'It is better to light a candle than curse the darkness' Proverb

Sunday 17 June 2018

Mini Film Review: A Plastic Ocean


This movie follows journalist and filmmaker Craig Leeson (who also directs this film) and world record free-diver Tanya Streeter as they travel around the world looking at the impact of plastic found in our oceans.  It starts with Craig Leeson first seeing large amounts of plastic in the ocean when filming a documentary on blue whales and then looks at why and how it gets to the ocean, the effects it is having on the marine ecosystem, and the effects it is having on us.

I was aware of the issue of plastic in our oceans and on us before watching this film, but this was a real eye opener as to just how bad it actually is.  Visually seeing the amount of plastic in the ocean and the direct affect it has on the ocean's wildlife has much more of an impact then just reading about it.  The most difficult part for me was watching how plastic floating in the ocean affects seabird chicks, it's not an easy watch at all.  I think for many people the biggest impact will be finding out the how the plastic is getting from the ocean and into us, and how we are ingesting chemicals from plastic when we consume food and drink kept in plastic packaging.

Seeing as this movie was made in 2016 I do find it a little bit disturbing that so little has been done in the intervening year and that, as a society, we're only looking at reducing our plastic rubbish now.  This has definitely been an extra incentive to reduce my plastic consumption and a reminder that we can play a part in every aspect of our lives.  Every time I think of getting something in plastic I will think about those poor chicks.

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