Portfolio+-+Part+B

= __ Activity Part B __ = Mock – Debate: 2: What needs to be done to solve the immense problem of plastic waste? = Report from a scientist’s point of view: What solutions do scientists offer? = Students choose an identity from the documentary. Then post a report and their opinion on the discussion for this page. · Who are you? · What is your branch of science · What studies have you done? What are your qualifications? · What current techniques have you used in this branch of environmental science · What evidence have you gathered and what conclusions have you come to · What is your opinion on possible solutions to the problem pf plastic waste? (stating reasons)

Possible Scientists to investigate

 * Captain Charles Moore
 * Fabien Cousteau (See the article below)
 * Dr Hideshige Takada from Tokyo University of Agriculture and Science
 * Dr Iji Masatoshi from NEC Corp.
 * Ron Krebs from the American Chemistry Council
 * Dr Jan van Franeker a biologist from Imares
 * Dr Kevin O’Connor from University College Dublin
 * Harald Kaeb from European Bioplastics
 * Dr Walter Kaminsky of University of Hamburg

Or you can investigate a recycling company

 * Allen Jongsma from Agi-Plas Inc
 * Patagonia Clothing Co and the closed loop system of re-cycling
 * Tie Tek LLC
 * WasteAway
 * Conserve India
 * PLA Plastics NatureWorks LLC
 * Yuko Fujihira Sony Corp
 * Before you post your ideas **
 * 1) Write a draft
 * 2) 150-200 words
 * 3) Use at least 2 references either from a newspaper article, a website or video.
 * 4) Reply to another 2 comments. Write at least 50 words for each.

=Addicted to Plastic: Oceans of Plastic= In class we watched the documentary. If you missed it you can watch it at school. Watch the trailer: []

media type="youtube" key="daSFXZT-HYk" height="192" width="204" Open this link to read about plastic in the ocean []



Now read an interview with Ian Connacher who made the documentary. [] Wednesday, 22 October 2008 GreenMuze Staff As a species we are starting to choke on our plastic consumption. Sure, people might be reducing their plastic bags and trying to minimize their use of plastic packaging, but plastic remains a lethal substance that permeates every aspect of our North American lives. But where does it all go after we are done with it? Some ends up in landfills, but the rest ends up in the oceans. In fact, marine experts report more than 80% of the plastic found in the oceans actually originates from a land based source. We caught up with filmmaker Ian Connacher to talk about his hot new film, //Addicted to Plastic,// and find out what happens to [|plastic] after we are finished with it.

Why did you make //Addicted to Plastic//?
In 2005, I spent a month sailing out to the middle of the Pacific Ocean with Captain Charles Moore of the //Algalita Marine Research Foundation//. We went out to sample for plastic in an area roughly the size of Western Europe, called the [|Eastern Garbage Patch]. And it wasn't pretty. I personally scooped up fishing nets, bottles, buckets, a fluorescent light tube, a paint roller etc. These larger plastic pieces collect lots of marine life - like barnacles and crabs - which can be transported to foreign waters causing biotic mixing.

Every piece of plastic that's ever been made, except a small amount that's been incinerated, still exists. —Ian Connacher

What's worse, sunlight and waves break up plastic into smaller and smaller pieces that begin to resemble food for marine organisms. I also learned how plastics repel water but also absorb nasty oils like pesticides and herbicides that flow downstream from farms. In other words, all these little bits become poison pills, available to the whole food chain. I produced a short film entitled, //"Alphabet Soup,//" which showed how plastic travels out to remote parts of the ocean and become adopted into the food chain. It wasn't a pretty story. I wanted to know what could be done to fix this mess. So I quit my job and began to travel around the world in search for solutions. This became //Addicted To Plastic.//

How long did the film take to make?
Including my trip to the garbage patch, it took approximately 3 years.

Was it a difficult film to make?
Yes. We ended up shooting over 400 hours of footage, which is partly why editing took almost an entire year.

The truth is, only about 5% of all plastic actually gets recycled. —Ian Connacher

Does the general public know enough about the problems with plastic?
Absolutely not. Most people (at least in North America) think that what they put into the recycle bin actually gets recycled. The truth is, only about 5% of all plastic actually gets recycled. The plastic that is recycled is often plastic bottles turned into plastic chairs or plastic lumber. This, in my opinion, is not recycling. It's downcycling - turning one product into an inferior product. Downcycling doesn't stop new plastic from being made. What's more, there is a disconnect between manufacturers of plastic items and the end-users. With glass, we only have green, clear and brown. With plastic, it's limitless. That means one plastic bottle could have different colors on it as well as different types of plastic (the cap, the wrapper). All these varieties make recycling extremely difficult. Filmmaker Ian Connacher In Europe, governments regulate products based on the precautionary principle, which means a manufacturer must prove their product is safe before it can be put on the market. In North America, private research groups have to prove that a product is toxic before it can be pulled from the shelves. I still don't understand why there are toxic materials on the market when alternatives already exist.

How bad is the plastic problem?
Every piece of plastic that's ever been made, except a small amount that's been incinerated, still exists. That means our landfills, beaches and oceans are overflowing with plastic waste from the last 100 years. North America also ships a lot of our plastic waste to China and India, where the task of recycling is placed on the backs of poor families in appalling conditions. In Delhi, for example, I witnessed families living on top of a landfill, manually collecting scraps of plastic bags and forks and packaging for literally a dollar a day. Toxic ingredients in plastic are also being linked to everything from learning disabilities, heart disease, obesity and cancer.

Is it possible we are ingesting plastic through the fish we eat?
Yes. I personally witnessed the dissection of a Fulmar bird in Holland. The stomach contained two grams of various types of plastic including bags, Styrofoam, hard plastic chunks and nurdles - pre-production plastic pellets. In the Pacific Ocean, Captain Moore conducted trawls for small fragments of plastic in the water and compared the weight of the plastic in the samples to the weight of plankton. Some of his trawls showed as much as 20 times more plastic than naturally-occurring food. Filter feeders like jellyfish, do not discriminate between plastic and plankton.

Why do we use so much plastic?
Plastic is cheap, durable, non-conductive and can be molded into any shape. It makes our food safer, our cars lighter and more efficient and makes modern medicine possible. My film is not out to vilify plastic but, rather, show just how much we are misusing this very valuable material. Packaging, in particular, is getting out of control and much of it is driven by convenience.

Do you use plastic?
Of course. I couldn't make the film without plastic (videotape, cables, my camera etc). But, again, I don't think the material is to blame. I think it is our misuse of the material as consumers, the ineffective recycling policies and lack of producer responsibility.

There is no such thing as disposability. —Ian Connacher

Can people live a plastic free life?
No. And I don't think that's the point. I think we definitely need to be more conscious consumers but we also need producer responsibility and government protections when it comes to producing alternatives or improving recycling.

What will people take away from seeing your film?
I hope they will take away a better understanding of all the issues surrounding plastic - how there is no such thing as disposability, the disconnect between manufacturers and recyclers, how individuals and companies are making a difference by developing alternatives, and how we can move forward responsibly. I wish I could have put more solutions into the film but I felt that viewers needed to understand just how bad plastic pollution has become and that up to now, it's been invisible.

What can the average person do to help the planet become more plastic free?
Buy a reusable coffee mug. Bring a knapsack to the supermarket. Buy products with minimal packaging. Investigate bioplastic products. Avoid toxic plastics like PVC or polycarbonate. Petition government for better recycling laws. Improve your company's plastic footprint. Pass the information on to younger generations. Remember that when you throw something away, there is no away.

How can people see your film?
You can go to[| crypticmoth.com] for a list of film festivals where //Addicted To Plastic// will be shown as well as broadcast dates in various countries. If you're an educator or an institution, the film is also available for purchase on the website.

Are you a green guy?
I think I'm a green guy but by no means am I perfect. I've owned a hybrid car, I eat organic, I try to buy local as much as possible, and I make environmental documentaries.

Scientific terms add to list
=Update= The reports are getting worse! Read the following article from August 2009

[]

Post a comment
=The Great Pacific Garbage Patch= []

Water covers more than 70 percent of the planet's surface, making our rivers, lakes and oceans the lifeblood of our planet. Many of these bodies of water may be out of sight and out of mind, but our health may depend on their protection.

Currently, scientists believe the world's largest garbage dump isn't on land…it's in the Pacific Ocean. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch stretches from the coast of California to Japan, and it's estimated to be //twice// the size of Texas. "This is the most shocking thing I have seen," Oprah says.

In some places, the floating debris—estimated to be about 90 percent plastic—goes 90 feet deep. Elsewhere, there are six times more pieces of plastic than plankton, the main food source for many sea animals.

Where did this trash come from? Marine biologists estimate that about 80 percent of the litter is from land, either dumped directly into waterways or blown into rivers and streams from states as far away as Iowa.

Like his grandfather, undersea explorer Jacques Cousteau, Fabien Cousteau has devoted his life to exploring and protecting the world's oceans and sea life.

Many of those affected by the enormous garbage swirl—like sea birds, turtles and beluga whales—can't speak for themselves. "They get caught in these nets, or they swallow some of these bottle caps," Fabien says. "Killer whales, which are kind of our mirror, our canary in the coal mine, so to speak, are ingesting all sorts of things that are affecting their health."

Experts say plastic trash has already killed millions of sea birds and marine mammals. In one case, pieces of plastic and a cigarette lighter were found in the stomach of a dead albatross.

Beluga whales are also suffering. Fabien says some of these marine mammals have been diagnosed with breast cancer, which may be caused by the chemicals they're ingesting. If you don't care, you should. Fabien says this pollution will eventually come back to haunt humans and find its way onto our dinner plates.

"The pesticides that you spray on your dandelions run off into the oceans and end up in the food chain, which ends up back in our plates," he says. "It's a closed system. Everything's connected. We're all connected with the planet in very fundamental ways."

Fabien says the Pacific Ocean garbage swirl isn't unique. In fact, every ocean and many major rivers have them. "This one happens to be the largest one," he says. Fabien says that when we protect the seas, we protect ourselves. "The ocean belongs to all of us, but there's no single entity or no single nation that's there to protect it," he says. "We need to be able to network and really all care about it and all protect the oceans."

If not for yourself, do it for your children. "You wouldn't let a child open up a cabinet under the sink and start tasting the chemicals down there," Fabien says. "So why would you dump those chemicals down the drain and have them end up on your plate, which you then feed to your child?"

To start making a difference, Fabien suggests signing yourself and your children up for local ecological programs. Want to do more? [|Find more earth-friendly resources!]

[|Learn more about what //really// happens to your trash]

Related Resources that have ideas on how to reduce waste. Also leads to more links. Related Links
 * [|Find ocean pollution resources] [[image:http://static.oprah.com/images/global/global_arrows_calltoaction_5x8.gif width="5" height="8"]]
 * [|More ways you can go green!] [[image:http://static.oprah.com/images/global/global_arrows_calltoaction_5x8.gif width="5" height="8"]]
 * [[image:http://static.oprah.com/images/global/global_arrows_calltoaction_5x8.gif link="http://www.oprah.com/slideshow/world/environment/slideshow1_ss_action_grocery_350"]] Green Groceries
 * [[image:http://static.oprah.com/images/global/global_arrows_calltoaction_5x8.gif link="http://www.oprah.com/article/omagazine/omag_200802_eco"]] Saving the Planet
 * [[image:http://static.oprah.com/images/global/global_arrows_calltoaction_5x8.gif link="http://www.oprah.com/article/oprahshow/20090422-tows-going-green-resources"]] Going Green
 * [[image:http://static.oprah.com/images/global/global_arrows_calltoaction_5x8.gif link="http://www.oprah.com/article/oprahshow/tows_past_20061205_b"]]Global Warming

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Saving The Planet
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Since 2001, the Swiss-based, not-for-profit **[|**ACT Responsible**]** (Advertising Community Together) has been collecting global green advertising to highlight how it can help address environmental issues. Among its 2,500 ads from 40 countries are [|**these**] = =



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