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These are the user uploaded subtitles that are being translated: 1 00:01:34,924 --> 00:01:40,888 [Craig] I remember the first time I saw a picture of a blue whale, 2 00:01:41,013 --> 00:01:45,100 which was in a National Geographic magazine. 3 00:01:47,061 --> 00:01:51,941 A drawing of the whale, and then a tiny human standing beside it. 4 00:01:52,066 --> 00:01:54,485 This thing was bigger than any dinosaur. 5 00:01:58,572 --> 00:01:59,782 And as an eight-year-old, 6 00:01:59,907 --> 00:02:02,801 I couldn't imagine that there was anything that big. 7 00:02:03,702 --> 00:02:10,459 I've followed them since childhood with the absolute design 8 00:02:10,584 --> 00:02:13,420 to go and film them myself at some point. 9 00:02:13,546 --> 00:02:15,798 And that was 40 years later. 10 00:02:32,148 --> 00:02:35,234 Never had a slate before... 11 00:02:35,359 --> 00:02:38,612 [Craig] Dr. Lindsay Porter is a cetacean expert. 12 00:02:39,697 --> 00:02:42,575 And Ben Fogle is a U.K. adventurer. 13 00:02:43,826 --> 00:02:46,245 So, Lindsay, just tell me, what kind of whales 14 00:02:46,370 --> 00:02:48,289 in particular are we looking for? 15 00:02:48,414 --> 00:02:50,040 Today, we're looking for the blue whale. 16 00:02:50,166 --> 00:02:52,877 There are two different types of blue whale we'll see in the area, 17 00:02:53,002 --> 00:02:56,881 - the true blues and pygmy blues. - And how do they differ? 18 00:02:57,006 --> 00:03:01,385 Pygmy blues are slightly smaller than true blue whales. 19 00:03:01,510 --> 00:03:04,597 When you say "slightly smaller," what size are we talking about here? 20 00:03:04,722 --> 00:03:06,265 - Twenty-five meters. - [chuckles] 21 00:03:06,390 --> 00:03:08,726 [Craig] Lindsay has such a depth of knowledge 22 00:03:08,851 --> 00:03:12,354 that she's my first go-to when I've got a question about a whale. 23 00:03:12,479 --> 00:03:16,775 So, as the currents and the waves come in, they create this very productive front, 24 00:03:16,901 --> 00:03:20,237 and this is why we think the animals... the whales, feed here. 25 00:03:20,362 --> 00:03:21,802 So, when you say "productive front," 26 00:03:21,906 --> 00:03:25,743 I imagine krill, food, is being welled up... 27 00:03:25,868 --> 00:03:30,247 [Craig] Ben Fogle rowed a boat across the Atlantic. 28 00:03:30,372 --> 00:03:33,542 And that meant that he had a sense of adventure. 29 00:03:33,667 --> 00:03:35,252 He was a risk-taker. 30 00:03:38,464 --> 00:03:41,258 From the very first day we saw them blowing, 31 00:03:41,383 --> 00:03:44,720 we knew they were there, but they were very hard to reach. 32 00:03:44,845 --> 00:03:46,165 [Lindsay] And fluke up. Oh, nice. 33 00:03:46,180 --> 00:03:50,142 [Craig] These animals can do up to 30 kilometers an hour underwater, 34 00:03:50,267 --> 00:03:52,728 and they can stay underwater for a half an hour 35 00:03:52,853 --> 00:03:54,939 and go in any direction. 36 00:03:56,148 --> 00:03:58,984 When we saw them, we'd follow them, try to get near them, 37 00:03:59,109 --> 00:04:04,031 wait for them to come up again, and then just never see them again. 38 00:04:13,499 --> 00:04:15,876 [Craig] Tell me what I should be listening out for. 39 00:04:16,001 --> 00:04:22,341 For whales, you need to listen for a low-frequency monotone. 40 00:04:22,466 --> 00:04:24,426 And for dolphins... 41 00:04:24,551 --> 00:04:27,096 - Oh, can you hear it right there? That? - [dolphin whistles] 42 00:04:27,221 --> 00:04:28,554 - [Lindsay] The whistles? - [Craig] The high-pitched whistles? 43 00:04:28,555 --> 00:04:30,474 The high-pitched whistling. That's dolphins. 44 00:04:30,599 --> 00:04:32,319 That's the group of dolphins we just passed. 45 00:04:32,351 --> 00:04:35,061 - How far do you think they are? - They'll still be within a kilometer. 46 00:04:35,062 --> 00:04:37,898 - That's a long way to go. - It's a long way. It's a big ocean. 47 00:04:38,023 --> 00:04:39,903 They've got to talk to each other over distance. 48 00:04:39,942 --> 00:04:40,901 That's incredible. 49 00:04:42,695 --> 00:04:46,573 [Craig] We traveled up and down, 50 miles off the coast for two weeks 50 00:04:46,699 --> 00:04:49,201 trying to get close to these animals. 51 00:04:49,326 --> 00:04:53,372 We ran out of time. We started heading back to port... 52 00:04:56,875 --> 00:04:59,503 - Oh, look, look. - [Lindsay] At two o'clock... 53 00:04:59,628 --> 00:05:02,798 another blow. Four. 54 00:05:02,923 --> 00:05:05,718 And it looks like he's going to fluke up... 55 00:05:06,844 --> 00:05:08,679 and dive. 56 00:05:08,804 --> 00:05:11,598 So, he'll probably be down for another ten minutes or so. 57 00:05:11,724 --> 00:05:13,642 Whoosh! 58 00:05:20,149 --> 00:05:21,692 [Craig] They look like freight trains, 59 00:05:21,817 --> 00:05:26,238 like enormous spaceships that just travel effortlessly. 60 00:05:34,538 --> 00:05:37,458 Every piece of them looked like something 61 00:05:37,583 --> 00:05:44,131 I'd seen on a... reengineered on an aircraft or on a supercar. 62 00:05:44,256 --> 00:05:47,843 When they fluke, they arch like that. 63 00:05:47,968 --> 00:05:51,764 Their tail comes up vertically and drops straight in the water, 64 00:05:51,889 --> 00:05:54,600 and you can barely hear a sound. 65 00:06:10,866 --> 00:06:15,871 [Craig] Wow, look at that! [laughs] Wow! 66 00:06:15,996 --> 00:06:19,458 That is just beautiful! 67 00:06:27,549 --> 00:06:30,469 [whistles] 68 00:06:49,196 --> 00:06:51,356 [Craig] It's the first time that we believe that anyone 69 00:06:51,406 --> 00:06:56,203 has ever filmed a juvenile pygmy blue whale underwater. 70 00:07:26,316 --> 00:07:29,486 [Craig] What do you think it's from, Alex? Is it from a ship? 71 00:07:29,611 --> 00:07:31,822 No, it came from a river. 72 00:07:31,947 --> 00:07:35,159 [Craig] We were in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of Sri Lanka, where 73 00:07:35,284 --> 00:07:38,745 there hasn't been any commercial fishing because of the civil war. 74 00:07:38,871 --> 00:07:42,875 The beaches have been closed for up to 30 years. 75 00:07:43,000 --> 00:07:46,712 We thought this was a relatively pristine environment. 76 00:07:51,425 --> 00:07:52,545 [man] Floating on the surface 77 00:07:52,634 --> 00:07:56,513 and a meter below was just this horrible, crappy, 78 00:07:56,638 --> 00:08:01,058 emulsified mess of oil and bits of, you know... 79 00:08:01,268 --> 00:08:03,395 It's horrible, and looking through it, 80 00:08:03,520 --> 00:08:06,690 you could see the tendrils of the net hanging down. 81 00:08:06,815 --> 00:08:10,611 That was certainly one of the most unpleasant dives I've ever done. 82 00:09:18,136 --> 00:09:20,639 [woman] I spent my childhood in the sea. 83 00:09:20,764 --> 00:09:22,015 Growing up in Grand Cayman, 84 00:09:22,140 --> 00:09:24,893 we didn't have organized sports after school. 85 00:09:25,018 --> 00:09:30,107 We didn't even have a TV until I was 13, so the sea was my playground. 86 00:09:32,943 --> 00:09:35,529 As a free-diver, it was the place where... 87 00:09:35,654 --> 00:09:41,159 I proved myself to myself by traveling to the absolute edge of myself. 88 00:09:43,036 --> 00:09:45,497 [inhales] 89 00:09:45,622 --> 00:09:48,959 [exhales] 90 00:09:49,084 --> 00:09:52,296 [Tanya] I need to put as much oxygen in my blood as possible 91 00:09:52,421 --> 00:09:55,674 so that I can hold my breath for the three-and-a-half to four minutes 92 00:09:55,799 --> 00:09:57,217 that the dive is gonna take me. 93 00:09:57,342 --> 00:09:59,886 [inhales air] 94 00:10:10,188 --> 00:10:12,316 [Tanya] Five-hundred and twenty-five feet is beyond 95 00:10:12,441 --> 00:10:15,319 the crushing depth of Second World War submarines. 96 00:10:33,920 --> 00:10:38,133 In pushing so hard, I learned about limits. 97 00:10:40,385 --> 00:10:43,805 I've got a fiery redhead, and she redefines my limits every day. 98 00:10:43,930 --> 00:10:44,931 [audience laughing] 99 00:10:46,558 --> 00:10:47,559 Finally for me, 100 00:10:47,684 --> 00:10:51,688 it feels like there's a point to this bizarre gift I have 101 00:10:51,813 --> 00:10:54,483 of "looking pretty and holding my breath." 102 00:10:54,608 --> 00:10:57,986 I have the opportunity to pay the sea back... 103 00:10:58,111 --> 00:11:00,155 but I'm learning on my feet. 104 00:11:01,907 --> 00:11:05,327 I didn't know that in the last ten years, 105 00:11:05,452 --> 00:11:10,123 we've made more plastic than we did in the century before that. 106 00:11:10,248 --> 00:11:14,753 Half of those plastic products are considered "disposable." 107 00:11:14,878 --> 00:11:15,921 But think about it. 108 00:11:16,046 --> 00:11:20,634 How can a disposable product be made of a material that's indestructible? 109 00:11:20,759 --> 00:11:21,885 Where does it go? 110 00:11:22,010 --> 00:11:24,846 [indistinct chatters] 111 00:11:30,310 --> 00:11:35,065 [Tanya] This is a Bryde's whale. It's dying, taking its final breaths. 112 00:11:35,190 --> 00:11:36,525 [woman] Oh, my God. 113 00:11:36,650 --> 00:11:41,138 [Tanya] It was found to have six square meters of plastic sheeting inside it. 114 00:11:41,263 --> 00:11:43,865 It couldn't eat and it died of malnourishment. 115 00:11:43,990 --> 00:11:49,079 Its digestive system was blocked and it died a terrible, painful death. 116 00:12:06,888 --> 00:12:08,098 That's got a hole in it. 117 00:12:08,223 --> 00:12:10,392 This is all some of the rubbish that we found 118 00:12:10,517 --> 00:12:14,771 in the floating jetsam and flotsam in the ocean. 119 00:12:14,896 --> 00:12:16,314 We'll get Ben to go through it, 120 00:12:16,440 --> 00:12:19,276 but there's even a pack of unopened biscuits. 121 00:12:19,401 --> 00:12:24,281 You can see it's been there for some time, the mollusks that are growing off it. 122 00:12:24,406 --> 00:12:27,367 There's crabs. There's a crab in there, have a look. 123 00:12:30,787 --> 00:12:32,622 So, quite extraordinary. 124 00:12:32,747 --> 00:12:36,293 - [man 1] Another one. - [man 2] Another one. Down here. 125 00:12:36,418 --> 00:12:38,418 [Craig] The detritus that's built up in these areas 126 00:12:38,462 --> 00:12:42,215 where they don't have the benefit of getting rid of the rubbish. 127 00:12:42,340 --> 00:12:44,342 Well, we're about 20 miles offshore. 128 00:12:44,468 --> 00:12:48,180 It's been trapped in the river mouth and now it's all flushed out into sea. 129 00:12:48,305 --> 00:12:49,931 This is one of the main areas 130 00:12:50,056 --> 00:12:51,936 where we're hunting for the blue whales to film, 131 00:12:51,975 --> 00:12:54,269 so this is right in their environment. 132 00:12:54,394 --> 00:12:57,230 They feed by opening their mouth 133 00:12:57,355 --> 00:12:59,566 and just sucking up whatever's in their path. 134 00:12:59,691 --> 00:13:03,236 They take in hundreds of gallons of water, 135 00:13:03,361 --> 00:13:06,823 they express that water, and they feed off the krill and tiny fish. 136 00:13:06,948 --> 00:13:10,827 But they can't tell the difference between krill and plastic. 137 00:13:10,952 --> 00:13:12,829 Disposable lighters. 138 00:13:12,954 --> 00:13:14,831 Just... you know, this is never gonna degrade. 139 00:13:14,956 --> 00:13:18,168 These are gonna be floating there for... a very long time. 140 00:13:18,293 --> 00:13:20,504 They'll break down to very small particles, 141 00:13:20,629 --> 00:13:24,591 and that's if some large marine mammal doesn't come along and swallow them whole. 142 00:13:24,716 --> 00:13:27,677 It's got nowhere to go. This is where it lives now. 143 00:13:29,262 --> 00:13:34,809 Well, to contrast that area of affected ocean by those plastics 144 00:13:34,935 --> 00:13:38,688 with the virgin blue water that you find very close by, 145 00:13:38,813 --> 00:13:40,273 well, there's just no comparison. 146 00:13:40,398 --> 00:13:44,611 The animals of the world deserve the blue ocean, not that sort of shit. 147 00:13:44,736 --> 00:13:48,823 [Craig] I started to wonder what's happening in oceans 148 00:13:48,949 --> 00:13:50,325 elsewhere on the planet. 149 00:14:35,704 --> 00:14:39,249 [Tanya] Sixty-three billion gallons of oil are used every year 150 00:14:39,374 --> 00:14:42,252 just to supply the U.S. with plastic water bottles. 151 00:14:44,880 --> 00:14:49,134 The U.S. alone throws away 38 billion bottles every year. 152 00:14:49,259 --> 00:14:53,096 That's two million tons of plastic going into U.S. landfills, 153 00:14:53,221 --> 00:14:55,807 and that's only from water bottles. 154 00:14:55,932 --> 00:14:58,685 In this year alone, every single person on the planet 155 00:14:58,810 --> 00:15:05,567 will use and dispose about 300 pounds or 136 kilos, of single-use plastic. 156 00:15:05,692 --> 00:15:09,195 [Craig] Plastic is wonderful because it's durable 157 00:15:09,321 --> 00:15:13,158 and plastic is terrible because it is durable. 158 00:15:18,496 --> 00:15:21,082 Almost every piece of plastic ever made 159 00:15:21,207 --> 00:15:25,211 is still on the planet in some form or another. 160 00:15:25,337 --> 00:15:27,255 Plastic production globally this year 161 00:15:27,380 --> 00:15:31,217 is expected to be more than 300 million tons. 162 00:15:31,343 --> 00:15:35,388 Half of which we'll use just once and then throw away. 163 00:15:35,513 --> 00:15:40,101 By 2050, when the population explodes to almost ten billion people, 164 00:15:40,226 --> 00:15:43,730 it's expected that plastic production will triple. 165 00:15:43,855 --> 00:15:47,025 The problem with that is... is that today, only a fraction 166 00:15:47,150 --> 00:15:50,695 of the plastic that we produce is recycled. 167 00:15:50,820 --> 00:15:52,948 The rest ends up in our environment 168 00:15:53,073 --> 00:15:57,786 and it's coating our land and our oceans like a disease. 169 00:16:10,757 --> 00:16:15,387 [Craig] Tasmania smells like freshness. It smells like salt spray. 170 00:16:16,388 --> 00:16:19,015 Primitive. It just smells natural. 171 00:16:20,433 --> 00:16:24,187 It has the cleanest air and water measured anywhere on the planet. 172 00:16:29,442 --> 00:16:32,988 The ocean to me, is my church, it's my temple, 173 00:16:33,113 --> 00:16:36,449 it's my synagogue, it's my mosque. 174 00:16:36,574 --> 00:16:38,535 It's where I feel the most spiritual. 175 00:16:38,660 --> 00:16:42,664 It's where I go to work, where I go for my enjoyment, 176 00:16:42,789 --> 00:16:44,290 and where I go to think. 177 00:16:44,416 --> 00:16:47,961 And it's also the environment that challenges me 178 00:16:48,086 --> 00:16:50,630 more than any other environment that I know. 179 00:16:59,889 --> 00:17:02,559 Growing up, my world was... 180 00:17:03,685 --> 00:17:05,603 exploring the rock pools... 181 00:17:06,938 --> 00:17:11,192 tiny little fish that I could catch and study and release a day later. 182 00:17:14,612 --> 00:17:18,366 My mother was very caring and very supportive 183 00:17:18,491 --> 00:17:20,618 of anything that we wanted to do. 184 00:17:20,744 --> 00:17:25,707 And she picked up very early on, I think, my fascination with wildlife. 185 00:17:27,500 --> 00:17:30,462 I'm fourth-generation journalist. 186 00:17:30,587 --> 00:17:32,797 It's believed he's heading to Moscow. 187 00:17:32,922 --> 00:17:36,301 We're on a truck taking rice down to Santa Fe. 188 00:17:36,426 --> 00:17:39,721 Okay, it's not live, is it? Hang on, wait, wait! Whoa! 189 00:17:39,846 --> 00:17:44,559 Further outside Katmandu you travel the worse it seems the damage becomes. 190 00:17:44,684 --> 00:17:49,647 Small villages like this one, Sankhu stood no chance against the moving earth. 191 00:17:49,773 --> 00:17:53,359 These rescue teams have been unable to access inside this city. 192 00:17:57,197 --> 00:18:00,492 [Craig] The town that I grew up in was an industrial town. 193 00:18:02,243 --> 00:18:06,247 I remember coming out after training from the surf lifesaving club, 194 00:18:06,372 --> 00:18:10,460 where I was a member, with just stinging red eyes. 195 00:18:10,585 --> 00:18:12,128 So, when I worked for the newspaper, 196 00:18:12,253 --> 00:18:15,298 I wanted to investigate what was causing that. 197 00:18:15,423 --> 00:18:18,093 We started doing testing on the water in Emu Bay 198 00:18:18,218 --> 00:18:22,972 and what we found was that there were these heavy amounts of organochlorines 199 00:18:23,098 --> 00:18:26,684 and these contain dioxins which are cancer-causing agents. 200 00:18:26,810 --> 00:18:29,437 - [helicopter whirs] - I put this to the government of Tasmania 201 00:18:29,562 --> 00:18:33,149 and they admitted for the first time that these dioxins existed, 202 00:18:33,274 --> 00:18:35,444 and that they were dangerous. 203 00:18:35,569 --> 00:18:39,464 Within ten years, all of those industries had closed, and 204 00:18:39,489 --> 00:18:42,033 today the fish are back in the water. 205 00:18:42,158 --> 00:18:46,037 The water is blue again, and it's a very beautiful city. 206 00:19:03,388 --> 00:19:06,850 We think that when we put something in the trash 207 00:19:06,975 --> 00:19:11,896 or when we just toss it from a boat or on a beach, that it "goes away." 208 00:19:12,021 --> 00:19:14,357 Ah! [stammers] We're now free of the plastic. 209 00:19:17,819 --> 00:19:22,282 [Tanya] Over 80 percent of ocean plastic leaks from land-based sources. 210 00:19:24,993 --> 00:19:27,245 Even if you don't live near the ocean, 211 00:19:27,370 --> 00:19:31,291 chances are your plastic garbage has found its way to the sea. 212 00:19:34,419 --> 00:19:38,131 The Great Lakes in North America are a good example. 213 00:19:38,256 --> 00:19:40,466 Eighty percent of the litter along the shorelines 214 00:19:40,592 --> 00:19:43,303 of these majestic lakes is plastic. 215 00:19:44,512 --> 00:19:48,474 What trash doesn't remain on the shoreline or sink into the lake sediment 216 00:19:48,600 --> 00:19:50,768 flows through the canals and river system 217 00:19:50,894 --> 00:19:55,023 through the St. Lawrence Seaway and into the Atlantic Ocean. 218 00:19:55,148 --> 00:19:57,734 These great lakes are just one example. 219 00:19:57,859 --> 00:20:01,487 This level of plastic debris is found all around the world. 220 00:20:08,703 --> 00:20:11,247 Thousands of years of agriculture and industry 221 00:20:11,372 --> 00:20:16,419 have made the Med one of the most polluted bodies of water on the planet. 222 00:20:16,544 --> 00:20:19,088 About eight million tons of plastic is dumped 223 00:20:19,214 --> 00:20:21,758 into the world's oceans every year. 224 00:20:21,883 --> 00:20:25,678 More than 50 percent of marine debris, including plastic, 225 00:20:25,803 --> 00:20:27,180 sinks to the bottom of the ocean. 226 00:20:30,016 --> 00:20:32,602 - Ahoy! - Hello, Mike! 227 00:20:32,727 --> 00:20:34,604 - Hey, Popov. - Welcome aboard. 228 00:20:34,729 --> 00:20:35,730 - Good to see you. - Yeah. 229 00:20:35,855 --> 00:20:39,275 [Tanya] I met up with filmmaker, Mike deGruy, a marine biologist 230 00:20:39,400 --> 00:20:42,070 and also an experienced submersible pilot. 231 00:20:47,408 --> 00:20:51,454 [Tanya] It'll be interesting to see just how far-reaching it really is. 232 00:20:51,579 --> 00:20:53,248 To be this far offshore 233 00:20:53,373 --> 00:20:58,711 and see whether the plastic that we know is coming from that direction 234 00:20:58,836 --> 00:21:02,590 is winding up out in the depths out here, right? 235 00:21:02,715 --> 00:21:07,470 I'm really looking forward to, of course diving the sub in the Med, 236 00:21:07,595 --> 00:21:11,432 a place that has more fishing impact than most bodies of water on the planet. 237 00:21:14,602 --> 00:21:17,063 [squeaks] 238 00:21:34,747 --> 00:21:37,250 [speaks in French] 239 00:21:46,926 --> 00:21:50,555 Hey, Mike, it's Tanya. Can you tell me what you're seeing down there? 240 00:21:52,807 --> 00:21:54,058 [Mike] You turn the light on, 241 00:21:54,183 --> 00:21:56,019 and you're descending through these particles. 242 00:22:07,030 --> 00:22:09,907 Well, welcome to the bottom of the ocean, Tanya. 243 00:22:10,033 --> 00:22:13,703 [Mike] I wish you were down here watching this operation. 244 00:22:15,038 --> 00:22:17,290 If you weren't hogging the sub, I would be down there. 245 00:22:17,415 --> 00:22:20,293 [submarine whirs] 246 00:22:20,418 --> 00:22:23,087 So, we're just under five meters now. 247 00:22:25,006 --> 00:22:28,551 Almost 1200... About 1200 feet. 248 00:22:28,676 --> 00:22:32,722 - And a plastic bottle. - You see a plastic bottle. Exactly. 249 00:22:34,724 --> 00:22:38,394 We're now starting to see more and more plastic. 250 00:22:38,519 --> 00:22:42,648 More and more tires and pieces of metal, 251 00:22:42,774 --> 00:22:47,862 and just absolutely disregard for the bottom, really. 252 00:22:47,987 --> 00:22:49,947 It's just junk everywhere. 253 00:22:59,582 --> 00:23:04,504 Fishing line is a really dangerous thing to see in a submarine. 254 00:23:04,629 --> 00:23:08,633 You can get entangled in it and stuck to the bottom. Not a good thing. 255 00:23:10,885 --> 00:23:13,221 Tanya, this is Remora. 256 00:23:13,346 --> 00:23:19,018 We are right in front of a pretty good-sized bundle of plastic. 257 00:23:20,019 --> 00:23:24,482 Is there any chance that you can grab some of it with the manipulator? 258 00:23:24,607 --> 00:23:27,985 [Mike] That's exactly what we're going to do. 259 00:23:43,000 --> 00:23:46,671 [Tanya] It looks like a lift bag. Could it be a lift bag? 260 00:23:46,796 --> 00:23:47,713 It's a what? 261 00:23:47,839 --> 00:23:50,258 [men speaking in French] 262 00:23:52,635 --> 00:23:55,721 [Tanya] We saw unexploded bombs, old parachutes, 263 00:23:55,847 --> 00:23:57,515 and plenty of plastic rubbish. 264 00:23:57,640 --> 00:24:00,309 [machine whirs] 265 00:24:02,395 --> 00:24:05,982 Our scientists commissioned a small, remotely-operated vehicle 266 00:24:06,107 --> 00:24:09,694 to travel over a mile and a half down to the deep trenches. 267 00:24:21,455 --> 00:24:23,583 The ROV is coming down. 268 00:24:23,708 --> 00:24:26,586 - [Popov] There they are. - [Mike] Which is kind of cool. 269 00:24:47,064 --> 00:24:49,901 [Tanya] Here, where the daylight never reaches, 270 00:24:50,026 --> 00:24:54,363 the eddies and currents have collected scores of plastic bottles. 271 00:24:56,073 --> 00:24:59,076 This plastic could remain here forever. 272 00:25:32,360 --> 00:25:36,572 You go down, you know, 350, 375 meters, 273 00:25:36,697 --> 00:25:40,493 hit bottom, start moving around, and immediately start seeing trash. 274 00:25:40,618 --> 00:25:42,453 - Plastic? - Plastic. 275 00:25:42,578 --> 00:25:46,749 Where in the world can you go anymore and not find plastic? 276 00:25:51,212 --> 00:25:56,676 [Tanya] Our oceans are driven by five major circular currents, or "gyres." 277 00:25:56,801 --> 00:26:01,889 These are created by the earth's rotation and the resulting predominant winds. 278 00:26:02,014 --> 00:26:05,518 Each continent is affected by these massive systems. 279 00:26:05,643 --> 00:26:08,938 They collect waste flowing from our rivers and coastlines, 280 00:26:09,063 --> 00:26:11,816 and over time, anything floating within the gyre 281 00:26:11,941 --> 00:26:15,069 will eventually move towards the center of the gyre. 282 00:26:25,371 --> 00:26:27,999 [Craig] Our producer, Jo Ruxton, was familiar with the story 283 00:26:28,124 --> 00:26:31,544 about a huge, floating island of garbage 284 00:26:31,669 --> 00:26:34,964 twice the size of Texas in the North Pacific. 285 00:26:37,425 --> 00:26:40,261 Jo joined Dr. Andrea Neal and her team 286 00:26:40,386 --> 00:26:44,223 on an expedition to this Great Pacific Garbage Patch. 287 00:26:44,348 --> 00:26:46,392 So, we're deploying the manta trawl, 288 00:26:46,517 --> 00:26:49,937 and we're going to look for fine particulates and debris. 289 00:26:50,062 --> 00:26:54,483 This mesh here is 333 microns, which is in the size range of zooplankton. 290 00:26:56,402 --> 00:26:59,322 [Craig] The manta trawl captures material on the surface. 291 00:26:59,447 --> 00:27:04,368 It will take anything the size of a pinhead or larger. 292 00:27:05,911 --> 00:27:09,832 Looking out over the vast expanse of clear, sparkling water, 293 00:27:09,957 --> 00:27:12,585 there is no plastic in sight. 294 00:27:12,710 --> 00:27:14,879 [indistinct chatter] 295 00:27:18,507 --> 00:27:21,969 [Craig] The contents of the trawl are emptied and floated. 296 00:27:22,094 --> 00:27:26,349 The tiny pieces of plastic then reveal themselves to Jo and Dr. Neal. 297 00:27:28,642 --> 00:27:30,853 [Andrea] Scientists estimate that there are more than 298 00:27:30,978 --> 00:27:35,775 five trillion pieces of plastic afloat in our oceans worldwide. 299 00:27:39,445 --> 00:27:42,073 [Craig] There is no "floating island" of plastic. 300 00:27:42,198 --> 00:27:45,576 What exists is far more insidious. 301 00:27:45,701 --> 00:27:49,663 What exists is a kind of "plastic smog." 302 00:27:49,789 --> 00:27:52,041 These tiny pieces of plastic that are floating 303 00:27:52,166 --> 00:27:55,836 on the surface of the ocean come from larger pieces. 304 00:27:57,046 --> 00:28:01,217 Over time, the sun's ultraviolet light, ocean wave action, and salt, 305 00:28:01,342 --> 00:28:05,513 break it up into smaller pieces called "microplastics." 306 00:28:06,722 --> 00:28:09,934 Microplastics have rough, pitted surfaces. 307 00:28:12,186 --> 00:28:14,438 Waterborne chemicals from industry and agriculture 308 00:28:14,563 --> 00:28:18,192 stick to microplastics, making them toxic poison pills. 309 00:29:00,276 --> 00:29:01,944 There are five ocean gyres, 310 00:29:02,069 --> 00:29:05,531 and the South Pacific is one of the least studied 311 00:29:05,656 --> 00:29:06,824 next to the Indian Ocean. 312 00:29:06,949 --> 00:29:10,870 I've been to three of the five gyres, so this will be my number four. 313 00:29:10,995 --> 00:29:13,831 - So, let's go fishing for plastic. - All right, let's do it. 314 00:29:13,956 --> 00:29:18,252 [Bonnie] My first study was done in the North Atlantic in 2009. 315 00:29:18,377 --> 00:29:24,049 We took a series of seven samples and by weight, we then estimated 316 00:29:24,175 --> 00:29:30,139 that the North Atlantic had 3,440 metric tons 317 00:29:30,264 --> 00:29:33,684 of just microplastics. We're not even including the larger plastics. 318 00:29:34,977 --> 00:29:36,312 Seems really heavy. 319 00:29:38,898 --> 00:29:42,109 - Maybe we caught a coconut. - [chuckles] 320 00:29:42,234 --> 00:29:44,034 - Aw, that's... Wow, look at that. - Oh, yeah. 321 00:29:44,069 --> 00:29:45,949 [Bonnie] You can see how well this device works. 322 00:29:46,030 --> 00:29:47,322 - [Craig] Yeah. - It collects everything. 323 00:29:47,323 --> 00:29:50,034 [Craig] They look like they've just broken off something. 324 00:29:50,159 --> 00:29:53,496 - Yeah, I mean... - They're very tiny. Look at this. 325 00:29:53,621 --> 00:29:55,998 Michael, I think we've found our first "nurdle." 326 00:29:56,123 --> 00:29:58,209 - Exactly what that is. - Preproduction pellets. 327 00:29:58,334 --> 00:30:00,836 Those things float all around the world, don't they? 328 00:30:00,961 --> 00:30:04,006 - Right. What does it look like to you? - It looks like a little egg. 329 00:30:10,930 --> 00:30:15,392 [Craig] The sea at night is one of my favorite times. 330 00:30:15,518 --> 00:30:18,062 It's when the ocean truly comes alive 331 00:30:18,187 --> 00:30:20,898 and you can virtually see the food chain in action. 332 00:30:29,156 --> 00:30:33,702 Zooplankton feed on phytoplankton. Small fish feed on zooplankton. 333 00:30:33,828 --> 00:30:35,371 Squid feed on small fish, 334 00:30:35,496 --> 00:30:38,457 and so it goes on, up and up the food chain. 335 00:30:57,852 --> 00:31:00,019 - [man] There are some myctophids in there. - [Craig] Oh, wow. 336 00:31:00,020 --> 00:31:02,439 Well, shall we get them on the table and open them up 337 00:31:02,565 --> 00:31:04,650 and have a look and see what's in there? 338 00:31:04,775 --> 00:31:06,055 [man] We'll start with this guy. 339 00:31:09,655 --> 00:31:13,909 - That's something hard right here. - Yeah, what's that? 340 00:31:17,997 --> 00:31:20,207 [birds chirp] 341 00:31:20,332 --> 00:31:23,168 This is the very first sample we did, and it was a night trawl, 342 00:31:23,294 --> 00:31:24,712 so we could catch lantern fish. 343 00:31:24,837 --> 00:31:28,966 After I dried the sample, I handpicked the pieces of plastic. 344 00:31:29,091 --> 00:31:31,302 This is what we found. 345 00:31:31,427 --> 00:31:34,138 So, what this means is the feeding that's occurring 346 00:31:34,263 --> 00:31:38,017 on the surface of the ocean has these plastic fragments floating around, 347 00:31:38,142 --> 00:31:40,352 and is actually intermixing in the food chain. 348 00:31:40,477 --> 00:31:42,771 You know that plastic doesn't degrade. 349 00:31:42,897 --> 00:31:44,732 Most of the time we say it breaks down 350 00:31:44,857 --> 00:31:47,943 but that's probably not an accurate way to say it. 351 00:31:48,068 --> 00:31:51,405 It actually breaks up so it's more, um, proliferated. 352 00:31:51,530 --> 00:31:56,160 And when it's proliferated, there's more opportunities for plastics to be ingested. 353 00:31:56,285 --> 00:32:00,289 Many of the marine creatures eating this kind of plastic are in our food chain. 354 00:32:00,414 --> 00:32:03,626 Does that mean, then, that this plastic is getting inside of us? 355 00:32:03,751 --> 00:32:07,171 The problem is, these plastics adsorb chemicals 356 00:32:07,296 --> 00:32:08,736 that are free-floating in the ocean. 357 00:32:08,797 --> 00:32:15,179 So when the fish eat the plastics, those toxins then migrate from the plastic 358 00:32:15,304 --> 00:32:18,390 into the muscles or the fats, the parts that we like to eat in fish. 359 00:32:18,515 --> 00:32:21,352 Building up in the fish then as they eat more and more of them. 360 00:32:21,477 --> 00:32:23,729 And so, that's the part we like to eat, 361 00:32:23,854 --> 00:32:26,815 and that's where these chemicals migrate to. 362 00:32:35,032 --> 00:32:36,659 [rooster crowing] 363 00:32:51,799 --> 00:32:53,801 [indistinct chatter] 364 00:32:53,926 --> 00:32:56,303 [woman] Big crab. Nice. 365 00:32:56,428 --> 00:32:57,638 Oh! 366 00:32:57,763 --> 00:32:59,223 It's a prawn, eh? 367 00:33:00,849 --> 00:33:03,560 [laughs] 368 00:33:25,958 --> 00:33:29,211 - Hello, Rosie. How are you? - Hi. 369 00:33:29,336 --> 00:33:32,673 - Hi, Bula. - Hi. Bula, Salota. 370 00:33:32,798 --> 00:33:33,966 Dinner. What are we cooking? 371 00:33:34,091 --> 00:33:37,845 We're having taro leaves with fish in coconut milk. 372 00:33:37,970 --> 00:33:39,637 That's a very traditional Fijian village dinner. 373 00:33:39,638 --> 00:33:41,348 Yes, it is. Yes, it is. 374 00:33:41,473 --> 00:33:43,976 It smells really good except for the smoke. 375 00:33:44,101 --> 00:33:46,812 - Yeah, really making my eyes water. - Yeah. 376 00:33:47,855 --> 00:33:51,650 - Did you light your fire using plastics? - Always, yes. 377 00:33:51,775 --> 00:33:54,987 And you do that every time you cook food? 378 00:33:55,112 --> 00:33:56,405 Three times a day. 379 00:33:56,530 --> 00:33:58,449 Instead of buying kerosene, 380 00:33:58,574 --> 00:34:01,035 you use plastic because it's easier to burn. 381 00:34:01,160 --> 00:34:03,871 - Much cheaper, easier to find, it's free. - Much more cheaper. 382 00:34:03,996 --> 00:34:05,622 Very much. And it's free. 383 00:34:05,748 --> 00:34:07,041 I'm feeling that in my eyes. 384 00:34:07,166 --> 00:34:09,793 Do you feel [stammers] that affects you in any way? 385 00:34:09,918 --> 00:34:14,590 You start having problems in breathing and you have problems in coughing. 386 00:34:14,715 --> 00:34:19,470 And sometimes you can have headache. But we... 387 00:34:19,595 --> 00:34:21,638 It doesn't really bother us. 388 00:34:21,764 --> 00:34:24,349 Because, like, we've used that for a long time. 389 00:34:24,475 --> 00:34:26,685 - So you're used to it. Yeah. - We're used to it. 390 00:34:26,810 --> 00:34:30,189 Whereas I'm not, which is why I'm crying right now. [chuckles] 391 00:34:30,314 --> 00:34:32,357 And I hope you're not crying because of me. 392 00:34:32,483 --> 00:34:35,360 There's no chance. I'm crying because I won't get to try this food. 393 00:34:35,486 --> 00:34:38,822 What I'd like to do is bring back a scientist if we can 394 00:34:38,947 --> 00:34:41,075 and do some measurements on the smoke 395 00:34:41,200 --> 00:34:44,953 and just see what kind of chemicals are being released 396 00:34:45,079 --> 00:34:46,538 from the plastics as you cook. 397 00:34:46,663 --> 00:34:49,958 - [stammers] Would you let us do that? - Yes, of course. 398 00:34:50,084 --> 00:34:52,724 [Craig] We can have a look at maybe some of the health implications 399 00:34:52,836 --> 00:34:54,505 of starting the fires with plastic. 400 00:34:54,630 --> 00:34:55,923 [Rosie] Yes, I think that's a good idea. 401 00:34:57,883 --> 00:35:00,761 [machine whirs] 402 00:35:00,886 --> 00:35:03,263 [Michael] People misuse plastics for a lot of things. 403 00:35:03,388 --> 00:35:04,973 But for cooking, I mean that's... 404 00:35:05,099 --> 00:35:08,393 for me, it's kind of very unusual circumstances. 405 00:35:08,519 --> 00:35:10,771 And we wanna have a baseline study 406 00:35:10,896 --> 00:35:13,941 to show what kind of chemicals we're actually breathing in. 407 00:35:14,066 --> 00:35:17,820 Because the lung is an interface between that air we're breathing in, 408 00:35:17,945 --> 00:35:21,949 plus the smoke and our blood system, and then we get it in our systems. 409 00:35:22,074 --> 00:35:23,951 [Craig] What did we find today then 410 00:35:24,076 --> 00:35:26,036 with the experiment that you did with this device? 411 00:35:26,078 --> 00:35:29,540 I'll show you. These filters are white when you put them in, but... 412 00:35:29,665 --> 00:35:31,750 That's brown, almost black. 413 00:35:31,875 --> 00:35:33,085 - Yeah. - This is a mini lung. 414 00:35:33,210 --> 00:35:34,169 This could be what 415 00:35:34,294 --> 00:35:36,504 - they're absorbing into their lungs. - Yeah, pretty much. 416 00:35:36,505 --> 00:35:39,591 [Craig] This can't be good for your health, can it? 417 00:35:39,716 --> 00:35:42,678 [Michael] What we know specifically from this P.A.H 418 00:35:42,803 --> 00:35:46,056 and a combination of those is that they are cancer-causing. 419 00:35:46,181 --> 00:35:47,516 That's one thing. 420 00:35:48,517 --> 00:35:52,104 But there are also maybe phthalates there which are evaporating from plastics 421 00:35:52,229 --> 00:35:55,357 which have a large percentage of the phthalates in there 422 00:35:55,482 --> 00:35:57,442 to give plastic its properties. 423 00:36:01,071 --> 00:36:04,533 If you breathe them, they have, um, hormone-changing properties, 424 00:36:04,658 --> 00:36:07,161 so-called "endocrine-disrupting properties." 425 00:36:07,286 --> 00:36:10,330 And all... lot of other health effects as well. 426 00:36:13,041 --> 00:36:15,335 [Craig] Professor Sue Jobling is the editor 427 00:36:15,460 --> 00:36:19,923 of the recent World Health Organization report on endocrine disrupters. 428 00:36:21,717 --> 00:36:25,596 Endocrine disruption is disruption of the normal functioning 429 00:36:25,721 --> 00:36:27,639 of the body's hormonal system. 430 00:36:27,764 --> 00:36:31,810 They fool the body into thinking that they are hormones 431 00:36:31,935 --> 00:36:38,400 and then they either block or mimic the action or production of hormones. 432 00:36:38,525 --> 00:36:42,863 And in doing so, they interfere with very many bodily processes... 433 00:36:42,988 --> 00:36:47,868 growth, metabolism, reproduction, and critically, early development. 434 00:36:47,993 --> 00:36:52,623 [Craig] The majority of ocean plastic comes from just six countries. 435 00:37:09,139 --> 00:37:10,432 [woman] RTHK News. 436 00:37:12,476 --> 00:37:13,810 [man] Billions of plastic pellets 437 00:37:13,936 --> 00:37:16,188 have spilled into Hong Kong's southern waters 438 00:37:16,313 --> 00:37:20,692 after several containers fell off a ship when Typhoon Vicente battered Hong Kong. 439 00:37:20,817 --> 00:37:24,738 [Craig] Six containers full of nurdles. All of them broke up in the storm 440 00:37:24,863 --> 00:37:29,368 and disgorged most of their plastic bags into the sea. [helicopter whirs] 441 00:37:29,493 --> 00:37:33,330 The vast majority broke open and the contents spilled out. 442 00:37:51,139 --> 00:37:53,016 Run them through your fingers there. 443 00:37:57,062 --> 00:37:58,562 [Tracey] Just plastic pellets everywhere. Yeah. 444 00:37:58,563 --> 00:37:59,940 It looked like snow on the beach. 445 00:38:01,525 --> 00:38:04,569 [Craig] On the neighboring Lamma Island, they found tons of this stuff 446 00:38:04,695 --> 00:38:06,363 that had come ashore. 447 00:38:06,488 --> 00:38:08,365 It seems the company that made the nurdles 448 00:38:08,490 --> 00:38:11,076 has unwittingly put their signature on her. 449 00:38:11,201 --> 00:38:14,079 Sinopec, a giant Chinese oil company 450 00:38:14,204 --> 00:38:17,291 that makes nurdles for distribution worldwide. 451 00:38:32,347 --> 00:38:36,059 Close by are some other sacks, also ripped open. 452 00:38:36,184 --> 00:38:38,645 The vast majority of them would have been carried off 453 00:38:38,770 --> 00:38:42,441 by the typhoon to disperse their contents far and wide. 454 00:38:45,569 --> 00:38:48,947 [Gary] Four of the six are here, so we've got the one on the top here. 455 00:38:49,072 --> 00:38:51,742 It's the one we found at Beaufort Island. 456 00:38:51,867 --> 00:38:55,620 It's totally destroyed. It's a... It's a 40-foot container. 457 00:38:55,746 --> 00:38:57,914 We've been told it carries a thousand sacks. 458 00:38:58,040 --> 00:39:00,624 - There's still one hasn't been found. - Still one out there somewhere. 459 00:39:00,625 --> 00:39:02,753 There's a million pellets of plastic in these bags. 460 00:39:02,878 --> 00:39:06,757 So, every single bag saves thousands of marine species, 461 00:39:06,882 --> 00:39:08,884 so, every bag counts at this point. 462 00:39:09,009 --> 00:39:10,927 Every day, pellets are getting washed out 463 00:39:11,053 --> 00:39:13,180 and trying to get that sense of urgency across. 464 00:39:13,305 --> 00:39:15,640 [Gary] We put a call to action out on Facebook. 465 00:39:15,766 --> 00:39:18,352 "Go to your local beach, this is what you're looking for." 466 00:39:18,477 --> 00:39:20,395 These are the bags, these are the pellets. 467 00:39:20,520 --> 00:39:23,023 You know, we came up with a rapid action plan. 468 00:39:23,148 --> 00:39:26,985 Get a quick survey of the coast so we can see the bigger picture. 469 00:39:27,110 --> 00:39:29,863 And from that, then we isolated some hot spots. 470 00:39:31,031 --> 00:39:35,035 [Craig] "Which beach, Cheung Chau/Mui Wo, needs more people to help?" 471 00:39:35,160 --> 00:39:36,995 Uh, Beach Number 1. 472 00:39:37,120 --> 00:39:41,041 [Gary] I set up the Facebook page, "Plastic Disaster Hong Kong" 473 00:39:41,166 --> 00:39:45,837 and it went from 80 to a thousand likes in a few hours. 474 00:39:45,962 --> 00:39:49,132 And it became pretty much the one place 475 00:39:49,257 --> 00:39:51,384 where all the information was being posted by everybody. 476 00:39:51,385 --> 00:39:55,138 Even the government were checking it. Sinopec were checking it. 477 00:39:55,263 --> 00:39:59,684 [Craig] Sinopec sent down people from their head office. 478 00:39:59,810 --> 00:40:01,686 They had general managers on the beaches. 479 00:40:01,812 --> 00:40:04,063 [Gary] They have been very responsible. They have been down. 480 00:40:04,064 --> 00:40:07,442 We had an emergency meeting about it. They're very concerned 481 00:40:07,567 --> 00:40:09,068 and they're offering all the assistance they can. 482 00:40:09,069 --> 00:40:11,321 Thanks for helping, guys. Um... 483 00:40:11,446 --> 00:40:14,699 There's some more concentrated pellets down the end there. 484 00:40:15,784 --> 00:40:17,701 [Craig] Once you let people know what the problem is, 485 00:40:17,702 --> 00:40:19,371 people have their own ideas 486 00:40:19,496 --> 00:40:23,583 and can contribute their own ingenuity to help solve the problem. 487 00:40:25,585 --> 00:40:28,839 [Gary] The people of Hong Kong realized the severity of the problem 488 00:40:28,964 --> 00:40:31,299 and just came out in their masses to help. 489 00:40:31,425 --> 00:40:33,802 And that is something that I will never, ever forget. 490 00:40:41,810 --> 00:40:44,271 [speaks in foreign language] 491 00:40:44,396 --> 00:40:47,315 So, this is what they found in the fish farm. 492 00:40:47,441 --> 00:40:51,111 Pellets like this floating in the sea, and then they're found in the bags. 493 00:40:51,236 --> 00:40:53,113 We caught three fish. 494 00:40:53,238 --> 00:40:58,910 They cut them open and each fish had five, six, seven pellets in it. 495 00:40:59,035 --> 00:41:03,540 [speaking in a foreign language] 496 00:41:05,625 --> 00:41:08,378 Because they can't ingest anything? They can't take in any more food? 497 00:41:08,503 --> 00:41:14,426 [speaking in a foreign language] 498 00:41:14,551 --> 00:41:16,761 [Craig] Even the supermarkets won't buy them. 499 00:41:16,887 --> 00:41:18,889 So, it's completely destroyed the local market. 500 00:41:22,184 --> 00:41:25,061 [Tanya] In a recent study published in Scientific Reports, 501 00:41:25,187 --> 00:41:30,066 U.C. Davis researchers examined 76 fish slated for human consumption 502 00:41:30,192 --> 00:41:33,653 in Indonesia, and 64 in California. 503 00:41:33,778 --> 00:41:36,281 They found that in both groups, roughly one quarter 504 00:41:36,406 --> 00:41:39,075 had anthropogenic debris in their guts. 505 00:41:39,201 --> 00:41:42,162 The researchers found plastic in the Indonesian population 506 00:41:42,287 --> 00:41:45,832 and plastic and textile fibers in the American one. 507 00:41:47,167 --> 00:41:49,586 When sampling blue mussels at six locations 508 00:41:49,711 --> 00:41:52,589 along the coastlines of France, Belgium, and Netherlands, 509 00:41:52,714 --> 00:41:58,678 microplastics were present in every single organism examined. 510 00:41:58,803 --> 00:42:02,140 When you eat shellfish, you're often eating the entire animal. 511 00:42:02,265 --> 00:42:04,726 So you're more likely to eat plastic. 512 00:42:28,792 --> 00:42:30,710 [birds chirping] 513 00:42:35,048 --> 00:42:37,300 [Craig] Lord Howe Island is a world heritage site... 514 00:42:40,011 --> 00:42:43,473 and home to migratory seabirds like the shearwaters. 515 00:42:43,598 --> 00:42:46,518 Seabirds are incredibly helpful 516 00:42:46,643 --> 00:42:49,145 because they act like an army of scientists. 517 00:42:49,271 --> 00:42:52,065 They travel thousands of miles across the ocean. 518 00:42:52,190 --> 00:42:54,818 They pick up plastic off the surface of the ocean, 519 00:42:54,943 --> 00:42:58,154 they bring it back to their rookeries where they feed it to their chicks. 520 00:42:58,280 --> 00:43:01,658 And that provides an incredible amount of scientific data 521 00:43:01,783 --> 00:43:04,744 in terms of where the plastic comes from, its distribution, 522 00:43:04,869 --> 00:43:06,830 and how it breaks up on the ocean's surface. 523 00:43:09,749 --> 00:43:12,335 Dr. Jennifer Lavers... 524 00:43:12,460 --> 00:43:17,090 she's devoted her life to studying the plight of seabirds. 525 00:43:18,675 --> 00:43:21,970 [shearwaters chirp] 526 00:43:22,095 --> 00:43:24,264 Shearwaters are incredible birds. 527 00:43:24,389 --> 00:43:27,892 They migrate thousands of miles, stopping only here to breed. 528 00:43:31,021 --> 00:43:33,690 All species of shearwater nest in the earth. 529 00:43:33,815 --> 00:43:37,819 Their parents return from their distant ocean feeding grounds by night 530 00:43:37,944 --> 00:43:40,030 to feed their chicks in their burrows. 531 00:43:40,155 --> 00:43:44,618 After 70 to 90 days, the chicks venture aboveground for the first time. 532 00:43:44,743 --> 00:43:47,537 They stretch their wings and begin developing their flight muscles 533 00:43:47,662 --> 00:43:50,290 [indistinct chatter] 534 00:43:56,338 --> 00:43:58,339 [Jennifer] We're gonna take some ambient temperature saltwater, 535 00:43:58,340 --> 00:44:00,175 like he would normally be fed by his parents, 536 00:44:00,300 --> 00:44:02,761 and Ian's just gonna hold the mouth open here, 537 00:44:02,886 --> 00:44:06,473 and I'm going to, um, put the tube down into the stomach 538 00:44:06,598 --> 00:44:09,309 if we can get him to cooperate for a moment. 539 00:44:10,518 --> 00:44:13,605 Have you ever received serious injury from one of these? 540 00:44:13,730 --> 00:44:18,151 Indeed. Have I ever. More than I can possibly count. 541 00:44:18,276 --> 00:44:21,780 Depending on how full his stomach is, we could be here for a little while. 542 00:44:23,823 --> 00:44:27,035 No, still nothin'. Still nothin'. 543 00:44:28,828 --> 00:44:29,788 There we go. 544 00:44:35,543 --> 00:44:37,796 [Craig] Whoa! Look at that. 545 00:44:39,130 --> 00:44:42,092 [Jennifer] Need to get some of the oil and stuff out of the way. 546 00:44:42,217 --> 00:44:44,761 It's very thick with all that oil in it. 547 00:44:44,886 --> 00:44:48,264 - That's a lot of plastic, isn't it? - Yeah, and some interesting colors. 548 00:44:48,390 --> 00:44:51,726 The red is quite, quite, uncommon. 549 00:44:51,851 --> 00:44:56,439 It looks like we've got quite a few of the resin pellets, the nurdles, 550 00:44:56,564 --> 00:44:58,441 lots of microplastics. 551 00:44:58,566 --> 00:44:59,692 Right. 552 00:44:59,818 --> 00:45:05,198 There's no way at 935 grams that he would be able to take to the air. 553 00:45:05,323 --> 00:45:08,993 I'm gonna make a bit of a note, he's got some damage to his lower mandible. 554 00:45:09,119 --> 00:45:11,746 Forty-one point seven. 555 00:45:21,131 --> 00:45:22,215 [Craig] Garbage thrown away 556 00:45:22,340 --> 00:45:26,302 in the United States can make its way to Antarctica. 557 00:45:26,428 --> 00:45:30,432 Plastic in our coastal waters is pulled into the center of massive, 558 00:45:30,557 --> 00:45:33,935 wind-driven, churning circular gyres. 559 00:45:34,060 --> 00:45:37,605 There are many other ocean currents also diverting the trash 560 00:45:37,730 --> 00:45:39,983 all around the surface of the ocean. 561 00:45:40,108 --> 00:45:44,404 In reality, it's just one ocean with no boundaries. 562 00:46:30,408 --> 00:46:32,702 [Jennifer] Yeah, the stomach is very, very full, 563 00:46:32,827 --> 00:46:36,748 and if we look here, uh, there's some very dark pieces, 564 00:46:36,873 --> 00:46:38,500 some very light white pieces, 565 00:46:38,625 --> 00:46:42,795 and if you see, you know, as I push on this, it's absolutely rigid. 566 00:46:42,921 --> 00:46:44,923 Completely... 567 00:46:45,048 --> 00:46:47,342 Completely full of plastic all the way up. 568 00:46:51,346 --> 00:46:53,348 Ah! Look at that. 569 00:46:53,473 --> 00:46:58,144 Absolutely no doubt that this bird died as a result of that plastic. 570 00:46:58,269 --> 00:47:01,105 That is literally a gut full of plastic. 571 00:47:01,231 --> 00:47:04,734 - It's quite alarming, isn't it? - Ah, it's awful. 572 00:47:04,859 --> 00:47:07,445 Range of plastic types and colors. 573 00:47:07,570 --> 00:47:09,730 We've got everything from the blues and the reds, to... 574 00:47:09,781 --> 00:47:12,367 His stomach's just filled with it. Big pieces too. 575 00:47:12,492 --> 00:47:14,244 Big, sharp pieces. 576 00:47:20,875 --> 00:47:24,170 Oh, wow, look at the size of that big, black piece. 577 00:47:24,295 --> 00:47:27,340 That is an enormous piece of plastic. 578 00:47:28,883 --> 00:47:30,301 Unbelievable. 579 00:47:32,345 --> 00:47:34,180 Look at the size of that. 580 00:47:44,816 --> 00:47:50,321 Jen, I counted 234 pieces of plastic out of that one bird. 581 00:47:50,446 --> 00:47:53,992 - Is that a record? - Not even close, unfortunately. 582 00:47:54,117 --> 00:47:58,454 So, for the species, the record is 276 pieces of plastic 583 00:47:58,580 --> 00:48:00,206 inside of one 90-day-old chick. 584 00:48:00,331 --> 00:48:02,292 And that plastic, when we weighed it out, 585 00:48:02,417 --> 00:48:05,378 accounted for 15 percent of that bird's body mass. 586 00:48:05,503 --> 00:48:07,630 That's a pretty scary statistic. 587 00:48:07,755 --> 00:48:10,842 If we translate that into human terms, it gets even worse. 588 00:48:10,967 --> 00:48:12,594 That would be equivalent to you and I 589 00:48:12,719 --> 00:48:16,389 having somewhere around six or eight kilos of plastic inside of your stomach. 590 00:48:16,514 --> 00:48:21,811 It's equivalent to about 12 pizzas' worth of food inside of your stomach. 591 00:48:44,514 --> 00:48:48,852 [Tanya] Midway Island is miles away from any coastline 592 00:48:48,977 --> 00:48:54,358 but it has one of the biggest populations of Laysan albatross in the world. 593 00:49:10,958 --> 00:49:12,459 Like the shearwater, 594 00:49:12,584 --> 00:49:16,672 their parents have traveled thousands of kilometers to find food. 595 00:49:35,065 --> 00:49:38,318 It's quite a bit of plastic for just one little bird. 596 00:49:40,862 --> 00:49:43,156 The parents were trying to do the right thing. 597 00:49:43,282 --> 00:49:44,866 There's a lot of squid beaks in here 598 00:49:44,992 --> 00:49:48,954 and, um, this purple color is evidence of the squid ink. 599 00:49:49,079 --> 00:49:51,081 It's just a shame that every now and then 600 00:49:51,206 --> 00:49:54,293 they got it wrong, and got it wrong in a bad way. 601 00:49:54,418 --> 00:49:56,420 [flies buzz] 602 00:50:16,440 --> 00:50:20,485 [Jennifer] To try and wrap your mind around the condition of this animal 603 00:50:20,610 --> 00:50:26,700 and the quality of its life, really, is quite an overwhelming thing. 604 00:50:26,825 --> 00:50:29,036 I do have some pretty rough days... have to go home 605 00:50:29,161 --> 00:50:32,622 and really wrap my mind around, "Where do we go from here?" 606 00:50:32,748 --> 00:50:35,250 [flies buzz] 607 00:50:35,375 --> 00:50:36,815 All week we've been cutting up birds 608 00:50:36,918 --> 00:50:40,130 and this is without a doubt the absolute worst one that I've come across. 609 00:50:40,255 --> 00:50:42,674 That is an incredible amount of plastic. 610 00:51:28,136 --> 00:51:29,471 [Tanya] I've come to Asinara, 611 00:51:29,596 --> 00:51:34,101 a small island off the northern tip of Sardinia, to meet with Cristina Fossi 612 00:51:34,226 --> 00:51:39,106 a professor of ecotoxicology at the University of Siena. 613 00:51:39,231 --> 00:51:44,569 The turtle rescue center here has just received a loggerhead turtle. 614 00:51:44,694 --> 00:51:47,697 [Cristina] The animals come from Corsica, right, so from France. 615 00:51:47,823 --> 00:51:52,035 And they have identified the animals because they have a problem of floating. 616 00:51:52,160 --> 00:51:56,665 So, it was floating in a very unusual way and then they have discovered 617 00:51:56,790 --> 00:52:02,379 that the cause is the presence of a large amount of plastic in the stomach. 618 00:52:02,504 --> 00:52:04,171 - [Tanya] These plastics? - These plastics. 619 00:52:04,172 --> 00:52:08,760 They produce gas and then the animal is not more able to go down, to dive. 620 00:52:08,885 --> 00:52:12,097 Does he have to perform a surgery to remove this? 621 00:52:12,222 --> 00:52:16,059 - No, no. He use very simple stuff. - Yeah. 622 00:52:16,184 --> 00:52:19,104 This one was used to remove the gas 623 00:52:19,229 --> 00:52:23,275 from the intestinal tract, then he use... 624 00:52:23,400 --> 00:52:24,401 [man] Metronidazole. 625 00:52:24,526 --> 00:52:27,404 It's, uh, an antibiotic, a normal antibiotic 626 00:52:27,529 --> 00:52:29,865 in order to save the animal from infection. 627 00:52:29,990 --> 00:52:30,949 Right. 628 00:52:31,074 --> 00:52:35,537 And then the last point was to use a fat, uh, diet. 629 00:52:35,662 --> 00:52:38,748 - Treat the gas, get everything moving... - Gas... 630 00:52:38,874 --> 00:52:40,500 - ...and get it out. - Yes. 631 00:52:40,625 --> 00:52:44,463 [Cristina] So, commonly plastic bag that's floating on the surface 632 00:52:44,588 --> 00:52:47,507 can be misunderstood as a jellyfish. 633 00:52:47,632 --> 00:52:51,595 And then they can be eating days after days. 634 00:52:51,720 --> 00:52:54,097 Plastic bags or other pieces of plastic, 635 00:52:54,222 --> 00:52:58,560 obviously the consequence can be lethal for the animals. 636 00:53:16,244 --> 00:53:19,581 [Tanya] Cristina's name is well-recognized around the world for her stand 637 00:53:19,706 --> 00:53:22,667 against the killing of whales and dolphins. 638 00:53:22,792 --> 00:53:26,755 [Cristina] We use the approach of the skin biopsy 639 00:53:26,880 --> 00:53:29,799 in order to identify the level of chemicals 640 00:53:29,925 --> 00:53:34,262 and the toxicological effect on these wild animals. 641 00:53:39,893 --> 00:53:42,354 Today we are moving around the Gulf of Asinara, 642 00:53:42,479 --> 00:53:48,735 try to see some bottlenose dolphin, then we collect some microplastic samples. 643 00:53:51,112 --> 00:53:53,490 [Tanya] An increasing number of dolphins and turtles 644 00:53:53,615 --> 00:53:56,201 in the Mediterranean are turning up dead. 645 00:53:56,326 --> 00:53:58,912 Cristina's focus is to get to the bottom of this mystery. 646 00:54:03,708 --> 00:54:07,796 And she has a very unusual way of getting the information she needs. 647 00:54:09,339 --> 00:54:13,218 [speaks in Italian] 648 00:54:13,343 --> 00:54:15,136 [motor revs] 649 00:54:15,262 --> 00:54:16,846 [speaks in Italian] 650 00:54:18,473 --> 00:54:23,061 [man speaking in Italian] 651 00:54:23,186 --> 00:54:25,438 [Tanya] How can you get a tiny piece of blubber 652 00:54:25,564 --> 00:54:28,191 from whales and dolphins without hurting them? 653 00:54:31,236 --> 00:54:32,279 [speaks in Italian] 654 00:54:34,781 --> 00:54:35,907 [speaks in Italian] 655 00:54:37,909 --> 00:54:41,413 [Tanya] The dart bounces off, taking a small piece of flesh with it, 656 00:54:41,538 --> 00:54:44,833 which the scientists use to conduct their research. 657 00:54:44,958 --> 00:54:46,876 It's very difficult. 658 00:54:53,925 --> 00:54:55,468 [speaks in Italian] 659 00:54:55,594 --> 00:54:57,262 It may be, I don't know, but... 660 00:54:59,264 --> 00:55:05,604 So, we can start to process the biopsy that was collected with the darts. 661 00:55:05,729 --> 00:55:08,857 The species is bottlenose dolphins. 662 00:55:08,982 --> 00:55:13,361 That's one of the common species around the coast 663 00:55:13,486 --> 00:55:17,115 and we suppose also one of the most polluted ones. 664 00:55:17,240 --> 00:55:21,411 You expect that you're finding derivatives from plastics 665 00:55:21,536 --> 00:55:24,497 in the blubber of these animals because they're consuming 666 00:55:24,623 --> 00:55:27,917 other animals that are directly consuming the plastics. 667 00:55:28,043 --> 00:55:29,044 Exactly. 668 00:55:29,169 --> 00:55:32,213 And so, if the plastics are in the food chain for the dolphin, 669 00:55:32,339 --> 00:55:33,965 they're also in our food chain. 670 00:55:34,090 --> 00:55:35,091 Exactly. 671 00:55:35,216 --> 00:55:37,677 [motor revs] 672 00:55:45,560 --> 00:55:48,647 [Cristina] We have already very interesting result, 673 00:55:48,772 --> 00:55:51,983 but I would like to invite you into the lab. 674 00:55:54,402 --> 00:55:55,779 [Tanya] When animals eat plastic, 675 00:55:55,904 --> 00:55:59,574 they're also consuming the toxins attached to the plastic. 676 00:55:59,699 --> 00:56:02,160 Toxins pass into the bloodstream. 677 00:56:03,203 --> 00:56:05,914 There, they bio-accumulate in the fatty tissue 678 00:56:06,039 --> 00:56:08,083 and around the vital organs. 679 00:56:09,501 --> 00:56:13,338 When animals use the stored fat, the toxins circulate around the body, 680 00:56:13,463 --> 00:56:17,717 interfering with reproduction, metabolism growth, kidney and liver function. 681 00:56:19,302 --> 00:56:21,054 [beeps] 682 00:56:23,598 --> 00:56:25,725 As we have seen this day, 683 00:56:25,850 --> 00:56:29,062 there is clear evidence that plankton species 684 00:56:29,187 --> 00:56:33,900 and fin whale, for example, have a very high level of phthalates, 685 00:56:34,025 --> 00:56:36,486 that we consider one of the plastic derivatives. 686 00:56:41,491 --> 00:56:46,246 [Cristina] But that data can represent a real warning sign 687 00:56:46,371 --> 00:56:50,333 of exposure to the Mediterranean environment, 688 00:56:50,458 --> 00:56:55,505 including humans, in real toxicological risk. 689 00:57:04,556 --> 00:57:08,101 [indistinct chattering in the distance] 690 00:57:09,102 --> 00:57:10,770 [horn honks in the distance] 691 00:57:30,874 --> 00:57:35,879 [Craig] Smokey Mountain I operated as a two million-metric ton waste dump 692 00:57:36,004 --> 00:57:37,797 for more than 40 years. 693 00:57:37,922 --> 00:57:40,091 It closed in 1995. 694 00:57:43,553 --> 00:57:46,556 [Craig] This garbage tip contains so much methane 695 00:57:46,681 --> 00:57:48,433 which was produced by the garbage within it, 696 00:57:48,558 --> 00:57:52,270 that when it reaches a certain temperature, it catches fire. 697 00:57:52,395 --> 00:57:55,774 That creates this smoke that comes out of the top of the pile 698 00:57:55,899 --> 00:57:58,902 and filters over the city of Manila. 699 00:57:59,027 --> 00:58:03,615 So, sweet potatoes, corn, sugar cane, 700 00:58:03,740 --> 00:58:07,702 all growing on 40 years of garbage. 701 00:58:07,827 --> 00:58:12,373 - [woman] Yeah. - [Craig] You worked here as a 12-year-old. 702 00:58:12,499 --> 00:58:15,460 [woman] Yeah. To earn money to support my family needs. 703 00:58:15,585 --> 00:58:17,587 And what would you collect up here? 704 00:58:17,712 --> 00:58:21,758 Recyclables, like bottles, cans, and plastics. 705 00:58:21,883 --> 00:58:24,719 This, uh, local chap here is still 706 00:58:24,844 --> 00:58:27,180 harvesting the plastic that's in the ground. 707 00:58:27,305 --> 00:58:30,058 - Yeah, lot of plastic. - It's just everywhere. 708 00:58:30,183 --> 00:58:34,187 - What's the most common disease here? - [Leticia] Uh, pulmonary. 709 00:58:34,312 --> 00:58:36,815 - Pulmonary, such as tuberculosis, - Yeah. 710 00:58:36,940 --> 00:58:38,066 Yes, emphysema. 711 00:58:38,191 --> 00:58:41,444 Emphysema, yes. My father died due to emphysema. 712 00:58:48,785 --> 00:58:54,374 No one knows how much plastic has accumulated in the sea 713 00:58:54,499 --> 00:58:57,210 in the last 50 years, but one thing is sure, 714 00:58:57,335 --> 00:58:59,087 the pace has picked up. 715 00:59:02,090 --> 00:59:05,260 [film narrator] The world of plastics is present everywhere, 716 00:59:05,385 --> 00:59:08,513 yet this presence is but a premonition of a future world. 717 00:59:08,638 --> 00:59:11,766 Our children will see a bit of that world 718 00:59:11,891 --> 00:59:14,144 and our grandchildren will not see the end of it. 719 00:59:30,869 --> 00:59:33,746 [Craig] The smell is almost indescribable. 720 00:59:33,872 --> 00:59:38,126 It's kind of like a cross between sewage and oil, 721 00:59:38,251 --> 00:59:39,919 and it's everywhere. 722 00:59:43,173 --> 00:59:46,176 [metal clanking] 723 00:59:46,301 --> 00:59:48,803 [speaks in foreign language] 724 00:59:54,350 --> 00:59:59,480 [Craig] The ground, to within two inches above it is covered in flies. 725 01:00:00,648 --> 01:00:01,691 [flies buzz] 726 01:00:10,408 --> 01:00:12,619 [man speaks in Tagalog] 727 01:00:12,744 --> 01:00:15,413 - [men speaking indistinctly] - [chuckles] 728 01:00:15,538 --> 01:00:19,876 [children chattering indistinctly] 729 01:00:21,461 --> 01:00:24,797 [Craig] I could see a child flying a kite. 730 01:00:24,923 --> 01:00:28,885 You could see the kite was made from a plastic bag 731 01:00:29,010 --> 01:00:33,932 and he'd fashioned this himself and used straws as the mainframe for the kite. 732 01:00:35,683 --> 01:00:39,604 If you got behind him and looked towards the sky, 733 01:00:39,729 --> 01:00:43,191 he could have been any child anywhere in the world. 734 01:00:43,316 --> 01:00:46,986 [speaks indistinctly] 735 01:00:47,111 --> 01:00:48,571 [chuckles] 736 01:00:52,700 --> 01:00:57,413 [Craig] Every time it rains here, every time the wind blows offshore, 737 01:00:57,538 --> 01:01:02,627 the sludge, the plastic from all of that rubbish ends up straight in Manila Bay, 738 01:01:02,752 --> 01:01:06,381 and I guess into the stomachs of whatever marine animals 739 01:01:06,506 --> 01:01:09,467 are still able to survive in the bay. 740 01:01:12,595 --> 01:01:16,140 A lot of plastic here. I guess a lot of this is brought in by the river. 741 01:01:16,266 --> 01:01:18,017 Yeah, it came from the Pasig River. 742 01:01:18,142 --> 01:01:22,522 Also it's been washed up by, uh, the ocean during typhoons 743 01:01:22,647 --> 01:01:27,151 and, uh, also people living here also throw their garbage in this area 744 01:01:27,277 --> 01:01:29,821 because there are no garbage collectors 745 01:01:29,946 --> 01:01:31,666 coming into the area to collect the garbage. 746 01:01:31,739 --> 01:01:36,536 How much waste... plastic waste is put into the waterways here? 747 01:01:36,661 --> 01:01:40,748 - Do you have any idea? - Uh, around 1500 tons daily. 748 01:01:40,873 --> 01:01:43,084 One thousand five hundred tons every day? 749 01:01:43,209 --> 01:01:44,210 Yes. 750 01:01:49,173 --> 01:01:50,174 [man] One more, one more! 751 01:01:50,300 --> 01:01:52,385 - Ready? - [man] You go now! 752 01:01:52,510 --> 01:01:55,054 [boys scream] 753 01:01:55,179 --> 01:01:58,516 [boys laugh] 754 01:01:58,641 --> 01:02:00,727 [boy] One, two, three, four! 755 01:02:00,852 --> 01:02:02,478 [boys scream] 756 01:02:02,603 --> 01:02:03,604 Thank you. 757 01:02:03,730 --> 01:02:06,524 Well, I have to say, you're all much better basketballers than I am. 758 01:02:06,649 --> 01:02:08,443 - I'm so bad. I'm sorry. - Again, again? 759 01:02:08,568 --> 01:02:11,988 I'm no good at basketball. You're very good at basketball. This guy. 760 01:02:12,113 --> 01:02:13,823 - Thank you. - Very good. 761 01:02:13,948 --> 01:02:17,744 - Do you all live here? In Pier 18? - Yes. 762 01:02:17,869 --> 01:02:20,538 - And you play basketball all the time? - Yeah. 763 01:02:20,663 --> 01:02:21,998 Do you go to school? 764 01:02:22,123 --> 01:02:23,124 - Yes. - No. 765 01:02:23,249 --> 01:02:25,752 Yes, you go to school? You don't go to school? No? 766 01:02:25,877 --> 01:02:26,961 - No. - No? 767 01:02:27,086 --> 01:02:30,923 - So, what do you do during the day? - Uh, scavenger work. 768 01:02:31,049 --> 01:02:34,302 Scavenger, yeah? What do you scavenge for? 769 01:02:34,427 --> 01:02:36,012 - This. - The plastic? 770 01:02:36,137 --> 01:02:37,180 Plastic. 771 01:02:37,305 --> 01:02:39,557 Ah! And what do you do with the plastic, once you...? 772 01:02:39,682 --> 01:02:42,143 - Go to the junk shop. - Yeah? 773 01:02:42,268 --> 01:02:44,896 And what do they give you for the plastic? 774 01:02:45,021 --> 01:02:48,441 - Money. - Money. Is it good money? 775 01:02:50,485 --> 01:02:52,862 - What kind of money? - Money. 776 01:02:52,987 --> 01:02:55,030 - He's asking how much we're earning. - It's 150 pesos. 777 01:02:55,031 --> 01:02:57,075 - [Craig] Yeah? - One day. 778 01:02:57,200 --> 01:02:58,201 - For one day? - Yeah. 779 01:02:58,326 --> 01:03:00,119 And what do you do with the money? 780 01:03:00,244 --> 01:03:01,829 - I give it to my mother. - Your mother. 781 01:03:01,954 --> 01:03:03,081 - Yeah. - Yes? 782 01:03:03,206 --> 01:03:05,625 And what does she do with the money? 783 01:03:05,750 --> 01:03:08,795 - Buy the rice. - The rice. Right. 784 01:03:08,920 --> 01:03:12,882 So you can play, grow up, be healthy, play good basketball. 785 01:03:13,007 --> 01:03:14,717 Show me. Give me your shot. 786 01:03:30,942 --> 01:03:33,027 [Craig] Most of the waste created by the individuals 787 01:03:33,152 --> 01:03:35,321 within each of these villages, towns and cities 788 01:03:35,446 --> 01:03:40,159 generally ends up on the streets or in their canals. 789 01:03:40,284 --> 01:03:43,121 It's easy to understand how these sorts of places 790 01:03:43,246 --> 01:03:47,458 become delivery systems for plastic into our oceans. 791 01:03:52,588 --> 01:03:56,467 [Craig] I understand that this was ten feet deep in plastic. 792 01:03:56,592 --> 01:04:02,056 Literally ten feet of plastic that was pulled out of this canal. 793 01:04:02,181 --> 01:04:03,850 First we dredged, 794 01:04:03,975 --> 01:04:07,145 but we realized that we're digging down to China, we stopped. 795 01:04:07,270 --> 01:04:11,774 [Roel] What we did was to cover it up with, uh, good soil 796 01:04:11,899 --> 01:04:17,447 and garden soil, and then we put up, uh, the coco-pillows. 797 01:04:17,572 --> 01:04:20,825 It's, uh, made from coconut husk. 798 01:04:20,950 --> 01:04:25,621 And then we spread it up until there. We vegetated it in the vetiver grass. 799 01:04:28,624 --> 01:04:32,837 [Craig] The plants take the rest of the waste out of the water. 800 01:04:32,962 --> 01:04:35,882 - [Roel] Yes. - [Craig] And now we've got fish swimming. 801 01:04:36,007 --> 01:04:37,257 - [Roel] And turtles. - [Craig] Wildlife. 802 01:04:37,258 --> 01:04:39,176 [Craig] It's clean enough for animals to live in now. 803 01:04:39,177 --> 01:04:40,343 [Roel] It's clean enough, yes. 804 01:04:40,344 --> 01:04:41,464 - Is it drinkable? - Not yet. 805 01:04:41,554 --> 01:04:44,140 - Not yet. Working on that one. - Working on that one. 806 01:04:44,265 --> 01:04:46,726 [Craig] And so you're going to do this project now 807 01:04:46,851 --> 01:04:49,228 throughout the canals and river systems of Manila? 808 01:04:49,353 --> 01:04:53,858 Yes, uh, with the same idea of putting bioremediation 809 01:04:53,983 --> 01:04:55,526 and phytoremediation together. 810 01:04:58,321 --> 01:05:00,740 [rooster cackles] 811 01:05:09,123 --> 01:05:12,543 [Craig] Do you think that will solve the plastic pollution problem here? 812 01:05:12,668 --> 01:05:15,046 The one that will solve the plastic solution 813 01:05:15,171 --> 01:05:17,548 is the behavior of the people around this area. 814 01:05:17,673 --> 01:05:20,009 So, maybe we'll start with that first 815 01:05:20,134 --> 01:05:22,470 and then we'll solve everything else afterwards. 816 01:05:25,640 --> 01:05:28,392 [chants] 817 01:05:32,730 --> 01:05:36,317 [Tanya] I'm off to visit the tiny, isolated coral atoll of Tuvalu 818 01:05:36,442 --> 01:05:38,694 in the South Pacific, near Fiji. 819 01:05:40,446 --> 01:05:45,952 As a mother, I care deeply about the effects of plastic on our health. 820 01:05:46,077 --> 01:05:49,121 [sings in foreign language] 821 01:06:06,973 --> 01:06:10,768 Tuvalu gained its independence in 1978. 822 01:06:13,104 --> 01:06:17,817 It began importing foreign goods and food and with that came plastic. 823 01:06:20,444 --> 01:06:25,157 I realized just how tiny this nation was when I flew in over the atoll. 824 01:06:25,283 --> 01:06:29,036 Tuvalu is a microcosm of the entire planet, 825 01:06:29,161 --> 01:06:32,623 and they have nowhere to put the plastic. 826 01:06:32,748 --> 01:06:35,501 During World War II, in order to build an airstrip 827 01:06:35,626 --> 01:06:39,672 for the Allies in the Pacific theater, large quantities of coral were dug up 828 01:06:39,797 --> 01:06:43,134 and carted off to be crushed and mixed for the tarmac. 829 01:06:43,259 --> 01:06:46,929 Gaping holes left behind are called "borrow pits." 830 01:06:47,054 --> 01:06:50,308 They were never filled back in, and are now used for refuse. 831 01:07:28,846 --> 01:07:32,642 [fire crackling] 832 01:07:38,356 --> 01:07:42,234 [chickens cackling] 833 01:07:46,781 --> 01:07:49,325 [Tanya] How long have you lived in this borrow pit? 834 01:07:49,450 --> 01:07:52,119 - [woman] Twenty-five years. - So, you're 25 years old? 835 01:07:52,244 --> 01:07:54,664 - Yeah. - In your 25-year lifetime, 836 01:07:54,789 --> 01:07:59,585 have you seen the amount of plastic in your surrounding community increase? 837 01:07:59,710 --> 01:08:03,005 Yeah. Very increase. 838 01:08:03,130 --> 01:08:08,969 Before, in my early childhood, I don't see any plastic 839 01:08:09,095 --> 01:08:12,598 because we don't used to import packaging, plastics. 840 01:08:12,723 --> 01:08:17,395 [Tanya] Tell me what it was like growing up here as a child. 841 01:08:17,520 --> 01:08:20,690 We always, uh, swim at the borrow pit. 842 01:08:20,815 --> 01:08:26,404 [Marao] We don't know that there is, uh, "affectiveness" to us. 843 01:08:26,529 --> 01:08:30,574 We just swim and then we go... We like fishing. 844 01:08:30,700 --> 01:08:33,536 [Tanya] You used to fish out of the borrow pit and eat the fish? 845 01:08:33,661 --> 01:08:35,204 But you don't do that anymore? 846 01:08:35,329 --> 01:08:38,207 No, we don't eat the fish. We just feed the pigs. 847 01:08:38,332 --> 01:08:40,291 - [Tanya] You feed the fish to the pigs? - [Marao] Yeah. 848 01:08:40,292 --> 01:08:42,795 [pigs squeak] 849 01:08:42,920 --> 01:08:48,300 What kind of health problems are you seeing people suffer from? 850 01:08:48,426 --> 01:08:52,054 Flu. Some people, they get cancer. 851 01:08:52,179 --> 01:08:56,851 And then some people, they don't get pregnant. 852 01:08:56,976 --> 01:09:00,354 People in the borrow pit are having problems conceiving? 853 01:09:00,479 --> 01:09:04,191 If things don't change in the borrow pit, 854 01:09:04,316 --> 01:09:07,528 but the people stay here, what do you think will happen? 855 01:09:08,654 --> 01:09:13,284 I think they get disease. And they don't want to leave. 856 01:09:13,409 --> 01:09:15,202 Like, this is a nice place, 857 01:09:15,327 --> 01:09:22,084 but because of the imported packaging, they destroy our paradise. 858 01:09:23,794 --> 01:09:26,672 And I want to give good future for my children. 859 01:09:27,798 --> 01:09:29,592 'Cause I love my children. 860 01:09:46,817 --> 01:09:50,362 [Craig] How does a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier handle its waste? 861 01:09:50,488 --> 01:09:55,493 With about 4,500 sailors onboard, just shy of half the population of Tuvalu 862 01:09:55,618 --> 01:09:59,455 the amount of waste generated every day is enormous. 863 01:09:59,580 --> 01:10:03,209 U.S. Navy is looking for a way to deal with shipboard waste 864 01:10:03,334 --> 01:10:04,574 without having to go into port. 865 01:10:04,627 --> 01:10:05,795 [brakes squeak] 866 01:10:08,255 --> 01:10:10,135 [Craig] The belly of the latest aircraft carrier 867 01:10:10,257 --> 01:10:16,472 will be fitted with a gleaming maze of steel pipes to devour the ship's waste. 868 01:10:16,597 --> 01:10:20,142 PyroGenesis of Montreal was contracted by the U.S. Navy 869 01:10:20,267 --> 01:10:24,230 to develop a green technology capable of processing the waste 870 01:10:24,355 --> 01:10:26,273 generated by these sailors. 871 01:10:26,398 --> 01:10:29,735 At the heart of this technology is a plasma torch 872 01:10:29,860 --> 01:10:33,781 that changes the molecular structure of whatever is put into it 873 01:10:33,906 --> 01:10:36,492 transforming it back to its core elements. 874 01:10:36,617 --> 01:10:39,537 Better still, it has no detrimental effect on the environment, 875 01:10:39,662 --> 01:10:42,498 it runs off its own energy, and is affordable. 876 01:10:43,666 --> 01:10:45,543 If they could shrink the plant into the size 877 01:10:45,668 --> 01:10:48,629 of something that you can put into a shipping container, 878 01:10:48,754 --> 01:10:52,341 take to small islands like Tuvalu, set it up so that you can put in 879 01:10:52,466 --> 01:10:55,135 all of the rubbish that's existing on the island, 880 01:10:55,261 --> 01:10:58,681 and have it turn into inert or nontoxic substances, 881 01:10:58,806 --> 01:11:01,350 that's going to go a long way to help solving the problems 882 01:11:01,475 --> 01:11:03,102 that exist on islands in the Pacific. 883 01:11:07,898 --> 01:11:12,570 [speaks in a foreign language] 884 01:11:17,825 --> 01:11:23,998 [all singing hymn] 885 01:11:24,123 --> 01:11:26,542 [Craig] If an innovative, workable solution 886 01:11:26,667 --> 01:11:30,880 like pyrogenesis is not implemented in places like Tuvalu, 887 01:11:31,005 --> 01:11:34,091 the quality of life will continue to decline. 888 01:11:34,216 --> 01:11:38,721 The island will eventually be choked by its own plastic waste. 889 01:11:38,846 --> 01:11:41,765 Combined with the rising sea level caused by climate change, 890 01:11:41,891 --> 01:11:44,602 Tuvalu's habitability is under serious threat. 891 01:11:44,727 --> 01:11:48,439 [singing of hymn continues] 892 01:11:57,031 --> 01:11:58,949 One of the kids we've befriended here 893 01:11:59,074 --> 01:12:02,745 has developed a pretty bad lingering cough. 894 01:12:02,870 --> 01:12:06,248 We think his problems might be linked to a hobby he shares with his friends, 895 01:12:06,373 --> 01:12:08,751 making jewelry out of melted plastic. 896 01:12:25,684 --> 01:12:28,187 [cooing] 897 01:12:28,312 --> 01:12:31,273 [Craig] Tanya is extremely protective of her children, 898 01:12:31,398 --> 01:12:33,859 so she's incredibly engaged in their well-being, 899 01:12:33,984 --> 01:12:36,528 particularly where she has control. 900 01:12:36,654 --> 01:12:39,114 And she has control over her environment. 901 01:12:40,449 --> 01:12:42,158 - [Craig] This is Charlie, huh? - [Tanya chuckles] 902 01:12:42,159 --> 01:12:45,079 Surprised he wasn't born with a face mask. [chuckles] 903 01:12:45,204 --> 01:12:47,604 - Yeah, right? And a nose clip? - [chuckles] And a nose clip. 904 01:12:47,706 --> 01:12:50,209 It wasn't easy for me to conceive. I'm an older mom. 905 01:12:50,334 --> 01:12:52,252 I worked really hard for this. 906 01:12:52,378 --> 01:12:55,297 [Tanya] All the time trying to conceive being really clean in my body. 907 01:12:55,422 --> 01:12:59,093 Went through my entire pregnancy without taking so much as a Tylenol. 908 01:12:59,218 --> 01:13:02,012 - Throw the line in there, Till. - Okay. 909 01:13:02,137 --> 01:13:03,806 This is actually Catfish Corner. 910 01:13:03,931 --> 01:13:05,724 [Tanya and Till chuckle] 911 01:13:05,849 --> 01:13:09,770 [Tanya] My kids make me really passionate about the subject. Annoyingly passionate. 912 01:13:09,895 --> 01:13:12,940 You know. Ask my husband. He'll roll his eyes. 913 01:13:13,065 --> 01:13:16,819 He goes from this guy who is washing Ziploc bags 914 01:13:16,944 --> 01:13:20,656 and I think, "Oh, I'm winning! My husband is washing Ziploc bags!" 915 01:13:20,781 --> 01:13:23,450 I see them drying in the sink and I'm like, "Yes!" 916 01:13:23,575 --> 01:13:28,998 But then he'll forget and I see, you know, plastic wrap over a food, 917 01:13:29,123 --> 01:13:30,624 and I'm like, "No!" 918 01:13:30,749 --> 01:13:34,420 Now, you've had a very healthy, uh, lifestyle. 919 01:13:34,545 --> 01:13:36,630 You haven't been able to control every aspect of it, 920 01:13:36,755 --> 01:13:40,175 so the likelihood is he may have plastic in his system. 921 01:13:40,300 --> 01:13:42,386 It's terrifying. It's awful. 922 01:13:42,511 --> 01:13:46,265 And it... you know, [stammers] it's made me question sometimes, 923 01:13:46,390 --> 01:13:48,726 "Gosh, is even having children the right thing to do?" 924 01:13:49,977 --> 01:13:51,770 I'm still very, very motivated 925 01:13:51,895 --> 01:13:54,898 to obviously do the right thing by myself and my family, 926 01:13:55,024 --> 01:13:58,736 but also to try to incite change 927 01:13:58,861 --> 01:14:01,864 where I can as an environmentalist, as an activist. 928 01:14:01,989 --> 01:14:06,326 I'm optimistic because it beats the alternative. 929 01:14:12,041 --> 01:14:15,252 [Craig] Austin is a very cool city. It's environmentally aware. 930 01:14:17,588 --> 01:14:20,841 It was the first city in Texas to ban the plastic bag. 931 01:14:21,925 --> 01:14:24,011 It's an oasis of eco-friendly people 932 01:14:24,136 --> 01:14:26,889 in a state that's headquarters for the largest oil companies 933 01:14:27,014 --> 01:14:29,308 and petrochemical plants. 934 01:14:36,732 --> 01:14:41,695 PlastiPure is where we formulate and test plastics 935 01:14:41,820 --> 01:14:43,906 for their physical characteristics. 936 01:14:44,031 --> 01:14:49,203 On the CertiChem side, where we are here, we test plastics and other substances, 937 01:14:49,328 --> 01:14:55,125 as well as individual chemicals, uh, to see if they have estrogenic activity. 938 01:14:55,250 --> 01:14:56,710 [machine beeps and whirs] 939 01:14:56,835 --> 01:15:00,881 A lot of plastics, perhaps the great majority, probably 940 01:15:01,006 --> 01:15:04,301 release chemicals that have estrogenic activity. 941 01:15:04,426 --> 01:15:07,513 [Tanya] Estrogenic activity, or "E.A.," 942 01:15:07,638 --> 01:15:10,808 happens when a chemical like BPA or phthalate 943 01:15:10,933 --> 01:15:16,313 leaches from plastic and enters the body where it mimics the hormone estrogen. 944 01:15:16,438 --> 01:15:18,941 Ninety-two point six percent of Americans 945 01:15:19,066 --> 01:15:24,113 age six and older have detectible levels of BPA in their bodies. 946 01:15:24,238 --> 01:15:27,574 The levels in children between six and 11 years of age 947 01:15:27,699 --> 01:15:30,369 are twice as high as those in older Americans. 948 01:15:31,745 --> 01:15:34,081 [Tanya] Are all of those chemicals not regulated? 949 01:15:34,206 --> 01:15:40,462 [Dr. Bittner] No, the FDA at present does not have any regulations 950 01:15:40,587 --> 01:15:46,969 for how many chemicals and what levels of chemicals having estrogenic activity 951 01:15:47,094 --> 01:15:52,224 can be released from plastics or from cosmetics or papers or silicones. 952 01:15:52,349 --> 01:15:55,310 So, how is the general public protected from that kind of thing? 953 01:15:55,435 --> 01:15:57,479 - Uh, they aren't. - They aren't? 954 01:15:57,604 --> 01:16:01,316 [news reporter] From baby bottles to sippy cups to food can liners 955 01:16:01,441 --> 01:16:03,652 to water bottles hydrating the youngest athletes, 956 01:16:03,777 --> 01:16:08,866 consumers have been exposed to a root chemical called Bisphenol A or BPA. 957 01:16:08,991 --> 01:16:11,994 An artificial sex hormone used as a core building block 958 01:16:12,119 --> 01:16:16,290 in close to seven billion pounds of plastic on the market today, 959 01:16:16,415 --> 01:16:18,208 because of its strength and resiliency. 960 01:16:18,333 --> 01:16:21,128 This isn't a weak, uh, contaminant. 961 01:16:21,253 --> 01:16:22,462 This is a powerful contaminant 962 01:16:22,588 --> 01:16:25,841 and it's striking right at the core of American public health. 963 01:16:25,966 --> 01:16:29,386 When something says that it's BPA-free, is that something I can trust? 964 01:16:29,511 --> 01:16:36,268 Over 90 percent of all plastics that don't have BPA, 965 01:16:36,393 --> 01:16:41,190 nonetheless, uh, release chemicals having estrogenic activity. 966 01:16:41,315 --> 01:16:45,360 So, BPA is not the only bad guy that we need to be looking out for. 967 01:16:45,485 --> 01:16:48,655 BPA is only one bad guy. 968 01:16:48,780 --> 01:16:51,825 - Like saying, "I've caught Al Capone!" - Yeah. 969 01:16:51,950 --> 01:16:53,619 - "I've just handled... - Yeah. [chuckles] 970 01:16:53,744 --> 01:16:55,913 ...the criminal problem in the United States!" 971 01:16:57,539 --> 01:17:00,375 We do quite a bit of this testing to see where the issues are 972 01:17:00,500 --> 01:17:04,588 but we also use that data to help manufacturers make safer products. 973 01:17:04,713 --> 01:17:07,049 Right. The average consumer goes, "Poly-whatta-whatta?" 974 01:17:07,174 --> 01:17:08,383 You know, "I don't get it. 975 01:17:08,508 --> 01:17:11,011 Tell me what is the right one, what is safe, what isn't." 976 01:17:11,136 --> 01:17:12,346 When we look at baby bottles, 977 01:17:12,471 --> 01:17:14,640 we have to look at all the different components 978 01:17:14,765 --> 01:17:17,893 that come in contact with the milk or with the baby. 979 01:17:18,018 --> 01:17:21,188 All of the hard and clear materials that we've tested 980 01:17:21,313 --> 01:17:23,023 leach these estrogenic chemicals. 981 01:17:23,148 --> 01:17:28,695 Other things, like the nipple, are generally made from silicone or latex. 982 01:17:28,820 --> 01:17:33,992 Latex, uh, always, from our tests, has come back positive for E.A. 983 01:17:34,117 --> 01:17:36,437 And silicone generally is positive for estrogenic activity. 984 01:17:36,495 --> 01:17:41,291 And stainless steel is obviously, I thought, a better option. 985 01:17:41,416 --> 01:17:43,168 If it doesn't have a liner, 986 01:17:43,293 --> 01:17:46,296 uh, stainless steel, it tends to be fine and glass tends to be fine. 987 01:17:46,421 --> 01:17:49,841 The colorants, uh, tend to leach a lot of chemicals, 988 01:17:49,967 --> 01:17:53,303 so we, uh, try to stay away from colorants when we can. 989 01:17:53,428 --> 01:17:56,139 When we can't, white and black tend to be... 990 01:17:56,265 --> 01:17:57,808 - The least? Okay. - The least. 991 01:17:57,933 --> 01:18:01,395 And we've started using a lot more foil in our house, rather than this stuff. 992 01:18:01,520 --> 01:18:02,645 - Foil is a better option. - [Tanya] Okay. 993 01:18:02,646 --> 01:18:05,816 We use foil in the lab because foil doesn't leach these chemicals. 994 01:18:05,941 --> 01:18:11,113 And this, I know, Styrofoam, is a personal, personal pet peeve of mine. 995 01:18:11,238 --> 01:18:15,701 The likelihood is estrogenic chemicals will leach out of styrene products. 996 01:18:15,826 --> 01:18:17,077 Cold foods, anything? 997 01:18:17,202 --> 01:18:20,080 Likely, hot fluids would increase the amount of leaching, 998 01:18:20,205 --> 01:18:21,539 but it'd still be leaching something. 999 01:18:21,540 --> 01:18:26,795 [Dr. Bittner] The majority of plastics increase the release of chemicals 1000 01:18:26,920 --> 01:18:31,300 having estrogenic activity after they've been exposed, 1001 01:18:31,425 --> 01:18:33,093 to particularly sunlight. 1002 01:18:33,218 --> 01:18:34,803 [Tanya] How do you not consume it? 1003 01:18:34,928 --> 01:18:38,557 You can't go anywhere without seeing food wrapped in plastic. 1004 01:18:38,682 --> 01:18:42,144 You can't go to a restaurant without, you know, 1005 01:18:42,269 --> 01:18:46,356 takeout boxes being in plastic, hot foods going into plastic. 1006 01:18:46,481 --> 01:18:49,443 My answer there is, well, demand safer plastic. 1007 01:18:49,568 --> 01:18:53,405 So, what we're gonna do is go inside a couple of restaurants 1008 01:18:53,530 --> 01:18:56,408 and ask them about, uh... 1009 01:18:56,533 --> 01:18:57,534 We'll ask them for food 1010 01:18:57,659 --> 01:19:00,139 and see if they can't give it to us in a non-plastic container. 1011 01:19:04,666 --> 01:19:06,546 - Hello, how are you doing? - Good, how are you? 1012 01:19:06,585 --> 01:19:09,713 I'm not too bad. Can I get the, um, "Power Plant"? 1013 01:19:09,838 --> 01:19:12,424 Can I get a small "Berry Blast"? 1014 01:19:12,549 --> 01:19:17,304 Hello, there. Um... Can I get an orange juice, please? 1015 01:19:17,429 --> 01:19:18,512 What can I get you for lunch today? 1016 01:19:18,513 --> 01:19:20,932 - I'm getting the BLT. - [man] A BLT. 1017 01:19:21,058 --> 01:19:23,935 Do you have anything not wrapped in plastic? 1018 01:19:24,061 --> 01:19:25,936 - I have nothing to do with the food. - [Craig chuckles] 1019 01:19:25,937 --> 01:19:29,441 Do you have anything other than plastic to put it in? 1020 01:19:29,566 --> 01:19:32,986 No. You can buy our giant little reusables. 1021 01:19:33,111 --> 01:19:35,280 Yeah, but that's still plastic. 1022 01:19:35,405 --> 01:19:37,531 - This one's what we got. - Without the plastic lid's fine. 1023 01:19:37,532 --> 01:19:39,868 - Is that paper? It is? Great. Yeah. - Yes. 1024 01:19:39,993 --> 01:19:43,330 - Do you have anything other than plastic? - We have that one in a cold press. 1025 01:19:43,455 --> 01:19:46,375 It's actually exposed to less oxygen, so it's way better juice 1026 01:19:46,500 --> 01:19:48,380 with twice the amount of vitamins and nutrients. 1027 01:19:48,502 --> 01:19:51,588 - That sounds really healthy. - Yeah, it's the way to go for the balance. 1028 01:19:51,713 --> 01:19:53,340 - Yeah, that sounds great. - Cool, man. 1029 01:19:53,465 --> 01:19:55,800 But do you serve it in anything other than plastic containers? 1030 01:19:55,801 --> 01:19:58,595 We have them made, uh, at our central kitchen every morning, 1031 01:19:58,720 --> 01:20:01,056 and they bring 'em to us on the cold press juicer, 1032 01:20:01,181 --> 01:20:03,350 so it's ready to go, bottled for convenience. 1033 01:20:03,475 --> 01:20:04,935 But that's in plastic, yeah? 1034 01:20:05,060 --> 01:20:07,729 - Do you have something not plastic? - No. 1035 01:20:07,854 --> 01:20:10,607 And you serve all your drinks in plastic cups as well? 1036 01:20:10,732 --> 01:20:11,775 Yes, sir. 1037 01:20:11,900 --> 01:20:13,527 Keep the straw 'cause that's plastic. 1038 01:20:13,652 --> 01:20:16,321 - I'll have to leave it then, I think. - Yeah? 1039 01:20:16,446 --> 01:20:17,614 - Yeah. - Okay, that's okay. 1040 01:20:17,739 --> 01:20:19,825 - Yeah. Okay. Well, thanks very much. - Yeah. 1041 01:20:19,950 --> 01:20:21,493 All right, what can I get you? 1042 01:20:21,618 --> 01:20:24,371 Yeah, I felt like I was a bit of an eco-warrior. 1043 01:20:24,496 --> 01:20:28,792 Tell me, what's my food wrapped in? It's not plastic, is it? [chuckles] 1044 01:20:28,917 --> 01:20:31,128 I'm going to die of something. 1045 01:20:31,253 --> 01:20:34,840 - Yeah, but do you wanna die early or late? - [man chuckles] 1046 01:20:34,965 --> 01:20:37,509 My boyfriend actually tells me every single day of my life 1047 01:20:37,634 --> 01:20:39,428 to not be drinking water bottles from my car 1048 01:20:39,553 --> 01:20:40,833 but if I'm thirsty, I'm thirsty. 1049 01:20:40,887 --> 01:20:43,515 You know what? He's right. And you've got that wrapped in paper. 1050 01:20:43,640 --> 01:20:44,724 That's good. 1051 01:20:44,850 --> 01:20:46,560 That's impressive for a takeaway place. 1052 01:20:46,685 --> 01:20:48,812 Take the salad and stick 'em in like, a few of these. 1053 01:20:48,937 --> 01:20:50,937 Yeah, that'd be better than sticking it in plastic. 1054 01:20:50,939 --> 01:20:53,150 If you could put it maybe between two paper plates. 1055 01:20:53,275 --> 01:20:55,861 It's just all the chemicals in this that get into the food. 1056 01:20:55,986 --> 01:20:58,780 You've made such a great sandwich, by the look of it. 1057 01:20:58,905 --> 01:21:03,201 [Tanya] We gave in to the sales hype of the '50s that plastic was "disposable," 1058 01:21:03,326 --> 01:21:05,829 that we could throw it away. 1059 01:21:05,954 --> 01:21:07,706 There is no "away." 1060 01:21:13,503 --> 01:21:17,132 It's so very hard as a parent, as a mom, as a woman, 1061 01:21:17,257 --> 01:21:20,635 to feel like you can do the best thing, 1062 01:21:20,760 --> 01:21:22,553 you know, that you can do the right thing anymore. 1063 01:21:22,554 --> 01:21:25,974 Every day, you know, we're contributing potentially 1064 01:21:26,099 --> 01:21:29,561 to a dreadful health problem later on down the line. 1065 01:21:37,777 --> 01:21:39,738 No. There's nothing else to put it in. 1066 01:21:39,863 --> 01:21:41,490 Beep, beep, beep. 1067 01:21:44,826 --> 01:21:48,455 What this white stuff is, is like the worst of the worst. 1068 01:21:49,539 --> 01:21:52,459 [Craig] Like a rubbish bin, the earth is filling up with the stuff. 1069 01:21:52,584 --> 01:21:54,794 There is nowhere else to put it. 1070 01:21:54,920 --> 01:21:56,630 [Tanya] That's why, as much as possible, 1071 01:21:56,755 --> 01:22:02,636 we choose foods and drinks that don't have plastic around them. 1072 01:22:02,761 --> 01:22:06,056 [Craig] It starts with the individual and it starts with us. 1073 01:22:06,181 --> 01:22:09,351 What do you do? You can't possibly filter out 1074 01:22:09,476 --> 01:22:11,853 these tiny particles from the entire ocean. 1075 01:22:11,978 --> 01:22:13,563 You can't filter the entire ocean. 1076 01:22:13,688 --> 01:22:17,067 In fact, so much plastic is in the ocean now 1077 01:22:17,192 --> 01:22:20,028 in a form that we really can't get to it 1078 01:22:20,153 --> 01:22:24,407 that I feel the emphasis needs to immediately shift 1079 01:22:24,533 --> 01:22:25,742 toward "stop putting it in." 1080 01:22:29,454 --> 01:22:30,579 [Craig] Mike deGruy is right. 1081 01:22:30,580 --> 01:22:33,375 But how do we get to the point where we can stop putting it in? 1082 01:22:35,168 --> 01:22:37,208 - Hi. That's me. - I'd like to speak to the manager. 1083 01:22:37,295 --> 01:22:39,631 I notice when I came in here and ordered, uh, 1084 01:22:39,756 --> 01:22:44,052 my sandwich and my drink, they both came in plastic containers. 1085 01:22:44,177 --> 01:22:47,472 Our cups are a hundred percent plant-based so they can be composted. 1086 01:22:47,597 --> 01:22:51,309 You're one of the first places in Austin I've come to that has an alternative. 1087 01:22:51,434 --> 01:22:52,394 Is that right? 1088 01:22:52,519 --> 01:22:54,270 Best alternative option I've got for you today. 1089 01:22:54,271 --> 01:22:56,438 That's perfect. I appreciate it. Least you've got an alternative. 1090 01:22:56,439 --> 01:22:58,319 - Exactly. - Thank you very much. Appreciate it. 1091 01:22:58,400 --> 01:23:00,068 - Have a great weekend. - You too. 1092 01:23:00,193 --> 01:23:04,406 Find me some Gala apples that are not in plastic. 1093 01:23:05,407 --> 01:23:07,866 [Craig] Demand that your supermarket deliver your food products in paper 1094 01:23:07,867 --> 01:23:09,578 or just as they come. 1095 01:23:09,703 --> 01:23:13,665 They don't need to be wrapped in plastic and if they are, take the plastic off 1096 01:23:13,790 --> 01:23:15,750 and leave it with them and say, 1097 01:23:15,875 --> 01:23:18,837 "You dispose of it and dispose of it properly." 1098 01:23:18,962 --> 01:23:21,131 Because once it becomes their problem, 1099 01:23:21,256 --> 01:23:23,466 you'll find that they will do something about it. 1100 01:23:48,491 --> 01:23:52,245 Don't put your plastic rubbish in a dumpster 1101 01:23:52,370 --> 01:23:54,331 where you know it's going to landfill. 1102 01:23:58,585 --> 01:24:02,464 [Craig] In 1991, Germany became the first country in the world 1103 01:24:02,589 --> 01:24:05,800 to pass packaging laws forcing plastic manufacturers 1104 01:24:05,925 --> 01:24:08,803 to be responsible for the recycling or disposal 1105 01:24:08,928 --> 01:24:11,431 of any packaging material they sell. 1106 01:24:11,556 --> 01:24:13,099 The industry set up a company 1107 01:24:13,224 --> 01:24:17,937 to oversee plastic waste collection recognized by the green dot. 1108 01:24:19,147 --> 01:24:21,566 When I was a kid, we used to run around the neighborhood 1109 01:24:21,691 --> 01:24:24,569 collecting glass bottles to take to the store 1110 01:24:24,694 --> 01:24:26,529 to collect the 5-cent refund that we'd get. 1111 01:24:28,239 --> 01:24:31,785 Plastic packaging pretty much killed the bottle deposit system. 1112 01:24:31,910 --> 01:24:35,205 But here in Germany, they've reinstated it. 1113 01:24:35,330 --> 01:24:38,833 You can take your plastic bottles to almost any supermarket 1114 01:24:38,958 --> 01:24:42,754 and put them in this machine. And what it does is it reads a barcode 1115 01:24:42,879 --> 01:24:45,882 which tells the machine the kind of plastic that it is, 1116 01:24:46,007 --> 01:24:49,803 that it's recyclable, and which retailer it comes from. 1117 01:24:49,928 --> 01:24:53,682 So the consumer gets a 25-cent deposit off every bottle, 1118 01:24:53,807 --> 01:24:55,225 the retailer gets the plastic, 1119 01:24:55,350 --> 01:24:59,145 which they can sell to recyclers for a lucrative amount of money. 1120 01:24:59,270 --> 01:25:00,855 And on the streets of Germany, 1121 01:25:00,980 --> 01:25:05,568 you very rarely see these things anymore because everybody recycles them. 1122 01:25:10,657 --> 01:25:13,868 [Craig] The Germans demonstrated that there is profit to be made. 1123 01:25:15,328 --> 01:25:18,665 Today, recycling is a lucrative industry. 1124 01:25:23,169 --> 01:25:24,546 Pressure your government. 1125 01:25:24,671 --> 01:25:28,550 Tell them that you do not accept that plastic should be in the environment. 1126 01:25:28,675 --> 01:25:31,344 The manufacturers of plastic have their own lobby groups 1127 01:25:31,469 --> 01:25:33,846 and they'll lobby the government to get the best possible deal 1128 01:25:33,847 --> 01:25:36,808 for them to get their products into the marketplace 1129 01:25:36,933 --> 01:25:39,394 for the least cost, and the least cost means 1130 01:25:39,519 --> 01:25:41,980 that they don't have to be responsible for it. 1131 01:25:42,105 --> 01:25:44,065 If they manufacture it, they should be responsible 1132 01:25:44,149 --> 01:25:46,443 for its collection and for its proper disposal. 1133 01:25:46,568 --> 01:25:49,487 [Tanya] We will all be better off if less plastic is manufactured 1134 01:25:49,612 --> 01:25:50,780 in the first place. 1135 01:25:50,905 --> 01:25:53,783 Scientists are already calling for governments 1136 01:25:53,908 --> 01:25:57,245 to reclassify plastic as a hazardous substance. 1137 01:25:57,370 --> 01:26:01,332 Because then, existing laws about hazardous substances 1138 01:26:01,458 --> 01:26:02,542 will already be in effect. 1139 01:26:02,667 --> 01:26:06,254 Plastic bags and water bottles are the worst single-use offenders. 1140 01:26:06,379 --> 01:26:10,383 What if we ban them outright to stop that vicious cycle? 1141 01:26:10,508 --> 01:26:15,638 Rwanda is one of the very few countries that has banned plastic bags. 1142 01:26:18,433 --> 01:26:23,813 [woman] Rwanda being an agricultural country... 1143 01:26:23,938 --> 01:26:26,524 whereby we don't have a lot of industries 1144 01:26:26,649 --> 01:26:30,361 we have tried to assess the impact of plastic bags 1145 01:26:46,377 --> 01:26:49,088 [man] I think it's a shocking waste of valuable resources 1146 01:26:49,214 --> 01:26:52,175 that these materials are being put in the landfill. 1147 01:26:52,300 --> 01:26:56,054 They're so much more valuable. If we put them in the landfill, 1148 01:26:56,179 --> 01:27:01,309 the cost in Europe is roundabout a minus 100 pounds a ton, $150. 1149 01:27:01,434 --> 01:27:08,024 But as a useful plastic, it could be worth plus $1,200, $1,500 a ton. 1150 01:27:08,149 --> 01:27:09,734 So, it's a huge difference in value. 1151 01:27:11,152 --> 01:27:14,656 We actually have the answers now to recycling most plastics, 1152 01:27:14,781 --> 01:27:17,951 uh, and the challenge really is to get everyone onboard 1153 01:27:18,076 --> 01:27:21,704 with those ideas, and also to get the collection infrastructure going right 1154 01:27:21,830 --> 01:27:24,624 so that we get big volumes coming concentrated in one place, 1155 01:27:24,749 --> 01:27:27,377 so that people can then have the confidence to invest 1156 01:27:27,502 --> 01:27:29,337 in the recovery technology. 1157 01:27:30,338 --> 01:27:33,424 [Craig] Once sorted, recycled plastics are brought into factories like this 1158 01:27:33,550 --> 01:27:36,970 where they can become part of a circular economy, 1159 01:27:37,095 --> 01:27:40,098 cleaned of labels and processed into newborn nurdles, 1160 01:27:40,223 --> 01:27:42,517 ready to be sold once again. 1161 01:27:43,601 --> 01:27:45,603 As recyclers, we think governments could do more 1162 01:27:45,728 --> 01:27:47,939 to encourage development of circular supply chains. 1163 01:27:48,064 --> 01:27:50,775 A lot of recycled plastics can be used back, as we say, 1164 01:27:50,900 --> 01:27:52,944 in "closed loop," back in the same products. 1165 01:27:53,069 --> 01:27:54,863 And that's happening a lot with bottles 1166 01:27:54,988 --> 01:27:57,699 and pots, tubs and trays from the packaging stream, 1167 01:27:57,824 --> 01:27:59,304 but there are plenty of other outlets 1168 01:27:59,325 --> 01:28:01,369 where a short-life item, like a piece of packaging 1169 01:28:01,494 --> 01:28:03,121 can go into a long-life application. 1170 01:28:03,246 --> 01:28:05,456 For example, in construction products, 1171 01:28:05,582 --> 01:28:08,793 uh, in automotive, in making cars and trains 1172 01:28:08,918 --> 01:28:10,295 and airplanes and things like that 1173 01:28:10,420 --> 01:28:13,840 where you can get the performance of the recycled polymer just as good 1174 01:28:13,965 --> 01:28:16,050 as virgin material that's come out of the ground. 1175 01:28:16,175 --> 01:28:19,053 You can take it from a bottle one day to a shirt the next day. 1176 01:28:19,178 --> 01:28:22,849 From that shirt, then it can become a component in a vehicle. 1177 01:28:22,974 --> 01:28:25,101 It can become something that's sent to space. 1178 01:28:25,226 --> 01:28:26,603 Through the Plastic Bank, 1179 01:28:26,728 --> 01:28:30,857 we make plastic waste a currency, so that people in developing countries 1180 01:28:30,982 --> 01:28:35,820 can earn an income while preventing plastic from entering the ocean. 1181 01:28:37,196 --> 01:28:40,700 [Craig] David Katz and Shaun Frankson founded the Plastic Bank. 1182 01:28:42,035 --> 01:28:44,746 They established a social plastic recycling system in Haiti 1183 01:28:44,871 --> 01:28:48,374 that exchanges plastic for solar cell phone charging, 1184 01:28:48,499 --> 01:28:51,002 sustainable cook stoves and cash. 1185 01:28:51,127 --> 01:28:55,590 [Shaun] It's like a fair-trade plastic where it's ethically sourced... 1186 01:28:55,715 --> 01:28:58,801 and it's above-market rate income that they earn. 1187 01:28:58,927 --> 01:29:01,095 The people in need can go and collect the plastic 1188 01:29:01,220 --> 01:29:02,888 and create a microeconomy around recycling. 1189 01:29:02,889 --> 01:29:06,726 This is something that we can scale anywhere in the world. 1190 01:29:06,851 --> 01:29:08,891 [Craig] This is a self-sustaining social enterprise. 1191 01:29:10,355 --> 01:29:12,773 All of the plastic collected through the Plastic Bank goes through 1192 01:29:12,774 --> 01:29:16,235 the recycling process and is sold as "social plastic" 1193 01:29:16,361 --> 01:29:19,656 to be used in manufacturing by values-aligned brands, 1194 01:29:19,781 --> 01:29:22,033 or it can be used to 3D print. 1195 01:29:22,158 --> 01:29:24,202 They're using it instead of virgin plastic. 1196 01:29:25,286 --> 01:29:26,996 If you're choosing between two products 1197 01:29:27,121 --> 01:29:29,457 and one's made of social plastic and one's not, 1198 01:29:29,582 --> 01:29:32,794 you're really choosing between, "Do I help or do I hurt the planet?" 1199 01:29:33,878 --> 01:29:36,255 Social plastic is really our way 1200 01:29:36,381 --> 01:29:39,926 that we can create an organic, global infrastructure. 1201 01:29:40,051 --> 01:29:44,764 [Tanya] New technology means that waste can now be converted into energy. 1202 01:29:46,099 --> 01:29:48,518 In Europe alone, there are 15 million tons 1203 01:29:48,643 --> 01:29:52,605 of end-of-life plastic going into landfill every year. 1204 01:29:52,730 --> 01:29:54,691 Cynar, a waste-to-fuel company, 1205 01:29:54,816 --> 01:29:57,819 designed a machine that turns end-of-life plastic 1206 01:29:57,944 --> 01:29:59,904 like candy wrappers and snack packets, 1207 01:30:00,029 --> 01:30:03,074 which aren't usually recyclable, into diesel. 1208 01:30:04,158 --> 01:30:07,286 Using a heating process called "pyrolysis," 1209 01:30:07,412 --> 01:30:11,791 it turns an environmental problem into a valuable commodity. 1210 01:30:11,916 --> 01:30:16,295 Each machine can process about 20 tons of plastic daily, 1211 01:30:16,421 --> 01:30:19,799 making about 18,000 liters of diesel 1212 01:30:19,924 --> 01:30:23,052 or the equivalent of 113 barrels of oil a day. 1213 01:30:25,054 --> 01:30:26,639 [car engine revving] 1214 01:30:30,601 --> 01:30:33,438 [Craig] Islands like Lord Howe manage their plastic waste 1215 01:30:33,563 --> 01:30:36,274 with solutions that match the way they live. 1216 01:30:36,399 --> 01:30:38,759 There is no burning and there is no landfill on this island. 1217 01:30:38,776 --> 01:30:42,613 Food waste, the garden waste, paper and cardboard gets composted. 1218 01:30:42,739 --> 01:30:46,033 All the recyclables are baled and sent back to the mainland, 1219 01:30:46,159 --> 01:30:48,453 and currently the island's diverting 85 percent 1220 01:30:48,578 --> 01:30:50,037 of all their waste from landfill. 1221 01:30:50,163 --> 01:30:52,081 This is the recycling sorting facility. 1222 01:30:52,206 --> 01:30:55,168 We can separate, we can bale everything. 1223 01:30:55,293 --> 01:30:59,547 You can galvanize a community to do amazing things. 1224 01:30:59,672 --> 01:31:01,466 [rattling] 1225 01:31:05,386 --> 01:31:08,306 [woman] The whales are diving into a sea of plastic bottles 1226 01:31:08,431 --> 01:31:12,018 and the bottles were collected from the Bristol 10K Race. 1227 01:31:13,019 --> 01:31:16,063 [Tanya] It was important to the artist, Sue Lipscombe, 1228 01:31:16,189 --> 01:31:19,358 to make this sculpture out of sustainable materials. 1229 01:31:19,484 --> 01:31:24,405 She used recycled plastics and locally-grown willow. 1230 01:31:24,530 --> 01:31:26,949 [Tanya] There are 70,000 bottles. 1231 01:31:27,074 --> 01:31:28,993 That means in some way, 1232 01:31:29,118 --> 01:31:33,539 up to 70,000 people have contributed to this art. 1233 01:31:33,664 --> 01:31:37,043 I kick off by telling the kids something about whales 1234 01:31:37,168 --> 01:31:40,129 and the reaction is just fantastic. 1235 01:31:40,254 --> 01:31:44,425 They love hearing about how big they are. They really get it. 1236 01:31:44,550 --> 01:31:47,553 They ask you all sorts of perceptive questions 1237 01:31:47,678 --> 01:31:50,056 an adult might not think about. 1238 01:31:50,181 --> 01:31:52,391 And I really just love the enthusiasm of the pupils. 1239 01:31:52,517 --> 01:31:55,686 Wouldn't it be great if politicians 40 years down the line 1240 01:31:55,812 --> 01:31:57,563 still had that same enthusiasm 1241 01:31:57,688 --> 01:31:59,816 that schoolchildren show when they come here? 1242 01:31:59,941 --> 01:32:01,541 Wouldn't the world be a different place? 1243 01:32:07,949 --> 01:32:11,327 [woman] We've treated the ocean as a place to throw things, 1244 01:32:11,452 --> 01:32:16,082 dispose of things that we did not want close to where we thought we live. 1245 01:32:57,081 --> 01:33:00,960 [Craig] In 2015, natural history broadcaster Sir David Attenborough, 1246 01:33:01,085 --> 01:33:03,629 met with President Barack Obama. 1247 01:33:03,754 --> 01:33:06,924 Obama, who spent his boyhood in the natural splendor of Hawaii, 1248 01:33:07,049 --> 01:33:08,968 grew up watching Attenborough's films. 1249 01:33:10,303 --> 01:33:14,307 What we're seeing is global trend, uh, that... 1250 01:33:14,432 --> 01:33:17,268 depend on the entire world working together. 1251 01:33:17,393 --> 01:33:20,396 - [David] Yes. - My daughters, I find Malia and Sasha... 1252 01:33:20,521 --> 01:33:23,649 they're much more environmentally aware, this generation... 1253 01:33:23,774 --> 01:33:25,609 - I believe that. - ...than some previous generations. 1254 01:33:25,610 --> 01:33:28,696 They think it's, uh, self-apparent that we've got a problem 1255 01:33:28,821 --> 01:33:30,740 and that we should be doing something about it. 1256 01:33:30,865 --> 01:33:36,078 I absolutely agree. And the young people, they care. 1257 01:33:36,203 --> 01:33:38,831 They know that this is the world that they're gonna grow up in 1258 01:33:38,956 --> 01:33:40,833 and they're going to spend their lives in. 1259 01:33:40,958 --> 01:33:44,503 But I think it's... I think it's more idealistic than that. 1260 01:33:44,629 --> 01:33:48,257 They actually believe that humanity, human species, 1261 01:33:48,382 --> 01:33:52,929 has no right to destroy and despoil, regardless. 1262 01:33:53,054 --> 01:33:55,414 - They actually feel that very powerfully. - Right. They do. 1263 01:33:55,514 --> 01:34:00,895 The whole of the ecosystems of the world are based on a healthy ocean. 1264 01:34:01,020 --> 01:34:06,400 And if that part of the planet becomes dysfunctional, goes wrong, 1265 01:34:06,525 --> 01:34:09,445 then the whole of life on this planet will suffer. 1266 01:34:10,488 --> 01:34:12,990 The whole planet is where we live. 1267 01:34:13,115 --> 01:34:19,246 There is no "away" that you can put things and expect that they're really away. 1268 01:34:19,372 --> 01:34:21,958 This phrase "not in my back yard"... 1269 01:34:22,083 --> 01:34:27,088 the ocean is everyone's back yard or front yard or living space. 1270 01:34:27,213 --> 01:34:32,426 No matter how you look at it, this planet is governed by the blue part. 1271 01:34:32,551 --> 01:34:36,430 The world truly is mostly a blue place. 1272 01:34:36,555 --> 01:34:40,226 I'll be just as worried about Tilly and Charlie 1273 01:34:40,351 --> 01:34:41,686 when they're... [chuckles] 1274 01:34:41,811 --> 01:34:44,355 in their 70s and 80s and I'm long gone. 1275 01:34:44,480 --> 01:34:46,773 I still want them to be healthy and certainly not suffering 1276 01:34:46,774 --> 01:34:48,734 the effects of any decisions that I made. 1277 01:35:04,750 --> 01:35:07,169 [Craig] I wanna go back to where it all started. 1278 01:35:07,294 --> 01:35:09,213 I wanna go back to the whales. 1279 01:35:09,338 --> 01:35:13,426 I wanna go and find the juvenile that we first saw. 1280 01:35:14,510 --> 01:35:18,681 If whales could talk to us, I imagine they would ask us, 1281 01:35:18,806 --> 01:35:20,516 "What were we thinking?" 1282 01:35:20,641 --> 01:35:24,145 Every other species on the planet works towards the benefit 1283 01:35:24,270 --> 01:35:26,856 of the ecology and environment that it lives in, 1284 01:35:26,981 --> 01:35:30,568 but us humans, we just seem like passengers on this earth. 1285 01:35:32,028 --> 01:35:34,530 I want to say to the parents of the juvenile, 1286 01:35:34,655 --> 01:35:38,617 "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, on behalf of humanity, 1287 01:35:38,743 --> 01:35:41,954 for putting plastic into your home." 1288 01:35:42,079 --> 01:35:44,874 And I want to say, "We'll share this story 1289 01:35:44,999 --> 01:35:48,085 because from knowing comes caring 1290 01:35:48,210 --> 01:35:50,880 and from caring comes change."113804

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