A Plastic Ocean. Genuinely Terrifying.
Posted by Stephen
Streaming now on Netflix and available through other means, A Plastic Ocean is a terrifying (but well done) feature-length documentary on the rapidly growing crisis in the oceans as a direct result of human impacts.
IB Bio and ESS students will find many curricular connections in this movie, from food webs, water cycles and ocean currents to animal behaviour, biomagnification and endocrinology. Including the impact on human and animal health, this film raises and alarm and shows where we’ve gone wrong. There are some really insightful sections of scientists at work, where we can see “how we know what we know” and what actions are being taken. The final section has some fascinating solutions and actions. Give it a go.
Tanya Streeter, world-record freediver, narrates and is featured in much of the film. Her TEDx Talk tells a similar story.
Ocean plastics have really come into vogue the last couple of years, and it is a safe bet that someone near you is involved in taking action. From beach cleans, reef surveys and cleanups to campaigns to ban single-use plastics (chapeau, Costa Rica), plastic is clearly one of those issues that is indisputably – embarrassingly – human made.
What’s your school doing to reduce the scourge of plastic?
Final morning of #EcoClub camp to Shiraishi Island. Working with local fishermen to get rid of the #bigspringbeachclean trash. #CAinspires pic.twitter.com/G4pobUxoD0
— Stephen Taylor (@sjtylr) April 16, 2017
Fun morning #beachclean with @mcsuk & @sascampaigns at Saltburn. I'll try the survey sheets with #EcoClub in Japan next time. #oceanaction pic.twitter.com/SGGmWYwCBS
— Stephen Taylor (@sjtylr) July 8, 2017
This 30-Foot Ship Made of Plastic Has a Foreboding Message About Our Trash https://t.co/Ij6oCy4l6w @onegreenplanet #PlasticFreeCoastlines
— SurfersAgainstSewage (@sascampaigns) August 16, 2017
Let's work together to make single-use plastic water bottles a thing of the past. https://t.co/4GPJTSQbpE pic.twitter.com/ESg4zaLfpx
— Surfrider Foundation (@Surfrider) August 28, 2017
Outrageous⚠️ Every second an amount of #plastic the size of this 10m whale enters the ocean. Remember to reduce, reuse & recycle! #oceanhero pic.twitter.com/6pvpzNC9vY
— MCSUK (@mcsuk) August 29, 2017
We know there's trash in the ocean, but why is plastic #MarineDebris so common? Learn more on #TrashTalkTuesday https://t.co/cSWqam2JGw pic.twitter.com/lbhzRm4P6H
— NOAA Marine Debris (@NOAADebris) August 22, 2017