43:08,980 --> 00:43:11,520
swirling systems of currents in our oceans.
711
00:43:11,530 --> 00:43:15,770
One in the Indian Ocean, two in the Atlantic Ocean and two in the Pacific Ocean.
712
00:43:15,780 --> 00:43:20,250
The gyre that has been studied the most is the North Pacific Subtropical gyre
713
00:43:20,260 --> 00:43:23,330
-- otherwise known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
714
00:43:23,340 --> 00:43:26,430
Estimated to be anywhere from twice the size of Texas
715
00:43:26,440 --> 00:43:29,590
to the size of the entire United States.
716
00:43:29,600 --> 00:43:33,990
Debris of all kinds floats into this gyre and there it stays.
717
00:43:34,000 --> 00:43:35,070
Swirling.
718
00:43:35,080 --> 00:43:37,940
Now the problem is that when this debris is made of plastic,
719
00:43:37,950 --> 00:43:40,860
it doesn�t biodegrade, it photodegrades.
720
00:43:40,870 --> 00:43:45,630
That means that sunlight breaks it down into smaller and smaller pieces,
721
00:43:45,640 --> 00:43:49,050
which marine life can mistake for food.
722
00:43:49,060 --> 00:43:52,340
So what exactly does this garbage patch look like?
723
00:43:52,350 --> 00:43:56,250
We went to the Algalita Marine Research Foundation for some answers.
724
00:43:56,260 --> 00:44:01,600
They have spent over a decade studying plastic in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
725
00:44:01,610 --> 00:44:07,010
It�s not a floating island of trash that can be cleaned up or scooped out.
726
00:44:07,020 --> 00:44:08,940
It�s way worse than that.
727
00:44:08,950 --> 00:44:13,460
It�s tons of little bits of plastic floating under water,
728
00:44:13,470 --> 00:44:15,340
like a plastic soup.
729
00:44:15,350 --> 00:44:18,190
It�s our thickest sample yet.
730
00:44:18,200 --> 00:44:21,040
We�ve been finding more plastic by weight than plankton.
731
00:44:21,050 --> 00:44:26,390
And the ratio keeps going up. That�s our concern.
732
00:44:26,400 --> 00:44:29,090
Over the years, they have seen in their trawls through the Patch,
733
00:44:29,100 --> 00:44:35,100
plastic-to-plankton ratios that have gone from six-to-one to as high as forty-to-one.
734
00:44:35,890 --> 00:44:39,220
What that means is that in some parts of the ocean,
735
00:44:39,230 --> 00:44:45,230
there is now 40 times more plastic than food.
736
00:44:47,110 --> 00:44:50,600
No bueno. (No good)
737
00:44:50,610 --> 00:44:53,450
To raise awareness about plastic in our oceans,
738
00:44:53,460 --> 00:44:56,850
Dr. Marcus Eriksen and a fellow scientist
739
00:44:56,860 --> 00:45:01,810
decided to set sail across the pacific on a boat made of plastic.
740
00:45:01,820 --> 00:45:02,290
Hi!
741
00:45:02,300 --> 00:45:06,610
Hi Dr. Eriksen. Why exactly are you making this trip?
742
00:45:06,620 --> 00:45:12,170
The point is to get the nation talking about
743
00:45:12,180 --> 00:45:15,210
how do we end the age of disposable plastics.
744
00:45:15,220 --> 00:45:21,220
We need to end this mass consumption of single- use plastic materials.
745
00:45:21,940 --> 00:45:26,920
So the idea here is to sail from California to Oahu
746
00:45:26,930 --> 00:45:31,460
on a boat made of 15,000 recycled plastic bottles, correct?
747
00:45:31,470 --> 00:45:35,900
Exactly. And those bottles are held together by derelict fishing nets.
748
00:45:35,910 --> 00:45:38,990
It�s name is Junk, because it�s made of junk.
749
00:45:39,000 --> 00:45:42,520
What has to happen is a global recognition
750
00:45:42,530 --> 00:45:46,150
that disposable plastics have no place in our environment.
751
00:45:46,160 --> 00:45:52,050
According to Dr. Eriksen, the plastic in the ocean is carrying toxins at high concentrations.
752
00:45:52,060 --> 00:45:54,600
Animals are then eating the plastic fragments.
753
00:45:54,610 --> 00:45:55,620
They think it�s food.
754
00:45:55,630 --> 00:45:58,860
They just open up their mouths and take a big gulp.
755
00:45:58,870 --> 00:46:04,770
What amounts to a big gulp of Persistent Organic Pollutants, or POP�s.
756
00:46:04,780 --> 00:46:09,620
These are chemicals and toxins -- like DDT, DDE and PCB�s among others
757
00:46:09,630 --> 00:46:13,430
-- that latch onto plastics and become super- concentrated.
758
00:46:13,440 --> 00:46:16,610
The plastic acts like a sponge!
759
00:46:16,620 --> 00:46:20,480
And then when the plastics are mistakenly eaten by marine life,
760
00:46:20,490 --> 00:46:21,960
the toxic chemicals go with them.
761
00:46:21,970 --> 00:46:24,580
When you eat a large fish like a swordfish,
762
00:46:24,590 --> 00:46:26,390
it might be the fifth step in the food chain
763
00:46:26,400 --> 00:46:29,510
because it�s eaten a smaller fish that ate smaller fish
764
00:46:29,520 --> 00:46:32,260
and they ate zooplankton and eventually they ate phytoplankton;
765
00:46:32,270 --> 00:46:36,370
and at every step you�re getting a multiplication factor of ten times
766
00:46:36,380 --> 00:46:39,190
or a hundred times or even a thousand times those chemicals.
767
00:46:39,200 --> 00:46:41,640
And the plastics are facilitating this:
768
00:46:41,650 --> 00:46:46,260
they sort of sop up the toxic chemicals and concentrate them in their flesh
769
00:46:46,270 --> 00:46:52,270
so that we can end up eating them on our dinner plates.
770
00:46:52,390 --> 00:46:57,170
This is Midway Atoll, a tiny speck of land in the middle of the Pacific Ocean
771
00:46:57,180 --> 00:47:03,180
where plastic is having a direct impact on the fate of the Laysan albatross.
772
00:47:06,020 --> 00:47:12,020
Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge is home to the largest albatross colony in the world.
773
00:47:12,030 --> 00:47:16,040
These birds are fantastic flyers, they forage throughout the Pacific,
774
00:47:16,050 --> 00:47:17,690
but because they forage so far,
775
00:47:17,700 --> 00:47:20,180
they're really good indicators of the health of the Pacific
776
00:47:20,190 --> 00:47:25,300
and what's happening out there.
777
00:47:25,310 --> 00:47:28,350
In the 1950s when people looked at dead albatross at Midway,
778
00:47:28,360 --> 00:47:31,080
they didn't see any plastic at all; and it wasn't until the '60s
779
00:47:31,090 --> 00:47:37,090
that we started to see in at Midway and in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.
780
00:47:38,470 --> 00:47:42,300
Every dead bird at Midway has plastic in them.
781
00:47:42,310 --> 00:47:46,320
So this is kind of the extreme:
782
00:47:46,330 --> 00:47:48,880
plastic everywhere and very little food.
783
00:47:48,890 --> 00:47:50,790
Nineteen caps of some sort,
784
00:47:50,800 --> 00:47:55,090
and then of the 19, there were about 14 bottle caps.
785
00:47:55,100 --> 00:47:59,540
The plastic they use for the top isn�t recyclable right now --
786
00:47:59,550 --> 00:48:05,550
so maybe that�s one of the reasons why you find so many plastic tops around.
787
00:48:08,230 --> 00:48:11,060
The albatross that are surrounding us here today
788
00:48:11,070 --> 00:48:13,510
face numerous threats over the course of their life,
789
00:48:13,520 --> 00:48:15,210
to successfully come back here and
790
00:48:15,220 --> 00:48:16,450
have chicks of their own
791
00:48:16,460 --> 00:48:18,780
They�ve got to fly hundreds of miles to find food;
792
00:48:18,790 --> 00:48:21,150
they�ve got to survive for several years at sea;
793
00:48:21,160 --> 00:48:23,950
and the plastics in the ecosystem are just
794
00:48:23,960 --> 00:48:29,960
another hurdle in that path to come back here.
795
00:48:31,360 --> 00:48:37,360
All the plastic that you see here was brought to the island by an adult albatross and fed to a chick.
796
00:48:38,220 --> 00:48:42,850
We can calculate how much plastic is brought to Midway each year by the adult albatross
797
00:48:42,860 --> 00:48:45,660
and it comes out to be five tons of plastic.
798
00:48:45,670 --> 00:48:49,110
That�s every year. Five tons.
799
00:48:49,120 --> 00:48:51,530
What�s happening to Midway will soon be happening around the globe
800
00:48:51,540 --> 00:48:55,580
unless we change the way that we operate as a people.
801
00:48:55,590 --> 00:48:57,740
And he totally agrees.
802
00:48:57,750 --> 00:49:03,750
He thinks that was very well stated. I know.
803
00:49:04,060 --> 00:49:08,000
It�s not just albatross that are feeling the effects of plastic in the oceans.
804
00:49:08,010 --> 00:49:12,920
Over 260 marine species are being impacted by plastic,
805
00:49:12,930 --> 00:49:16,580
either through ingestion or entanglement.
806
00:49:16,590 --> 00:49:22,110
This 26 foot long Bride�s whale was stranded on a beach in Australia and died.
807
00:49:22,120 --> 00:49:28,120
It was found that the whale�s stomach was packed with over 19 square feet of plastic.
808
00:49:30,360 --> 00:49:36,360
In fact, it is estimated that plastic kills 100,000 marine animals each year.
809
00:49:39,450 --> 00:49:44,720
Just about every big animal in the ocean is down 90 percent.
810
00:49:44,730 --> 00:49:49,530
Animals aren�t going to be fine unless we figure out how to help them.
811
00:49:49,540 --> 00:49:54,570
But imagine if every morning your breakfast was a bowl of cereal
812
00:49:54,580 --> 00:49:59,590
and half the stuff in the bowl was little Styrofoam balls and half of it was cereal.
813
00:49:59,600 --> 00:50:04,660
In some parts of the ocean, there�s enough plastic out there that animals are eating a lot of it.
814
00:50:04,670 --> 00:50:08,160
And it�s not good.
815
00:50:08,170 --> 00:50:13,340
Sea turtles are fascinating animals that have been on our planet since the time of the dinosaurs,
816
00:50:13,350 --> 00:50:17,020
but now all sea turtle species in U.S. waters are listed as
817
00:50:17,030 --> 00:50:20,640
threatened of endangered under the Endangered Species Act.
818
00:50:20,650 --> 00:50:22,280
They just eat what�s out there.
819
00:50:22,290 --> 00:50:28,290
And, not that long ago, everything that they would find was edible, or at least biodegradable.
820
00:50:31,060 --> 00:50:34,880
If you could envision what a plastic bag would look like floating in the ocean,
821
00:50:34,890 --> 00:50:36,910
it looks like a jellyfish;
822
00:50:36,920 --> 00:50:42,100
and many sea turtle species eat jellyfish.
823
00:50:42,110 --> 00:50:45,010
Ach, it�s another No. From the plastics industry.
824
00:50:45,020 --> 00:50:46,490
To be interviewed in our film.
825
00:50:46,500 --> 00:50:52,350
So far, everybody from the plastics industry has declined to be in our film.
826
00:50:52,360 --> 00:50:58,360
Even the ones that we interviewed.
827
00:51:00,920 --> 00:51:06,770
See Jeb, this marine debris issue is way overblown.
828
00:51:06,780 --> 00:51:10,080
To say that �Oh, we cut open a dead animal and
829
00:51:10,090 --> 00:51:11,850
we found a bunch of plastic fragments in it
830
00:51:11,860 --> 00:51:14,870
therefore the animal died because of plastic?�
831
00:51:14,880 --> 00:51:18,570
How do we know that the animal wasn�t sick and dying
832
00:51:18,580 --> 00:51:22,330
and that it just ate a bunch of plastic at the end of its life
833
00:51:22,340 --> 00:51:24,280
because it was sick and dying?
834
00:51:24,290 --> 00:51:27,750
Did they do a toxicology autopsy on them?
835
00:51:27,760 --> 00:51:33,160
No, they don�t do that on animals, they do that on people.
836
00:51:33,170 --> 00:51:35,440
When scientists are conducting necropsies,
837
00:51:35,450 --> 00:51:37,420
which are animal autopsies,
838
00:51:37,430 --> 00:51:42,050
they�re finding that sea turtles� stomachs are full of tiny little pieces of plastic.
839
00:51:42,060 --> 00:51:45,260
Some sea turtle species like the Pacific leatherback,
840
00:51:45,270 --> 00:51:48,800
it�s estimated that they could go extinct within the next couple of decades.
841
00:51:48,810 --> 00:51:52,980
We�re really in a position where every dead sea turtle counts,
842
00:51:52,990 --> 00:51:55,720
and we need to do whatever we can to keep them alive
843
00:51:55,730 --> 00:52:00,000
and to recover healthy sea turtle populations.
844
00:52:00,010 --> 00:52:01,440
Here�s a question I�ve got...
845
00:52:01,450 --> 00:52:03,140
When did they start doing this?
846
00:52:03,150 --> 00:52:04,780
On milk... and juice.
847
00:52:04,790 --> 00:52:09,070
It�s supposed to open like this.
848
00:52:09,080 --> 00:52:12,280
I don�t get it.
849
00:52:12,290 --> 00:52:13,930
There�s really no cleaning it up.
850
00:52:13,940 --> 00:52:18,150
I�ve heard the scenario that to clean up the North Pacific Gyre,
851
00:52:18,160 --> 00:52:24,110
it would be akin to vacuuming the entire continental United States three times over.
852
00:52:24,120 --> 00:52:25,380
That�s a monumental task.
853
00:52:25,390 --> 00:52:28,810
So we�re stuck with that plastic in the ocean as it is.
854
00:52:28,820 --> 00:52:32,080
Although there�s no real way to clean all this plastic out of the ocean,
855
00:52:32,090 --> 00:52:35,540
some people are at least trying.
856
00:52:35,550 --> 00:52:39,980
We�ve been here for approximately two weeks now on our marine debris trip.
857
00:52:39,990 --> 00:52:43,170
We do this every year in conjunction with NOAA.
858
00:52:43,180 --> 00:52:46,420
We brought two cargo containers because that�s what they filled last year.
859
00:52:46,430 --> 00:52:49,380
There�s so much debris this year that we�re going to
860
00:52:49,390 --> 00:52:51,900
overflow the two containers that we brought.
861
00:52:51,910 --> 00:52:55,610
I think maybe if people saw the amount of debris we that collected in these quantities
862
00:52:55,620 --> 00:53:01,430
it�d make them think twice about the amount of plastic they use in their daily life.
863
00:53:01,440 --> 00:53:03,260
We need help from industry and people
864
00:53:03,270 --> 00:53:07,100
involved in product and packaging design to help with material reduction.
865
00:53:07,110 --> 00:53:12,070
Reducing the quantities of plastic that we use for single-use one-trip items
866
00:53:12,080 --> 00:53:13,800
and then they�re thrown away --
867
00:53:13,810 --> 00:53:15,040
and that�s to my mind, you know,
868
00:53:15,050 --> 00:53:16,970
a third of all the plastics we make,
869
00:53:16,980 --> 00:53:18,710
that�s what we�re using them for --
870
00:53:18,720 --> 00:53:20,990
that�s the area that really needs to be targeted
871
00:53:21,000 --> 00:53:22,350
if we want to help to reduce the problems
872
00:53:22,360 --> 00:53:28,360
of contamination in the marine environment.
873
00:53:35,340 --> 00:53:37,300
Nature solves its problems.
874
00:53:37,310 --> 00:53:40,780
nd if we�re a problem, nature will solve us as a problem.
875
00:53:40,790 --> 00:53:44,700
To be an environmentalist, to be a conservationist is really a question of self-preservation.
876
00:53:44,710 --> 00:53:47,340
We�re really working to make sure that we survive.
877
00:53:47,350 --> 00:53:48,580
The earth will survive.
878
00:53:48,590 --> 00:53:54,590
But if we don�t learn to live in harmony with its ecosystem then we will simply disappear.
879
00:53:56,130 --> 00:53:58,780
Even though we can�t clean up what�s already in our oceans,
880
00:53:58,790 --> 00:54:03,570
we can make sure that we do all we can to not add more to it.
881
00:54:03,580 --> 00:54:06,440
Can I use my own container?
882
00:54:06,450 --> 00:54:09,650
If plastic is affection our oceans so dramatically,
883
00:54:09,660 --> 00:54:13,000
could it be impacting human health?
884
00:54:13,010 --> 00:54:16,180
And what about our child?
885
00:54:16,190 --> 00:54:22,190
I�ll take the free-range chicken.
886
00:54:24,650 --> 00:54:26,090
You know I�ve never been one of those people
887
00:54:26,100 --> 00:54:28,630
that worried about chemicals and toxins and stuff;
888
00:54:28,640 --> 00:54:30,520
I thought it was a little bit overboard.
889
00:54:30,530 --> 00:54:32,670
But, when you�re going to have a baby,
890
00:54:32,680 --> 00:54:35,070
you do start to worry about that kind of thing.
891
00:54:35,080 --> 00:54:38,080
And you start to look around at your house at the stuff that you have.
892
00:54:38,090 --> 00:54:42,400
The stuff that�s for your baby, that�s going to go on your baby�s skin.
893
00:54:42,410 --> 00:54:46,650
And the stuff that people start giving you for your baby.
894
00:54:46,660 --> 00:54:50,420
I don�t even know what kind of chemicals are in this stuff.
895
00:54:50,430 --> 00:54:52,390
All day long you�re getting exposed to very small amounts
896
00:54:52,400 --> 00:54:54,920
of many different things and each industry will say
897
00:54:54,930 --> 00:54:57,020
�Oh it�s just a little bit of our chemical,�
898
00:54:57,030 --> 00:54:58,060
but the problem is,
899
00:54:58,070 --> 00:55:00,840
we think the cumulative impact during that whole day
900
00:55:00,850 --> 00:55:03,410
is what�s causing that health effect in the human.
901
00:55:03,420 --> 00:55:05,280
Basically there are no requirements
902
00:55:05,290 --> 00:55:08,470
for testing chemicals for health and safety effects.
903
00:55:08,480 --> 00:55:11,400
The current regulation is so weak
904
00:55:11,410 --> 00:55:14,660
that the EPA tried to use this law to ban asbestos,
905
00:55:14,670 --> 00:55:16,470
and they failed.
906
00:55:16,480 --> 00:55:19,180
There�s something like 125,000 chemicals
907
00:55:19,190 --> 00:55:21,970
registered for use around the globe and
908
00:55:21,980 --> 00:55:26,050
very few have been tested for the effects on human health.
909
00:55:26,060 --> 00:55:28,180
The Europeans put in the program REACH
910
00:55:28,190 --> 00:55:31,730
where chemicals had to be proven safe
911
00:55:31,740 --> 00:55:34,520
instead of the reverse where in our system,
912
00:55:34,530 --> 00:55:36,870
first they have to be proven harmful.
913
00:55:36,880 --> 00:55:40,030
So a chemical is innocent until proven guilty.
914
00:55:40,040 --> 00:55:42,380
In this country.
915
00:55:42,390 --> 00:55:46,930
Maybe we shouldn�t give chemicals the kind of rights that people get.
916
00:55:46,940 --> 00:55:49,350
The chemicals we�re testing for now include
917
00:55:49,360 --> 00:55:53,070
phthalates, which are the chemicals that are used to soften plastic,
918
00:55:53,080 --> 00:55:57,170
bisphenol A which is a chemical used to harden plastic.
919
00:55:57,180 --> 00:56:00,090
Phthalates and bisphenol A have been getting a lot of attention lately
920
00:56:00,100 --> 00:56:02,930
because they�re both known as endocrine disrupters,
921
00:56:02,940 --> 00:56:07,330
meaning they disrupt or inhibit our normal hormone function.
922
00:56:07,340 --> 00:56:13,230
Let�s start with bisphenol A, otherwise known as BPA, which is a synthetic estrogen.
923
00:56:13,240 --> 00:56:15,820
BPA is the main component of polycarbonate,
924
00:56:15,830 --> 00:56:18,560
the hard, clear plastic sometimes used to make such items
925
00:56:18,570 --> 00:56:23,950
as water bottles, food storage containers, sports equipment, and electronics.
926
00:56:23,960 --> 00:56:26,370
But wait! There�s more.
927
00:56:26,380 --> 00:56:27,790
So you think you�ll avoid plastic
928
00:56:27,800 --> 00:56:30,490
you�ll do the right thing and you�ll buy something that comes in a can
929
00:56:30,500 --> 00:56:33,000
and then you find out that the can is lined with...
930
00:56:33,010 --> 00:56:35,800
guess what... You got it: plastic.
931
00:56:35,810 --> 00:56:39,830
And this plastic that lines this very can contains bisphenol A.
932
00:56:39,840 --> 00:56:45,120
Which means it also lines soda, juice, and beer cans, and -
933
00:56:45,130 --> 00:56:47,310
guess what else BPA is in?
934
00:56:47,320 --> 00:56:51,340
Infant formula can liners and baby bottles.
935
00:56:51,350 --> 00:56:54,560
That�s right, baby bottles.
936
00:56:54,570 --> 00:56:58,500
Bisphenol A exposure at phenomenally low doses
937
00:56:58,510 --> 00:57:01,730
during the early period after birth
938
00:57:01,740 --> 00:57:04,750
when babies are drinking infant formula laced
939
00:57:04,760 --> 00:57:09,940
with bisphenol A out of baby bottles made with bisphenol A.
940
00:57:09,950 --> 00:57:13,650
What you get is animals that are hyperactive
941
00:57:13,660 --> 00:57:16,830
and show learning impairment.
942
00:57:16,840 --> 00:57:22,250
Remind you of a human condition called Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder?
943
00:57:22,260 --> 00:57:24,890
This is a poster chemical for that.
944
00:57:24,900 --> 00:57:27,990
Basically, we have released a lot of chemicals into the environment
945
00:57:28,000 --> 00:57:32,780
that can interfere with the way our children are constructed
946
00:57:32,790 --> 00:57:37,580
from the moment of fertilization until they�re born 38 weeks later.
947
00:57:37,590 --> 00:57:43,590
Not only health-wise but also in the way they behave and in their intelligence.
948
00:57:45,140 --> 00:57:50,540
Academic and government scientists are showing an array of harm from bisphenol A
949
00:57:50,550 --> 00:57:54,420
that is frightening to the brain, to the reproductive system.
950
00:57:54,430 --> 00:57:56,390
And one of the things you see happening
951
00:57:56,400 --> 00:58:00,450
with Bisphenol A is gender neutrality.
952
00:58:00,460 --> 00:58:05,410
That means our boys are become feminized feminized and our girls are becoming masculinized.
953
00:58:05,420 --> 00:58:10,790
And furthermore, many scientists believe that BPA exposure is linked to prostate cancer,
954
00:58:10,800 --> 00:58:14,770
breast cancer, hypospadias, low sperm count, early puberty, uterine fibroids,
955
00:58:14,780 --> 00:58:20,780
miscarriage, polycystic ovary disease, obesity, type 2 diabetes, ADHD, and autism.
956
00:58:22,430 --> 00:58:26,480
Right now, it is predicted that one out of every third child --
957
00:58:26,490 --> 00:58:29,750
and if you�re a minority, it�s one out of every two children born --
958
00:58:29,760 --> 00:58:34,550
is going to develop diabetes sometime in their life.
959
00:58:34,560 --> 00:58:37,770
Autism -- one in a hundred and fifty children.
960
00:58:37,780 --> 00:58:40,690
This can�t be genetic because it�s happening too fast.
961
00:58:40,700 --> 00:58:46,310
And in most instances, they were rare disorders before the 1970�s.
962
00:58:46,320 --> 00:58:52,320
Of the more than 200 government funded studies, 92 percent show harm related to BPA exposure.
963
00:58:52,480 --> 00:58:58,480
Of the less than 20 studies funded by chemical corporations, 0 percent show harm.
964
00:58:59,050 --> 00:59:05,050
A Centers for Disease Control study detected BPA in the urine of 95% of adults sampled.
965
00:59:05,250 --> 00:59:09,850
Those with the highest levels had more than twice the risk of heart disease and diabetes...
966
00:59:09,860 --> 00:59:15,860
The FDA cites two studies, both of those studies funded by the plastics industry.
967
00:59:16,700 --> 00:59:21,180
Scientists have measured BPA in the blood of pregnant women, in umbilical cord blood,
968
00:59:21,190 --> 00:59:25,780
and in the placentas, all at levels demonstrated in animals to alter development.
969
00:59:25,790 --> 00:59:27,400
Where is the FDA?
970
00:59:27,410 --> 00:59:29,570
Have an FDA warning to tell you about this morning.
971
00:59:29,580 --> 00:59:31,270
Now in a shift in the agency�s position
972
00:59:31,280 --> 00:59:34,520
the FDA is saying that the chemical is of some concern.
973
00:59:34,530 --> 00:59:39,780
...Especially on the brain, behavior and prostate gland in fetuses, infants, and young children.
974
00:59:39,790 --> 00:59:43,210
The government agency is encouraging families to limit their children�s exposure...
975
00:59:43,220 --> 00:59:47,590
The American Chemistry Council says BPA is safe.
976
00:59:47,600 --> 00:59:52,930
I�m calling Rob Krebbs from the American Chemistry Council.
977
00:59:52,940 --> 00:59:53,440
Rob Krebbs-
978
00:59:53,450 --> 00:59:58,590
Hey Rob Krebbs, it�s Jeb Berrier, from the Bag It movie.
979
00:59:58,600 --> 00:59:59,820
From Bag It movie?
980
00:59:59,830 --> 01:00:04,680
I e-mailed you a few weeks ago. We�re doing a documentary.
981
01:00:04,690 --> 01:00:06,540
Uh, okay, I�m sorry.
982
01:00:06,550 --> 01:00:12,130
Jeff, I�m literally on the phone with someone else right this second.
983
01:00:12,140 --> 01:00:16,250
Can you shoot me an e-mail, again? Just to remind me?
984
01:00:16,260 --> 01:00:21,770
Okay, no problem, I�ll e-mail you again. Thanks.
985
01:00:21,780 --> 01:00:22,600
Honey?
986
01:00:22,610 --> 01:00:23,690
Yes dear?
987
01:00:23,700 --> 01:00:25,350
I�m doing the dishes.
988
01:00:25,360 --> 01:00:26,460
Thank you.
989
01:00:26,470 --> 01:00:32,470
Because you are so... pregnant!
990
01:00:33,070 --> 01:00:37,320
There are certain plastic containers that we stopped getting.
991
01:00:37,330 --> 01:00:40,100
We kind of cut back on can usage altogether.
992
01:00:40,110 --> 01:00:46,110
We stopped reheating anything in plastic.
993
01:00:46,140 --> 01:00:48,030
The other chemical we�re concerned about,
994
01:00:48,040 --> 01:00:51,430
phthalates, is actually a family of chemicals.
995
01:00:51,440 --> 01:00:55,300
Phthalates are commonly found in polyvinyl chloride plastic,
996
01:00:55,310 --> 01:00:58,210
otherwise known as PVC.
997
01:00:58,220 --> 01:01:02,620
Phthalates are �plasticizers� that are used to soften plastic.
998
01:01:02,630 --> 01:01:04,630
They�re used in a wide variety of products --
999
01:01:04,640 --> 01:01:08,250
anything from vinyl flooring and all other things vinyl
1000
01:01:08,260 --> 01:01:14,190
to personal care products to... children�s toys.
1001
01:01:14,200 --> 01:01:15,970
You take a rubber ducky.
1002
01:01:15,980 --> 01:01:20,600
In order to make that brittle material seem like rubber,
1003
01:01:20,610 --> 01:01:26,540
you actually have to have more phthalate in it than you do polyvinyl-chloride.
1004
01:01:26,550 --> 01:01:31,820
When a baby puts that in its mouth, it�s like a phthalate lollypop.
1005
01:01:31,830 --> 01:01:33,210
Phthalates have been linked to:
1006
01:01:33,220 --> 01:01:35,910
renitis, eczema, asthma, allergies,
1007
01:01:35,920 --> 01:01:39,200
premature birth, obesity, premature breast development,
1008
01:01:39,210 --> 01:01:42,670
thyroid dysfunction, insulin resistance, lower sperm counts,
1009
01:01:42,680 --> 01:01:46,110
decreased sperm motility, shorter ano-genital distance,
1010
01:01:46,120 --> 01:01:52,120
undescended testicles and smaller penis size.
1011
01:01:54,180 --> 01:01:55,860
It�s not just our Johnsons that are suffering,
1012
01:01:55,870 --> 01:01:57,940
it�s our swimmers as well.
1013
01:01:57,950 --> 01:02:00,040
Over the past several decades scientists have found
1014
01:02:00,050 --> 01:02:04,530
the sperm counts have been dropping dramatically.
1015
01:02:04,540 --> 01:02:06,630
Paul McCartney knew about this far earlier.
1016
01:02:06,640 --> 01:02:08,880
You know �Yesterday.� The second part.
1017
01:02:08,890 --> 01:02:14,890
�Suddenly, I�m not half the man I used to be.�
1018
01:02:16,520 --> 01:02:19,020
We�re loosing dramatically fertility.
1019
01:02:19,030 --> 01:02:25,030
So taking us compared to our fathers, we�re only half the men.
1020
01:02:25,120 --> 01:02:26,960
What we found with the human study is that
1021
01:02:26,970 --> 01:02:29,870
the moms that had greater exposure to phthalates
1022
01:02:29,880 --> 01:02:33,780
were more likely to have sons with feminized reproductive organs
1023
01:02:33,790 --> 01:02:36,330
was that those were at everyday levels of phthalates,
1024
01:02:36,340 --> 01:02:38,280
those were not unusual exposure levels,
1025
01:02:38,290 --> 01:02:43,270
those were at levels that people are being exposed to in the U.S. today.
1026
01:02:43,280 --> 01:02:47,040
You�re constantly being washed in phthalates every day.
1027
01:02:47,050 --> 01:02:51,740
That chemical is not required to be on the label for any personal care product.
1028
01:02:51,750 --> 01:02:53,650
So if you see �fragrance� on the label,
1029
01:02:53,660 --> 01:02:55,650
that is often phthalates.
1030
01:02:55,660 --> 01:02:59,870
Basically it�s an industry loophole that prevents the consumer
1031
01:02:59,880 --> 01:03:03,120
from finding out what ingredients are in the product.
1032
01:03:03,130 --> 01:03:06,500
Fragrance can be a collection of hundreds of chemicals,
1033
01:03:06,510 --> 01:03:09,480
or it might be just a handful, we really don�t know.
1034
01:03:09,490 --> 01:03:14,050
One question that you may have is �Are phthalates safe?�
1035
01:03:14,060 --> 01:03:15,700
The answer is �Yes.�
1036
01:03:15,710 --> 01:03:18,470
My name is Steve Risotto of the American Chemistry Council,
1037
01:03:18,480 --> 01:03:20,910
and we represent the companies that manufacture
1038
01:03:20,920 --> 01:03:24,280
a family of versatile chemicals called �phthalates.�
1039
01:03:24,290 --> 01:03:27,650
The University of Washington tested dozens of babies� urine
1040
01:03:27,660 --> 01:03:30,140
and found that the more of these baby products they used,
1041
01:03:30,150 --> 01:03:32,050
creams, lotions, powders, shampoos,
1042
01:03:32,060 --> 01:03:36,330
the higher their levels of man-made chemicals called phthalates.
1043
01:03:36,340 --> 01:03:41,630
Phthalates are used in baby products to help the fragrance stay on the babies� skin.
1044
01:03:41,640 --> 01:03:44,080
Babies are not little adults.
1045
01:03:44,090 --> 01:03:46,920
Nothing you learn about a chemical in an adult
1046
01:03:46,930 --> 01:03:51,980
can be applied to tell you what that chemical will do in a baby.
1047
01:03:51,990 --> 01:03:54,410
This was pretty shocking news for Anne and me.
1048
01:03:54,420 --> 01:03:58,230
I mean wouldn�t anyone want to err on the side of caution?
1049
01:03:58,240 --> 01:04:03,910
Um, I had a question about one of your products. It�s a baby lotion.
1050
01:04:03,920 --> 01:04:06,800
It�s called Grins and Giggles.
1051
01:04:06,810 --> 01:04:12,490
I wonder if it has any phthalates in it.
1052
01:04:12,500 --> 01:04:14,140
I�m on hold.
1053
01:04:14,150 --> 01:04:20,150
The music�s really nice though.
1054
01:04:25,790 --> 01:04:28,220
Peter Coyote is a well-known actor.
1055
01:04:28,230 --> 01:04:30,400
What most people don't know is that he's also
1056
01:04:30,410 --> 01:04:33,680
a committed activist and has been for many years.
1057
01:04:33,690 --> 01:04:35,570
He is one of few people in this country
1058
01:04:35,580 --> 01:04:38,210
to have his body burden tested.
1059
01:04:38,220 --> 01:04:39,930
That's a test that identifies and quantifies
1060
01:04:39,940 --> 01:04:43,630
hundreds of chemicals present in your body.
1061
01:04:43,640 --> 01:04:47,340
When the results came, I was really shocked,
1062
01:04:47,350 --> 01:04:52,660
and then I was angry because I had in my body,
1063
01:04:52,670 --> 01:04:55,750
stuff that should not be in a human being.
1064
01:04:55,760 --> 01:04:59,450
And when I was reviewing it I thought -- quite literally --
1065
01:04:59,460 --> 01:05:05,460
who gave these sons of bitches permission to poison the commons?
1066
01:05:05,600 --> 01:05:08,220
I decided to do my own Body Burden experiment
1067
01:05:08,230 --> 01:05:11,140
I wanted to see how much my levels of BPA and phthalates
1068
01:05:11,150 --> 01:05:17,150
would go up simply by using normal, everyday, supposedly safe consumer products.
1069
01:05:18,800 --> 01:05:21,890
I did a pretest to find out what my normal levels were.
1070
01:05:21,900 --> 01:05:25,840
And then I spent two days in a friend�s apartment eating canned food,
1071
01:05:25,850 --> 01:05:30,990
microwaving in plastic, using shampoo, lotion, deodorant, air fresheners.
1072
01:05:31,000 --> 01:05:34,490
These are all products that will supposedly be safe for my baby.
1073
01:05:34,500 --> 01:05:38,180
You know this place just needed a little... something.
1074
01:05:38,190 --> 01:05:40,390
Air Fresh. Freshen it up....
1075
01:05:40,400 --> 01:05:46,400
I�m about to shampoo with kids� shampoo.
1076
01:05:48,600 --> 01:05:54,600
This is all stuff that people use pretty much every day.
1077
01:05:55,600 --> 01:06:01,600
This is my last supper. I don�t get to eat like this very often. I don�t feel good.
1078
01:06:05,100 --> 01:06:07,390
At the end, I got tested again.
1079
01:06:07,400 --> 01:06:11,790
By the way, whatever the levels are, they�re reversible.
1080
01:06:11,800 --> 01:06:17,800
So, it�s never too late to stop ingesting, absorbing and inhaling these chemicals.
1081
01:06:18,070 --> 01:06:20,250
And now we�re just waiting for the results.
1082
01:06:20,260 --> 01:06:23,220
Hi Catherine, it�s Jeb Berrier.
1083
01:06:23,230 --> 01:06:28,940
Calling you back from the movie Bag It, the documentary about plastic.
1084
01:06:28,950 --> 01:06:33,750
And I�m really hoping to get an interview with you,
1085
01:06:33,760 --> 01:06:37,370
about, specifically about BPA and phthalates.
1086
01:06:37,380 --> 01:06:41,560
We are keeping chemicals afloat in our environment
1087
01:06:41,570 --> 01:06:45,520
in the face of overwhelming scientific evidence from other countries.
1088
01:06:45,530 --> 01:06:49,960
Because the information is being systematically withheld from us.
1089
01:06:49,970 --> 01:06:52,830
Who are the people that allow this? They�re supposed to be our leaders.
1090
01:06:52,840 --> 01:06:58,840
They�re supposed to be mediating between the needs of the citizens and the needs of the corporations.
1091
01:06:59,400 --> 01:07:04,840
Not giving the corporations everything they ask for and asking the citizens to pay the bills.
1092
01:07:04,850 --> 01:07:10,850
If you don�t want a deadly poison in the biosphere, you don�t make it. Period. End of story.
1093
01:07:12,500 --> 01:07:18,500
Okay. I finally got my results.It�s 144 pages of numbers.
1094
01:07:19,350 --> 01:07:25,190
So, I am at the house of Dr. Theo Colborn. World renowned environmental health analyst,
1095
01:07:25,200 --> 01:07:29,590
and she is going to help me decipher what my test results mean.
1096
01:07:29,600 --> 01:07:32,240
Your results were very interesting. Why don�t we start with bisphenol A?
1097
01:07:32,250 --> 01:07:37,590
Okay. So, my BPA levels went up 110 times.
1098
01:07:37,600 --> 01:07:41,850
Yeah, that is high, I�ll be quite frank with you. You really spiked.
1099
01:07:41,860 --> 01:07:46,770
Now these are the phthalates. This one went up 53 times.
1100
01:07:46,780 --> 01:07:52,780
Okay now, here we are. This one went up from 2.7 to 143.
1101
01:07:52,940 --> 01:07:57,560
So if you sum this overall and then take the difference,
1102
01:07:57,570 --> 01:08:01,570
you had about 11 times increase of phthalates.
1103
01:08:01,580 --> 01:08:07,580
If Anne who�s pregnant had those levels, what would that mean? For the baby?
1104
01:08:11,650 --> 01:08:17,650
It could mean that that baby would be partially feminized. In other words, reduced ano-genital distance.
1105
01:08:19,520 --> 01:08:22,590
You know. Maybe a smaller penis.
1106
01:08:22,600 --> 01:08:23,390
Wow.
1107
01:08:23,400 --> 01:08:25,870
Yeah. I always feel uncomfortable talking to people
1108
01:08:25,880 --> 01:08:28,870
who are expecting children or planning to have children.
1109
01:08:28,880 --> 01:08:32,140
Because this is the critical period,
1110
01:08:32,150 --> 01:08:34,330
from fertilization to birth.
1111
01:08:34,340 --> 01:08:36,670
As a citizen, don�t you feel
1112
01:08:36,680 --> 01:08:40,590
that we have enough evidence now to say we should not be using these products.
1113
01:08:40,600 --> 01:08:43,190
Absolutely. I don�t want any of these in my body.
1114
01:08:43,200 --> 01:08:45,840
I don�t want any of these in the mother of my child�s body.
1115
01:08:45,850 --> 01:08:47,440
I don�t want them in my child�s body.
1116
01:08:47,450 --> 01:08:49,610
No. They�re going to be.
1117
01:08:49,620 --> 01:08:53,060
It�s not about being against chemistry or against plastic;
1118
01:08:53,070 --> 01:08:59,070
it�s about being against stupid plastic. Silly, stinking, toxic stuff.
1119
01:08:59,780 --> 01:09:03,230
When you reach the point where it becomes a public health issue --
1120
01:09:03,240 --> 01:09:07,110
and this is a major public health issue at the population level --
1121
01:09:07,120 --> 01:09:08,680
the government has to step in.
1122
01:09:08,690 --> 01:09:14,590
But I will frankly say, government is no longer government -- it�s corporate control.
1123
01:09:14,600 --> 01:09:18,870
What we�re asking for is for a law that will make sure
1124
01:09:18,880 --> 01:09:20,590
that chemicals are tested before they go into products.
1125
01:09:20,600 --> 01:09:23,840
We want to be able to go into a store and buy any product.
1126
01:09:23,850 --> 01:09:26,390
The products on the shelf should be safe for us.
1127
01:09:26,400 --> 01:09:29,870
We have lost a whole generation of children already
1128
01:09:29,880 --> 01:09:34,060
because we haven�t even begun to take action on one of these chemicals.
1129
01:09:34,070 --> 01:09:37,820
Though you may feel that going up against corporations is impossible,
1130
01:09:37,830 --> 01:09:39,770
and that government moves way too slowly,
1131
01:09:39,780 --> 01:09:45,780
what we cannot forget is that we are the government, that we influence industry.
1132
01:09:46,400 --> 01:09:48,930
Thanks to the outcries of concerned parents,
1133
01:09:48,940 --> 01:09:53,660
a law was passed in 2009 banning six phthalates from children�s toys.
1134
01:09:53,670 --> 01:09:57,810
And due to consumer demands, Wal-Mart and Toys R Us
1135
01:09:57,820 --> 01:10:01,640
decided to remove all baby products containing BPA from their shelves.
1136
01:10:01,650 --> 01:10:07,600
This led six different baby bottle manufacturers to completely remove BPA from their baby bottles.
1137
01:10:07,610 --> 01:10:13,610
I�m trying to find out whether people in town would support a fee on paper or plastic shopping bags.
1138
01:10:19,350 --> 01:10:21,550
Yeah to try to reduce the amount people use disposable shopping bags.
1139
01:10:21,560 --> 01:10:25,590
Go big or go home.
1140
01:10:25,600 --> 01:10:31,190
Would you guys support some kind of measure in town....
1141
01:10:31,200 --> 01:10:37,200
Remember that part about how we were expecting a baby? Well, it�s happening.
1142
01:12:18,800 --> 01:12:22,610
Well, I did start out making a movie about plastic bags,
1143
01:12:22,620 --> 01:12:26,790
but like any journey, things developed and changed along the way,
1144
01:12:26,800 --> 01:12:28,590
it became about so much more.
1145
01:12:28,600 --> 01:12:31,550
I still think plastic is an incredible substance.
1146
01:12:31,560 --> 01:12:36,450
But it�s not supposed to end up in our oceans or in our bodies.
1147
01:12:36,460 --> 01:12:40,640
And just to make sure I really, really got all this, Anne got pregnant;
1148
01:12:40,650 --> 01:12:45,970
and it became about the fate of our child and all our children.
1149
01:12:45,980 --> 01:12:50,190
I�m still an average guy... but even average people can make changes.
1150
01:12:50,200 --> 01:12:54,570
You know, everybody keeps asking me: So what can I do? Well.
1151
01:12:54,580 --> 01:12:57,750
Here are some things we�ve come up with while making this film.
1152
01:12:57,760 --> 01:13:02,590
Things you can do, too. Starting today, right now.
1153
01:13:02,600 --> 01:13:07,690
You can cut way WAY back on single-use disposables.
1154
01:13:07,700 --> 01:13:10,670
Don�t drink bottled water.
1155
01:13:10,680 --> 01:13:13,390
Choose products with less packaging
1156
01:13:13,400 --> 01:13:16,690
When you need something, buy it used.
1157
01:13:16,700 --> 01:13:20,640
Think outside the bag -- bring your own container.
1158
01:13:20,650 --> 01:13:22,690
Buy less stuff.
1159
01:13:22,700 --> 01:13:26,990
Remember, recycling comes after reducing and reusing.
1160
01:13:27,000 --> 01:13:31,190
And how about volunteering in your community to do litter clean ups?
1161
01:13:31,200 --> 01:13:36,380
But most important, you can simplify... your... life.
1162
01:13:36,390 --> 01:13:39,390
I keep coming back to how my grandparents lived.
1163
01:13:39,400 --> 01:13:43,890
They didn�t have all this plastic in their lives, but that didn�t seem to make them any less happy.
1164
01:13:43,900 --> 01:13:48,890
When it comes down to changing your life and living with less plastic,
1165
01:13:48,900 --> 01:13:54,470
And look at that: foam cups.
1166
01:13:54,480 --> 01:13:55,890
Stay back.
1167
01:13:55,900 --> 01:14:01,900
We just have to rethink how we do things. It all comes down to common sense.
1168
01:14:04,900 --> 01:14:09,390
Well there you have it. The end of one odyssey, the beginning of another.
1169
01:14:09,400 --> 01:14:12,130
We�ve decided to live life with a little less plastic.
1170
01:14:12,140 --> 01:14:15,940
How about you? Is your life a little too plastic?
1171
01:14:15,950 --> 01:14:21,590
Cause if it is, there�s only one thing you can do about it...
1172
01:14:21,600 --> 01:14:27,600
Bag it.
1173
01:14:28,900 --> 01:14:34,900
Alright. I think I got it that time.
1174
01:15:03,240 --> 01:15:06,020
Buy bulk food, don�t buy small packaged things
1175
01:15:06,030 --> 01:15:12,030
and suddenly your trash is really minimized.
1176
01:15:17,270 --> 01:15:22,840
Hey look everybody! It�s a single-use disposable camera.
1177
01:15:22,850 --> 01:15:28,850
Use it once, and throw it away!
1178
01:15:34,400 --> 01:15:40,400
I�d put no plastic into a microwave or an oven.
1179
01:15:44,000 --> 01:15:50,000
When you don�t use a lot of plastic... you eat better.
1180
01:15:59,760 --> 01:16:02,090
That�s my girl.
1181
01:16:02,100 --> 01:16:05,250
You really should think, when making decisions,
1182
01:16:05,260 --> 01:16:08,800
of how this is not only going to impact yourself and your children,
1183
01:16:08,810 --> 01:16:14,810
but your children�s children�s children. Out seven generations.
1184
01:16:20,620 --> 01:16:26,620
Look at that. No plastic bag in the bathroom garbage can. You don�t need it.
1185
01:16:27,300 --> 01:16:33,300
Plastic�s a useful thing, but single use plastics are just instant garbage and... we don�t need it.
1186
01:16:40,110 --> 01:16:46,110
Maybe you�re forced to eat a plastic bag if you use one, to know how the fish feel.
1187
01:16:49,100 --> 01:16:55,100
That�s a good idea.
1188
01:17:23,100 --> 01:17:27,240
I�m still waiting to hear back from the American Chemistry Council.
1189
01:17:27,250 --> 01:17:33,250
I�m starting to think that maybe they don�t want to talk to me.
1190
01:18:07,900 --> 01:18:13,900
Babies don�t come in plastic.
104875
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