Ioli Georgakopoulou

Professor Cuddy

English 119

10\10/2019

A Plastic Ocean

“A Plastic Ocean” is a documentary directed by an Australian journalist Graig

Leeson, based on the devastation plastic has caused our environment especially to our

oceans'. The reason why Graig started this documentary is because of his big love for the blue

whale, the largest ocean animal on the planet he claims. During this adventure, he discovered

a huge amount of microplastics floating in the middle of the Indian Ocean. Alongside this

adventure was Tanya Streeter an environmental activist and they talk about how the usage of

plastic builds up over the years and the harm it is currently causing not only the ocean but

future generations. This research is carried out through travels to different countries with

serious problems due to the large accumulation of plastic and talk to experts. The

documentary uses facts, scientist, and the lives of real people to express the harm plastic is

causing the environment.

In the last 10 years, we have made more plastic than we did in the century before that

and half of the plastic products are “disposable”. The two explorers present tough facts and

images that would produce an emotional response in their audience. Their primary audience

is people who care about the environment and want to learn more about how they can help to

fix this mess. In reality, this issue concerns the whole world as everyone is a member of this

planet. They show examples that describe how much plastic and rubbish humans have
collected and dumped into the ocean. There is also evidence that all this plastic is seen as

food to many animals. When they cut open the dead animals and the only thing you can see is

plastic. Every single person uses 300 pounds or 136 kilos of single-use plastic and at the

same time, the U.S. alone throws away 38 billion bottles every year, 2 million tons of plastic.

Moreover, in this documentary, everyone can see whales and other fish dying because they

cannot breathe as a result of all the plastic they have in their system. Inside the whales they

found six square meters of plastic, as a result, its digestive system blocked.

Furthermore, they came into contact with many scientists like Lindsay Porter,

Professor Maria Fossi, Research Specialist Bonnie Monteleone, Dr. Michael Gonsor and

many more. They estimate that there are more than a trillion pieces of plastic floating in our

oceans that range from small to large pieces. Αlso with their collaboration with the

photographer Michael Pitts, with beautiful shots of the marine environment, people can see

how many tons of plastic is inside the ocean and on the coast. We can see that not only do

fish suffer but also heavily polluted cities. Due to the canals in the sea, the garbage ends up

there. There were also pictures with many dead birds because they often made the mistake of

thinking floating plastic is food. When small pieces of plastic are ingested, many toxins are

released and passed into the bloodstream and then around the vatical organs. These toxins can

end up on our lunch tables because we eat seafood and seafood can cause many health

problems like cancer and immune system problems. Those pictures and information sent the

message that our options and our actions can affect the planet.

Additionally, the documentary offered some ideas that people can implement to

protect the environment from plastic. There is no immediate solution to getting rid of the

plastic but there are many ways to reduce it in our lives by using other materials and

recycling whenever possible. Also, for that plastic that you can not recycle, there is a new
technology that will allow you to use it twice. In Germany, there are machines that you can

put your bottle and it can recognize the ticket and put it in the right place to recycle.

In conclusion, the whole planet is where we live, plastic doesn’t just disappear, it will

end up somewhere and most of that time it will be in the ocean. The ocean is everyone's

living space, this planet is governed by blue space. The world truly is mostly made up of blue

space and as humans, we are just seen as passengers on this earth. Also, people should not

forget that they are not only destroying us but the animals live too. Therefore people should

learn about those serious issues happening on Earth because knowing comes caring and from

caring comes change.

 Cites

https://www.netflix.com/watch/80164032?trackId=13752289&tctx=0%2C0%2Cbfd1fe1ac23580c252c4a

d47121eb16597db52db%3Ab74fd98c3c719e0fe73a7768f62dbd26596216c5%2C%2C