1 00:01:30,924 --> 00:01:36,888 [Craig] I remember the first time I saw a picture of a blue whale, 2 00:01:37,013 --> 00:01:41,100 which was in a National Geographic magazine. 3 00:01:43,061 --> 00:01:47,941 A drawing of the whale, and then a tiny human standing beside it. 4 00:01:48,066 --> 00:01:50,485 This thing was bigger than any dinosaur. 5 00:01:54,572 --> 00:01:55,782 And as an eight-year-old, 6 00:01:55,907 --> 00:01:58,201 I couldn't imagine that there was anything that big. 7 00:01:59,702 --> 00:02:06,459 I've followed them since childhood with the absolute design... 8 00:02:06,584 --> 00:02:09,420 to go and film them myself at some point. 9 00:02:09,546 --> 00:02:11,798 And that was 40 years later. 10 00:02:28,148 --> 00:02:31,234 Never had a slate before... 11 00:02:31,359 --> 00:02:34,612 [Craig] Dr. Lindsay Porter is a cetacean expert. 12 00:02:35,697 --> 00:02:38,575 And Ben Fogle is a U.K. adventurer. 13 00:02:39,826 --> 00:02:42,245 So, Lindsay, just tell me, what kind of whales 14 00:02:42,370 --> 00:02:44,289 in particular are we looking for? 15 00:02:44,414 --> 00:02:46,040 Today, we're looking for the blue whale. 16 00:02:46,166 --> 00:02:48,877 There are two different types of blue whale we'll see in the area-- 17 00:02:49,002 --> 00:02:52,881 -the true blues and pygmy blues. -And how do they differ? 18 00:02:53,006 --> 00:02:57,385 Pygmy blues are slightly smaller than true blue whales. 19 00:02:57,510 --> 00:03:00,597 When you say "slightly smaller," what size are we talking about here? 20 00:03:00,722 --> 00:03:02,265 -Twenty-five meters. -[chuckles] 21 00:03:02,390 --> 00:03:04,726 [Craig] Lindsay has such a depth of knowledge 22 00:03:04,851 --> 00:03:08,354 that she's my first go-to when I've got a question about a whale. 23 00:03:08,479 --> 00:03:12,775 So, as the currents and the waves come in, they create this very productive front, 24 00:03:12,901 --> 00:03:16,237 and this is why we think the animals-- the whales, feed here. 25 00:03:16,362 --> 00:03:17,780 So, when you say "productive front," 26 00:03:17,906 --> 00:03:21,743 I imagine krill, food, is being welled up... 27 00:03:21,868 --> 00:03:26,247 [Craig] Ben Fogle rowed a boat across the Atlantic. 28 00:03:26,372 --> 00:03:29,542 And that meant that he had a sense of adventure. 29 00:03:29,667 --> 00:03:31,252 He was a risk-taker. 30 00:03:34,464 --> 00:03:37,258 From the very first day we saw them blowing, 31 00:03:37,383 --> 00:03:40,720 we knew they were there, but they were very hard to reach. 32 00:03:40,845 --> 00:03:42,055 [Lindsay] And fluke up. Oh, nice. 33 00:03:42,180 --> 00:03:46,142 [Craig] These animals can do up to 30 kilometers an hour underwater, 34 00:03:46,267 --> 00:03:48,728 and they can stay underwater for a half an hour 35 00:03:48,853 --> 00:03:50,939 and go in any direction. 36 00:03:52,148 --> 00:03:54,984 When we saw them, we'd follow them, try to get near them, 37 00:03:55,109 --> 00:04:00,031 wait for them to come up again, and then just never see them again. 38 00:04:09,499 --> 00:04:11,876 [Craig] Tell me what I should be listening out for. 39 00:04:12,001 --> 00:04:18,341 For whales, you need to listen for a low-frequency monotone. 40 00:04:18,466 --> 00:04:20,426 And for dolphins... 41 00:04:20,551 --> 00:04:23,096 -Oh, can you hear it right there? That? -[dolphin whistles] 42 00:04:23,221 --> 00:04:24,430 -[Lindsay] The whistles? -[Craig] The high-pitched whistles? 43 00:04:24,555 --> 00:04:26,474 The high-pitched whistling. That's dolphins. 44 00:04:26,599 --> 00:04:28,226 That's the group of dolphins we just passed. 45 00:04:28,351 --> 00:04:30,937 -How far do you think they are? -They'll still be within a kilometer. 46 00:04:31,062 --> 00:04:33,898 -That's a long way to go. -It's a long way. It's a big ocean. 47 00:04:34,023 --> 00:04:35,817 They've got to talk to each other over distance. 48 00:04:35,942 --> 00:04:36,901 That's incredible. 49 00:04:38,695 --> 00:04:42,573 [Craig] We traveled up and down, 50 miles off the coast for two weeks 50 00:04:42,699 --> 00:04:45,201 trying to get close to these animals. 51 00:04:45,326 --> 00:04:49,372 We ran out of time. We started heading back to port... 52 00:04:52,875 --> 00:04:55,503 -Oh, look, look. -[Lindsay] At two o'clock... 53 00:04:55,628 --> 00:04:58,798 another blow. Four. 54 00:04:58,923 --> 00:05:01,718 And it looks like he's going to fluke up... 55 00:05:02,844 --> 00:05:04,679 and dive. 56 00:05:04,804 --> 00:05:07,598 So, he'll probably be down for another ten minutes or so. 57 00:05:07,724 --> 00:05:09,642 Whoosh! 58 00:05:16,149 --> 00:05:17,692 [Craig] They look like freight trains, 59 00:05:17,817 --> 00:05:22,238 like enormous spaceships that just travel effortlessly. 60 00:05:30,538 --> 00:05:33,458 Every piece of them looked like something 61 00:05:33,583 --> 00:05:40,131 I'd seen on a-- reengineered on an aircraft or on a supercar. 62 00:05:40,256 --> 00:05:43,843 When they fluke, they arch like that. 63 00:05:43,968 --> 00:05:47,764 Their tail comes up vertically and drops straight in the water, 64 00:05:47,889 --> 00:05:50,600 and you can barely hear a sound. 65 00:06:06,866 --> 00:06:11,871 [Craig] Wow, look at that! [laughs] Wow! 66 00:06:11,996 --> 00:06:15,458 That is just beautiful! 67 00:06:23,549 --> 00:06:26,469 [whistles] 68 00:06:45,196 --> 00:06:47,281 [Craig] It's the first time that we believe that anyone 69 00:06:47,406 --> 00:06:52,203 has ever filmed a juvenile pygmy blue whale underwater. 70 00:07:22,316 --> 00:07:25,486 [Craig] What do you think it's from, Alex? Is it from a ship? 71 00:07:25,611 --> 00:07:27,822 No, it came from a river. 72 00:07:27,947 --> 00:07:31,159 [Craig] We were in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of Sri Lanka, 73 00:07:31,284 --> 00:07:34,745 where there hasn't been any commercial fishing because of the civil war. 74 00:07:34,871 --> 00:07:38,875 The beaches have been closed for up to 30 years. 75 00:07:39,000 --> 00:07:42,712 We thought this was a relatively pristine environment. 76 00:07:47,425 --> 00:07:48,509 [man] Floating on the surface 77 00:07:48,634 --> 00:07:52,513 and a meter below was just this horrible, crappy, 78 00:07:52,638 --> 00:07:56,058 emulsified mess of oil and bits of, you know... 79 00:07:57,268 --> 00:07:59,395 It's horrible, and looking through it, 80 00:07:59,520 --> 00:08:02,690 you could see the tendrils of the net hanging down. 81 00:08:02,815 --> 00:08:06,611 That was certainly one of the most unpleasant dives I've ever done. 82 00:09:14,136 --> 00:09:16,639 [woman] I spent my childhood in the sea. 83 00:09:16,764 --> 00:09:18,015 Growing up in Grand Cayman, 84 00:09:18,140 --> 00:09:20,893 we didn't have organized sports after school. 85 00:09:21,018 --> 00:09:26,107 We didn't even have a TV until I was 13, so the sea was my playground. 86 00:09:28,943 --> 00:09:31,529 As a free-diver, it was the place where... 87 00:09:31,654 --> 00:09:37,159 I proved myself to myself by traveling to the absolute edge of myself. 88 00:09:39,036 --> 00:09:41,497 [inhales] 89 00:09:41,622 --> 00:09:44,959 [exhales] 90 00:09:45,084 --> 00:09:48,296 [Tanya] I need to put as much oxygen in my blood as possible 91 00:09:48,421 --> 00:09:51,674 so that I can hold my breath for the three-and-a-half to four minutes 92 00:09:51,799 --> 00:09:53,217 that the dive is gonna take me. 93 00:09:53,342 --> 00:09:55,886 [inhales air] 94 00:10:06,188 --> 00:10:08,316 [Tanya] Five-hundred and twenty-five feet is beyond 95 00:10:08,441 --> 00:10:11,319 the crushing depth of Second World War submarines. 96 00:10:29,920 --> 00:10:34,133 In pushing so hard, I learned about limits. 97 00:10:36,385 --> 00:10:39,805 I've got a fiery redhead, and she redefines my limits every day. 98 00:10:39,930 --> 00:10:40,931 [audience laughing] 99 00:10:42,558 --> 00:10:43,559 Finally for me, 100 00:10:43,684 --> 00:10:47,688 it feels like there's a point to this bizarre gift I have 101 00:10:47,813 --> 00:10:50,483 of "looking pretty and holding my breath." 102 00:10:50,608 --> 00:10:53,986 I have the opportunity to pay the sea back... 103 00:10:54,111 --> 00:10:56,155 but I'm learning on my feet. 104 00:10:57,907 --> 00:11:01,327 I didn't know that in the last ten years, 105 00:11:01,452 --> 00:11:06,123 we've made more plastic than we did in the century before that. 106 00:11:06,248 --> 00:11:10,753 Half of those plastic products are considered "disposable." 107 00:11:10,878 --> 00:11:11,921 But think about it. 108 00:11:12,046 --> 00:11:16,634 How can a disposable product be made of a material that's indestructible? 109 00:11:16,759 --> 00:11:17,885 Where does it go? 110 00:11:18,010 --> 00:11:20,846 [indistinct chatters] 111 00:11:26,310 --> 00:11:31,065 [Tanya] This is a Bryde's whale. It's dying, taking its final breaths. 112 00:11:31,190 --> 00:11:32,525 [woman] Oh, my God. 113 00:11:32,650 --> 00:11:37,738 [Tanya] It was found to have six square meters of plastic sheeting inside it. 114 00:11:37,863 --> 00:11:39,865 It couldn't eat and it died of malnourishment. 115 00:11:39,990 --> 00:11:45,079 Its digestive system was blocked and it died a terrible, painful death. 116 00:12:02,888 --> 00:12:04,098 That's got a hole in it. 117 00:12:04,223 --> 00:12:06,392 This is all some of the rubbish that we found 118 00:12:06,517 --> 00:12:10,771 in the floating jetsam and flotsam in the ocean. 119 00:12:10,896 --> 00:12:12,314 We'll get Ben to go through it, 120 00:12:12,440 --> 00:12:15,276 but there's even a pack of unopened biscuits. 121 00:12:15,401 --> 00:12:20,281 You can see it's been there for some time, the mollusks that are growing off it. 122 00:12:20,406 --> 00:12:23,367 There's crabs. There's a crab in there, have a look. 123 00:12:26,787 --> 00:12:28,622 So, quite extraordinary. 124 00:12:28,747 --> 00:12:32,293 -[man 1] Another one. -[man 2] Another one. Down here. 125 00:12:32,418 --> 00:12:34,336 [Craig] The detritus that's built up in these areas 126 00:12:34,462 --> 00:12:38,215 where they don't have the benefit of getting rid of the rubbish. 127 00:12:38,340 --> 00:12:40,342 Well, we're about 20 miles offshore. 128 00:12:40,468 --> 00:12:44,180 It's been trapped in the river mouth and now it's all flushed out into sea. 129 00:12:44,305 --> 00:12:45,931 This is one of the main areas 130 00:12:46,056 --> 00:12:47,850 where we're hunting for the blue whales to film, 131 00:12:47,975 --> 00:12:50,269 so this is right in their environment. 132 00:12:50,394 --> 00:12:53,230 They feed by opening their mouth 133 00:12:53,355 --> 00:12:55,566 and just sucking up whatever's in their path. 134 00:12:55,691 --> 00:12:59,236 They take in hundreds of gallons of water, 135 00:12:59,361 --> 00:13:02,823 they express that water, and they feed off the krill and tiny fish. 136 00:13:02,948 --> 00:13:06,827 But they can't tell the difference between krill and plastic. 137 00:13:06,952 --> 00:13:08,829 Disposable lighters. 138 00:13:08,954 --> 00:13:10,831 Just-- you know, this is never gonna degrade. 139 00:13:10,956 --> 00:13:14,168 These are gonna be floating there for... a very long time. 140 00:13:14,293 --> 00:13:16,504 They'll break down to very small particles, 141 00:13:16,629 --> 00:13:20,591 and that's if some large marine mammal doesn't come along and swallow them whole. 142 00:13:20,716 --> 00:13:23,677 It's got nowhere to go. This is where it lives now. 143 00:13:25,262 --> 00:13:30,809 Well, to contrast that area of affected ocean by those plastics 144 00:13:30,935 --> 00:13:34,688 with the virgin blue water that you find very close by, 145 00:13:34,813 --> 00:13:36,273 well, there's just no comparison. 146 00:13:36,398 --> 00:13:40,611 The animals of the world deserve the blue ocean, not that sort of shit. 147 00:13:40,736 --> 00:13:44,823 [Craig] I started to wonder what's happening in oceans 148 00:13:44,949 --> 00:13:46,325 elsewhere on the planet. 149 00:14:31,704 --> 00:14:35,249 [Tanya] Sixty-three billion gallons of oil are used every year 150 00:14:35,374 --> 00:14:38,252 just to supply the U.S. with plastic water bottles. 151 00:14:40,880 --> 00:14:45,134 The U.S. alone throws away 38 billion bottles every year. 152 00:14:45,259 --> 00:14:49,096 That's two million tons of plastic going into U.S. landfills, 153 00:14:49,221 --> 00:14:51,807 and that's only from water bottles. 154 00:14:51,932 --> 00:14:54,685 In this year alone, every single person on the planet 155 00:14:54,810 --> 00:15:01,567 will use and dispose about 300 pounds or 136 kilos, of single-use plastic. 156 00:15:01,692 --> 00:15:05,195 [Craig] Plastic is wonderful because it's durable 157 00:15:05,321 --> 00:15:09,158 and plastic is terrible because it is durable. 158 00:15:14,496 --> 00:15:17,082 Almost every piece of plastic ever made 159 00:15:17,207 --> 00:15:21,211 is still on the planet in some form or another. 160 00:15:21,337 --> 00:15:23,255 Plastic production globally this year 161 00:15:23,380 --> 00:15:27,217 is expected to be more than 300 million tons. 162 00:15:27,343 --> 00:15:31,388 Half of which we'll use just once and then throw away. 163 00:15:31,513 --> 00:15:36,101 By 2050, when the population explodes to almost ten billion people, 164 00:15:36,226 --> 00:15:39,730 it's expected that plastic production will triple. 165 00:15:39,855 --> 00:15:43,025 The problem with that is... is that today, only a fraction 166 00:15:43,150 --> 00:15:46,695 of the plastic that we produce is recycled. 167 00:15:46,820 --> 00:15:48,948 The rest ends up in our environment 168 00:15:49,073 --> 00:15:53,786 and it's coating our land and our oceans like a disease. 169 00:16:06,757 --> 00:16:11,387 [Craig] Tasmania smells like freshness. It smells like salt spray. 170 00:16:12,388 --> 00:16:15,015 Primitive. It just smells natural. 171 00:16:16,433 --> 00:16:20,187 It has the cleanest air and water measured anywhere on the planet. 172 00:16:25,442 --> 00:16:28,988 The ocean to me, is my church, it's my temple, 173 00:16:29,113 --> 00:16:32,449 it's my synagogue, it's my mosque. 174 00:16:32,574 --> 00:16:34,535 It's where I feel the most spiritual. 175 00:16:34,660 --> 00:16:38,664 It's where I go to work, where I go for my enjoyment, 176 00:16:38,789 --> 00:16:40,290 and where I go to think. 177 00:16:40,416 --> 00:16:43,961 And it's also the environment that challenges me 178 00:16:44,086 --> 00:16:46,630 more than any other environment that I know. 179 00:16:55,889 --> 00:16:58,559 Growing up, my world was... 180 00:16:59,685 --> 00:17:01,603 exploring the rock pools... 181 00:17:02,938 --> 00:17:07,192 tiny little fish that I could catch and study and release a day later. 182 00:17:10,612 --> 00:17:14,366 My mother was very caring and very supportive 183 00:17:14,491 --> 00:17:16,618 of anything that we wanted to do. 184 00:17:16,744 --> 00:17:21,707 And she picked up very early on, I think, my fascination with wildlife. 185 00:17:23,500 --> 00:17:26,462 I'm fourth-generation journalist. 186 00:17:26,587 --> 00:17:28,797 It's believed he's heading to Moscow. 187 00:17:28,922 --> 00:17:32,301 We're on a truck taking rice down to Santa Fe. 188 00:17:32,426 --> 00:17:35,721 Okay, it's not live, is it? Hang on, wait, wait! Whoa! 189 00:17:35,846 --> 00:17:40,559 Further outside Katmandu you travel the worse it seems the damage becomes. 190 00:17:40,684 --> 00:17:45,647 Small villages like this one, Sankhu stood no chance against the moving earth. 191 00:17:45,773 --> 00:17:49,359 These rescue teams have been unable to access inside this city. 192 00:17:53,197 --> 00:17:56,492 [Craig] The town that I grew up in was an industrial town. 193 00:17:58,243 --> 00:18:02,247 I remember coming out after training from the surf lifesaving club, 194 00:18:02,372 --> 00:18:06,460 where I was a member, with just stinging red eyes. 195 00:18:06,585 --> 00:18:08,128 So, when I worked for the newspaper, 196 00:18:08,253 --> 00:18:11,298 I wanted to investigate what was causing that. 197 00:18:11,423 --> 00:18:14,093 We started testing on the water in Emu Bay 198 00:18:14,218 --> 00:18:18,972 and what we found was that there were these heavy amounts of organochlorines 199 00:18:19,098 --> 00:18:22,684 and these contain dioxins which are cancer-causing agents. 200 00:18:22,810 --> 00:18:25,437 -[helicopter whirs] -I put this to the government of Tasmania 201 00:18:25,562 --> 00:18:29,149 and they admitted for the first time that these dioxins existed, 202 00:18:29,274 --> 00:18:31,944 and that they were dangerous. 203 00:18:32,069 --> 00:18:35,364 Within ten years, all of those industries had closed, 204 00:18:35,489 --> 00:18:38,033 and today the fish are back in the water. 205 00:18:38,158 --> 00:18:42,037 The water is blue again, and it's a very beautiful city. 206 00:18:59,388 --> 00:19:02,850 We think that when we put something in the trash 207 00:19:02,975 --> 00:19:07,896 or when we just toss it from a boat or on a beach, that it "goes away." 208 00:19:08,021 --> 00:19:10,357 Ah! [stammers] We're now free of the plastic. 209 00:19:13,819 --> 00:19:18,282 [Tanya] Over 80 percent of ocean plastic leaks from land-based sources. 210 00:19:20,993 --> 00:19:23,245 Even if you don't live near the ocean, 211 00:19:23,370 --> 00:19:27,291 chances are your plastic garbage has found its way to the sea. 212 00:19:30,419 --> 00:19:34,131 The Great Lakes in North America are a good example. 213 00:19:34,256 --> 00:19:36,466 Eighty percent of the litter along the shorelines 214 00:19:36,592 --> 00:19:39,303 of these majestic lakes is plastic. 215 00:19:40,512 --> 00:19:44,474 What trash doesn't remain on the shoreline or sink into the lake sediment 216 00:19:44,600 --> 00:19:46,768 flows through the canals and river system 217 00:19:46,894 --> 00:19:51,023 through the St. Lawrence Seaway and into the Atlantic Ocean. 218 00:19:51,148 --> 00:19:53,734 These great lakes are just one example. 219 00:19:53,859 --> 00:19:57,487 This level of plastic debris is found all around the world. 220 00:20:04,703 --> 00:20:07,247 Thousands of years of agriculture and industry 221 00:20:07,372 --> 00:20:12,419 have made the Med one of the most polluted bodies of water on the planet. 222 00:20:12,544 --> 00:20:15,088 About eight million tons of plastic is dumped 223 00:20:15,214 --> 00:20:17,758 into the world's oceans every year. 224 00:20:17,883 --> 00:20:21,678 More than 50 percent of marine debris, including plastic, 225 00:20:21,803 --> 00:20:23,180 sinks to the bottom of the ocean. 226 00:20:26,016 --> 00:20:28,602 -Ahoy! -Hello, Mike! 227 00:20:28,727 --> 00:20:30,604 -Hey, Popov. -Welcome aboard. 228 00:20:30,729 --> 00:20:31,730 -Good to see you. -Yeah. 229 00:20:31,855 --> 00:20:35,275 [Tanya] I met up with filmmaker, Mike deGruy, a marine biologist 230 00:20:35,400 --> 00:20:38,070 and also an experienced submersible pilot 231 00:20:43,408 --> 00:20:47,454 [Tanya] It'll be interesting to see just how far-reaching it really is. 232 00:20:47,579 --> 00:20:49,248 To be this far offshore 233 00:20:49,373 --> 00:20:54,711 and see whether the plastic that we know is coming from that direction 234 00:20:54,836 --> 00:20:58,590 is winding up out in the depths out here, right? 235 00:20:58,715 --> 00:21:03,470 I'm really looking forward to, of course diving the sub in the Med, 236 00:21:03,595 --> 00:21:07,432 a place that has more fishing impact than most bodies of water on the planet. 237 00:21:10,602 --> 00:21:13,063 [squeaks] 238 00:21:30,747 --> 00:21:33,250 [speaks in French] 239 00:21:42,926 --> 00:21:46,555 Hey, Mike, it's Tanya. Can you tell me what you're seeing down there? 240 00:21:48,807 --> 00:21:50,058 [Mike] You turn the light on, 241 00:21:50,183 --> 00:21:52,019 and you're descending through these particles. 242 00:22:03,030 --> 00:22:05,907 Well, welcome to the bottom of the ocean, Tanya. 243 00:22:06,033 --> 00:22:09,703 [Mike] I wish you were down here watching this operation. 244 00:22:11,038 --> 00:22:13,290 If you weren't hogging the sub, I would be down there. 245 00:22:13,415 --> 00:22:16,293 [submarine whirs] 246 00:22:16,418 --> 00:22:19,087 So, we're just under five meters now. 247 00:22:21,006 --> 00:22:24,551 Almost 1200-- About 1200 feet. 248 00:22:24,676 --> 00:22:28,722 -And a plastic bottle. -You see a plastic bottle. Exactly. 249 00:22:30,724 --> 00:22:34,394 We're now starting to see more and more plastic. 250 00:22:34,519 --> 00:22:38,648 More and more tires and pieces of metal, 251 00:22:38,774 --> 00:22:43,862 and just absolutely disregard for the bottom, really. 252 00:22:43,987 --> 00:22:45,947 It's just junk everywhere. 253 00:22:55,582 --> 00:23:00,504 Fishing line is a really dangerous thing to see in a submarine. 254 00:23:00,629 --> 00:23:04,633 You can get entangled in it and stuck to the bottom. Not a good thing. 255 00:23:06,885 --> 00:23:09,221 Tanya, this is Remora. 256 00:23:09,346 --> 00:23:15,018 We are right in front of a pretty good-sized bundle of plastic. 257 00:23:16,019 --> 00:23:20,482 Is there any chance that you can grab some of it with the manipulator? 258 00:23:20,607 --> 00:23:23,985 [Mike] That's exactly what we're going to do. 259 00:23:39,000 --> 00:23:42,671 [Tanya] It looks like a lift bag. Could it be a lift bag? 260 00:23:42,796 --> 00:23:43,713 It's a what? 261 00:23:43,839 --> 00:23:46,258 [men speaking in French] 262 00:23:48,635 --> 00:23:51,721 [Tanya] We saw unexploded bombs, old parachutes, 263 00:23:51,847 --> 00:23:53,515 and plenty of plastic rubbish. 264 00:23:53,640 --> 00:23:56,309 [machine whirs] 265 00:23:58,395 --> 00:24:01,982 Our scientists commissioned a small, remotely-operated vehicle 266 00:24:02,107 --> 00:24:05,694 to travel over a mile and a half down to the deep trenches. 267 00:24:17,455 --> 00:24:19,583 The ROV is coming down. 268 00:24:19,708 --> 00:24:22,586 -[Popov] There they are. -[Mike] Which is kind of cool. 269 00:24:43,064 --> 00:24:45,901 [Tanya] Here, where the daylight never reaches, 270 00:24:46,026 --> 00:24:50,363 the eddies and currents have collected scores of plastic bottles. 271 00:24:52,073 --> 00:24:55,076 This plastic could remain here forever. 272 00:25:28,360 --> 00:25:32,572 You go down, you know, 350, 375 meters, 273 00:25:32,697 --> 00:25:36,493 hit bottom, start moving around, and immediately start seeing trash. 274 00:25:36,618 --> 00:25:38,453 -Plastic? -Plastic. 275 00:25:38,578 --> 00:25:42,749 Where in the world can you go anymore and not find plastic? 276 00:25:47,212 --> 00:25:52,676 [Tanya] Our oceans are driven by five major circular currents, or "gyres." 277 00:25:52,801 --> 00:25:57,889 These are created by the earth's rotation and the resulting predominant winds. 278 00:25:58,014 --> 00:26:01,518 Each continent is affected by these massive systems. 279 00:26:01,643 --> 00:26:04,938 They collect waste flowing from our rivers and coastlines, 280 00:26:05,063 --> 00:26:07,816 and over time, anything floating within the gyre 281 00:26:07,941 --> 00:26:11,069 will eventually move towards the center of the gyre. 282 00:26:21,371 --> 00:26:23,999 [Craig] Our producer, Jo Ruxton, was familiar with the story 283 00:26:24,124 --> 00:26:27,544 about a huge, floating island of garbage 284 00:26:27,669 --> 00:26:30,964 twice the size of Texas in the North Pacific. 285 00:26:33,425 --> 00:26:36,261 Jo joined Dr. Andrea Neal and her team 286 00:26:36,386 --> 00:26:40,223 on an expedition to this Great Pacific Garbage Patch. 287 00:26:40,348 --> 00:26:42,392 So, we're deploying the manta trawl, 288 00:26:42,517 --> 00:26:45,937 and we're going to look for fine particulates and debris. 289 00:26:46,062 --> 00:26:50,483 This mesh here is 333 microns, which is in the size range of zooplankton. 290 00:26:52,402 --> 00:26:55,322 [Craig] The manta trawl captures material on the surface. 291 00:26:55,447 --> 00:27:00,368 It will take anything the size of a pinhead or larger. 292 00:27:01,911 --> 00:27:05,832 Looking out over the vast expanse of clear, sparkling water, 293 00:27:05,957 --> 00:27:08,585 there is no plastic in sight. 294 00:27:08,710 --> 00:27:10,879 [indistinct chatter] 295 00:27:14,507 --> 00:27:17,969 [Craig] The contents of the trawl are emptied and floated. 296 00:27:18,094 --> 00:27:22,349 The tiny pieces of plastic then reveal themselves to Jo and Dr. Neal 297 00:27:24,642 --> 00:27:26,853 [Andrea] Scientists estimate that there are more than 298 00:27:26,978 --> 00:27:31,775 five trillion pieces of plastic afloat in our oceans worldwide. 299 00:27:35,445 --> 00:27:38,073 [Craig] There is no "floating island" of plastic. 300 00:27:38,198 --> 00:27:41,576 What exists is far more insidious. 301 00:27:41,701 --> 00:27:45,663 What exists is a kind of "plastic smog." 302 00:27:45,789 --> 00:27:48,041 These tiny pieces of plastic that are floating 303 00:27:48,166 --> 00:27:51,836 on the surface of the ocean come from larger pieces. 304 00:27:53,046 --> 00:27:57,217 Over time, the sun's ultraviolet light, ocean wave action, and salt, 305 00:27:57,342 --> 00:28:01,513 break it up into smaller pieces called "microplastics." 306 00:28:02,722 --> 00:28:05,934 Microplastics have rough, pitted surfaces. 307 00:28:08,186 --> 00:28:10,438 Waterborne chemicals from industry and agriculture 308 00:28:10,563 --> 00:28:14,192 stick to microplastics, making them toxic poison pills. 309 00:28:56,276 --> 00:28:57,944 There are five ocean gyres, 310 00:28:58,069 --> 00:29:01,531 and the South Pacific is one of the least studied 311 00:29:01,656 --> 00:29:02,824 next to the Indian Ocean. 312 00:29:02,949 --> 00:29:06,870 I've been to three of the five gyres, so this will be my number four. 313 00:29:06,995 --> 00:29:09,831 -So, let's go fishing for plastic. -All right, let's do it. 314 00:29:09,956 --> 00:29:14,252 [Bonnie] My first study was done in the North Atlantic in 2009. 315 00:29:14,377 --> 00:29:20,049 We took a series of seven samples and by weight, we then estimated 316 00:29:20,175 --> 00:29:26,139 that the North Atlantic had 3,440 metric tons 317 00:29:26,264 --> 00:29:29,684 of just microplastics. We're not even including the larger plastics. 318 00:29:30,977 --> 00:29:32,312 Seems really heavy. 319 00:29:34,898 --> 00:29:38,109 -Maybe we caught a coconut. -[chuckles] 320 00:29:38,234 --> 00:29:39,944 -Aw, that's-- Wow, look at that. -Oh, yeah. 321 00:29:40,069 --> 00:29:41,905 [Bonnie] You can see how well this device works. 322 00:29:42,030 --> 00:29:43,198 -[Craig] Yeah. -It collects everything. 323 00:29:43,323 --> 00:29:46,034 [Craig] They look like they've just broken off something. 324 00:29:46,159 --> 00:29:49,496 -Yeah, I mean... -They're very tiny. Look at this. 325 00:29:49,621 --> 00:29:51,998 Michael, I think we've found our first "nurdle." 326 00:29:52,123 --> 00:29:54,209 -Exactly what that is. -Preproduction pellets. 327 00:29:54,334 --> 00:29:56,836 Those things float all around the world, don't they? 328 00:29:56,961 --> 00:30:00,006 -Right. What does it look like to you? -It looks like a little egg. 329 00:30:06,930 --> 00:30:11,392 [Craig] The sea at night is one of my favorite times. 330 00:30:11,518 --> 00:30:14,062 It's when the ocean truly comes alive 331 00:30:14,187 --> 00:30:16,898 and you can virtually see the food chain in action. 332 00:30:25,156 --> 00:30:29,702 Zooplankton feed on phytoplankton. Small fish feed on zooplankton. 333 00:30:29,828 --> 00:30:31,371 Squid feed on small fish, 334 00:30:31,496 --> 00:30:34,457 and so it goes on, up and up the food chain. 335 00:30:53,852 --> 00:30:55,895 -[man] There are some myctophids in there. -[Craig] Oh, wow. 336 00:30:56,020 --> 00:30:58,439 Well, shall we get them on the table and open them up 337 00:30:58,565 --> 00:31:00,650 and have a look and see what's in there? 338 00:31:00,775 --> 00:31:01,985 [man] We'll start with this guy. 339 00:31:05,655 --> 00:31:09,909 -That's something hard right here. -Yeah, what's that? 340 00:31:13,997 --> 00:31:16,207 [birds chirp] 341 00:31:16,332 --> 00:31:19,168 This is the very first sample we did, and it was a night trawl, 342 00:31:19,294 --> 00:31:20,712 so we could catch lantern fish. 343 00:31:20,837 --> 00:31:24,966 After I dried the sample, I handpicked the pieces of plastic. 344 00:31:25,091 --> 00:31:27,302 This is what we found. 345 00:31:27,427 --> 00:31:30,138 So, what this means is the feeding that's occurring 346 00:31:30,263 --> 00:31:34,017 on the surface of the ocean has these plastic fragments floating around, 347 00:31:34,142 --> 00:31:36,352 and is actually intermixing in the food chain. 348 00:31:36,477 --> 00:31:38,771 You know that plastic doesn't degrade. 349 00:31:38,897 --> 00:31:40,732 Most of the time we say it breaks down 350 00:31:40,857 --> 00:31:43,943 but that's probably not an accurate way to say it. 351 00:31:44,068 --> 00:31:47,405 It actually breaks up so it's more, um, proliferated. 352 00:31:47,530 --> 00:31:52,160 And when it's proliferated, there's more opportunities for plastics to be ingested. 353 00:31:52,285 --> 00:31:56,289 Many of the marine creatures eating this kind of plastic are in our food chain. 354 00:31:56,414 --> 00:31:59,626 Does that mean, then, that this plastic is getting inside of us? 355 00:31:59,751 --> 00:32:03,171 The problem is, these plastics adsorb chemicals 356 00:32:03,296 --> 00:32:04,672 that are free-floating in the ocean. 357 00:32:04,797 --> 00:32:11,179 So when the fish eat the plastics, those toxins then migrate from the plastic 358 00:32:11,304 --> 00:32:14,390 into the muscles or the fats, the parts that we like to eat in fish. 359 00:32:14,515 --> 00:32:17,352 Building up in the fish then as they eat more and more of them. 360 00:32:17,477 --> 00:32:19,729 And so, that's the part we like to eat, 361 00:32:19,854 --> 00:32:22,815 and that's where these chemicals migrate to. 362 00:32:31,032 --> 00:32:32,659 [rooster crowing] 363 00:32:47,799 --> 00:32:49,801 [indistinct chatter] 364 00:32:49,926 --> 00:32:52,303 [woman] Big crab. Nice. 365 00:32:52,428 --> 00:32:53,638 Oh! 366 00:32:53,763 --> 00:32:55,223 It's a prawn, eh? 367 00:32:56,849 --> 00:32:59,560 [laughs] 368 00:33:21,958 --> 00:33:25,211 -Hello, Rosie. How are you? -Hi. 369 00:33:25,336 --> 00:33:28,673 -Hi, Bula. -Hi. Bula, Salota. 370 00:33:28,798 --> 00:33:29,966 Dinner. What are we cooking? 371 00:33:30,091 --> 00:33:33,845 We're having taro leaves with fish in coconut milk. 372 00:33:33,970 --> 00:33:35,513 That's a very traditional Fijian village dinner. 373 00:33:35,638 --> 00:33:37,348 Yes, it is. Yes, it is. 374 00:33:37,473 --> 00:33:39,976 It smells really good except for the smoke. 375 00:33:40,101 --> 00:33:42,812 -Yeah, really making my eyes water. -Yeah. 376 00:33:43,855 --> 00:33:47,650 -Did you light your fire using plastics? -Always, yes. 377 00:33:47,775 --> 00:33:50,987 And you do that every time you cook food? 378 00:33:51,112 --> 00:33:52,405 Three times a day. 379 00:33:52,530 --> 00:33:54,449 Instead of buying kerosene, 380 00:33:54,574 --> 00:33:57,035 you use plastic because it's easier to burn. 381 00:33:57,160 --> 00:33:59,871 -Much cheaper, easier to find, it's free. -Much more cheaper. 382 00:33:59,996 --> 00:34:01,622 Very much. And it's free. 383 00:34:01,748 --> 00:34:03,041 I'm feeling that in my eyes. 384 00:34:03,166 --> 00:34:05,793 Do you feel [stammers] that affects you in any way? 385 00:34:05,918 --> 00:34:10,590 You start having problems in breathing and you have problems in coughing. 386 00:34:10,715 --> 00:34:15,470 And sometimes you can have headache. But we-- 387 00:34:15,595 --> 00:34:17,638 It doesn't really bother us. 388 00:34:17,764 --> 00:34:20,349 Because, like, we've used that for a long time. 389 00:34:20,475 --> 00:34:22,685 -So you're used to it. Yeah. -We're used to it. 390 00:34:22,810 --> 00:34:26,189 Whereas I'm not, which is why I'm crying right now. [chuckles] 391 00:34:26,314 --> 00:34:28,357 And I hope you're not crying because of me. 392 00:34:28,483 --> 00:34:31,360 There's no chance. I'm crying because I won't get to try this food. 393 00:34:31,486 --> 00:34:34,822 What I'd like to do is bring back a scientist if we can 394 00:34:34,947 --> 00:34:37,075 and do some measurements on the smoke 395 00:34:37,200 --> 00:34:40,953 and just see what kind of chemicals are being released 396 00:34:41,079 --> 00:34:42,538 from the plastics as you cook. 397 00:34:42,663 --> 00:34:45,958 -[stammers] Would you let us do that? -Yes, of course. 398 00:34:46,084 --> 00:34:48,711 [Craig] We can have a look at maybe some of the health implications 399 00:34:48,836 --> 00:34:50,505 of starting the fires with plastic. 400 00:34:50,630 --> 00:34:51,923 [Rosie] That's a good idea. 401 00:34:53,883 --> 00:34:56,761 [machine whirs] 402 00:34:56,886 --> 00:34:59,263 [Michael] People misuse plastics for a lot of things. 403 00:34:59,388 --> 00:35:00,973 But for cooking, I mean that's-- 404 00:35:01,099 --> 00:35:04,393 for me, it's kind of very unusual circumstances. 405 00:35:04,519 --> 00:35:06,771 And we wanna have a baseline study 406 00:35:06,896 --> 00:35:09,941 to show what kind of chemicals we're actually breathing in. 407 00:35:10,066 --> 00:35:13,820 Because the lung is an interface between that air we're breathing in, 408 00:35:13,945 --> 00:35:17,949 plus the smoke and our blood system, and then we get it in our systems. 409 00:35:18,074 --> 00:35:19,951 [Craig] What did we find today then 410 00:35:20,076 --> 00:35:21,953 with the experiment that you did with this device? 411 00:35:22,078 --> 00:35:25,540 I'll show you. These filters are white when you put them in, but-- 412 00:35:25,665 --> 00:35:27,750 That's brown, almost black. 413 00:35:27,875 --> 00:35:29,085 -Yeah. -This is a mini lung. 414 00:35:29,210 --> 00:35:30,169 This could be what 415 00:35:30,294 --> 00:35:32,380 -they're absorbing into their lungs. -Yeah, pretty much. 416 00:35:32,505 --> 00:35:35,591 [Craig] This can't be good for your health, can it? 417 00:35:35,716 --> 00:35:38,678 [Michael] What we know specifically from this P.A.H 418 00:35:38,803 --> 00:35:42,056 and a combination of those is that they are cancer-causing. 419 00:35:42,181 --> 00:35:43,516 That's one thing. 420 00:35:44,517 --> 00:35:48,104 But there are also maybe phthalates there which are evaporating from plastics 421 00:35:48,229 --> 00:35:51,357 which have a large percentage of the phthalates in there 422 00:35:51,482 --> 00:35:53,442 to give plastic its properties. 423 00:35:57,071 --> 00:36:00,533 If you breathe them, they have, um, hormone-changing properties, 424 00:36:00,658 --> 00:36:03,161 so-called "endocrine-disrupting properties." 425 00:36:03,286 --> 00:36:06,330 And all-- lot of other health effects as well. 426 00:36:09,041 --> 00:36:11,335 [Craig] Professor Sue Jobling is the editor 427 00:36:11,460 --> 00:36:15,923 of the recent World Health Organization report on endocrine disrupters. 428 00:36:17,717 --> 00:36:21,596 Endocrine disruption is disruption of the normal functioning 429 00:36:21,721 --> 00:36:23,639 of the body's hormonal system. 430 00:36:23,764 --> 00:36:27,810 They fool the body into thinking that they are hormones 431 00:36:27,935 --> 00:36:34,400 and then they either block or mimic the action or production of hormones. 432 00:36:34,525 --> 00:36:38,863 And in doing so, they interfere with very many bodily processes-- 433 00:36:38,988 --> 00:36:43,868 growth, metabolism, reproduction, and critically, early development. 434 00:36:43,993 --> 00:36:48,623 [Craig] The majority of ocean plastic comes from just six countries. 435 00:37:05,139 --> 00:37:06,432 [woman] RTHK News. 436 00:37:08,476 --> 00:37:09,810 [man] Billions of plastic pellets 437 00:37:09,936 --> 00:37:12,188 have spilled into Hong Kong's southern waters 438 00:37:12,313 --> 00:37:16,692 after several containers fell off a ship when Typhoon Vicente battered Hong Kong. 439 00:37:16,817 --> 00:37:20,738 [Craig] Six containers full of nurdles. All of them broke up in the storm 440 00:37:20,863 --> 00:37:23,366 and disgorged most of their plastic bags into the sea. 441 00:37:23,491 --> 00:37:25,368 [helicopter whirs] 442 00:37:25,493 --> 00:37:29,330 The vast majority broke open and the contents spilled out. 443 00:37:47,139 --> 00:37:49,016 Run them through your fingers there. 444 00:37:53,062 --> 00:37:54,438 [Tracey] Just plastic pellets everywhere. Yeah. 445 00:37:54,563 --> 00:37:55,940 It looked like snow on the beach. 446 00:37:57,525 --> 00:38:00,569 [Craig] On the neighboring Lamma Island, they found tons of this stuff 447 00:38:00,695 --> 00:38:02,363 that had come ashore. 448 00:38:02,488 --> 00:38:04,365 It seems the company that made the nurdles 449 00:38:04,490 --> 00:38:07,076 has unwittingly put their signature on her. 450 00:38:07,201 --> 00:38:10,079 Sinopec, a giant Chinese oil company 451 00:38:10,204 --> 00:38:13,291 that makes nurdles for distribution worldwide. 452 00:38:28,347 --> 00:38:32,059 Close by are some other sacks, also ripped open. 453 00:38:32,184 --> 00:38:34,645 The vast majority of them would have been carried off 454 00:38:34,770 --> 00:38:38,441 by the typhoon to disperse their contents far and wide. 455 00:38:41,569 --> 00:38:44,947 [Gary] Four of the six are here, so we've got the one on the top here. 456 00:38:45,072 --> 00:38:47,742 It's the one we found at Beaufort Island. 457 00:38:47,867 --> 00:38:51,620 It's totally destroyed. It's a... It's a 40-foot container. 458 00:38:51,746 --> 00:38:53,914 We've been told it carries a thousand sacks. 459 00:38:54,040 --> 00:38:56,500 -There's still one hasn't been found. -Still one out there somewhere. 460 00:38:56,625 --> 00:38:58,753 There's a million pellets of plastic in these bags. 461 00:38:58,878 --> 00:39:02,757 So, every single bag saves thousands of marine species, 462 00:39:02,882 --> 00:39:04,884 so, every bag counts at this point. 463 00:39:05,009 --> 00:39:06,927 Every day, pellets are getting washed out 464 00:39:07,053 --> 00:39:09,180 and trying to get that sense of urgency across. 465 00:39:09,305 --> 00:39:11,640 [Gary] We put a call to action out on Facebook. 466 00:39:11,766 --> 00:39:14,352 "Go to your local beach, this is what you're looking for." 467 00:39:14,477 --> 00:39:16,395 These are the bags, these are the pellets 468 00:39:16,520 --> 00:39:19,023 You know, we came up with a rapid action plan. 469 00:39:19,148 --> 00:39:22,985 Get a quick survey of the coast so we can see the bigger picture. 470 00:39:23,110 --> 00:39:25,863 And from that, then we isolated some hot spots. 471 00:39:27,031 --> 00:39:31,035 [Craig] "Which beach, Cheung Chau/Mui Wo, needs more people to help?" 472 00:39:31,160 --> 00:39:32,995 Uh, Beach Number 1. 473 00:39:33,120 --> 00:39:37,041 [Gary] I set up the Facebook page, "Plastic Disaster Hong Kong" 474 00:39:37,166 --> 00:39:41,837 and it went from 80 to a thousand likes in a few hours. 475 00:39:41,962 --> 00:39:45,132 And it became pretty much the one place 476 00:39:45,257 --> 00:39:47,259 where all the information was being posted by everybody. 477 00:39:47,385 --> 00:39:51,138 Even the government were checking it. Sinopec were checking it. 478 00:39:51,263 --> 00:39:55,684 [Craig] Sinopec sent down people from their head office. 479 00:39:55,810 --> 00:39:57,686 They had general managers on the beaches. 480 00:39:57,812 --> 00:39:59,939 [Gary] They have been very responsible. They have been down. 481 00:40:00,064 --> 00:40:03,442 We had an emergency meeting about it. They're very concerned 482 00:40:03,567 --> 00:40:04,944 and they're offering all the assistance they can. 483 00:40:05,069 --> 00:40:07,321 Thanks for helping, guys. Um... 484 00:40:07,446 --> 00:40:10,699 There's some more concentrated pellets down the end there. 485 00:40:11,784 --> 00:40:13,577 [Craig] Once you let people know what the problem is, 486 00:40:13,702 --> 00:40:15,371 people have their own ideas 487 00:40:15,496 --> 00:40:19,583 and can contribute their own ingenuity to help solve the problem. 488 00:40:21,585 --> 00:40:24,839 [Gary] The people of Hong Kong realized the severity of the problem 489 00:40:24,964 --> 00:40:27,299 and just came out in their masses to help. 490 00:40:27,425 --> 00:40:29,802 And that is something that I will never, ever forget. 491 00:40:37,810 --> 00:40:40,271 [speaks in foreign language] 492 00:40:40,396 --> 00:40:43,315 So, this is what they found in the fish farm. 493 00:40:43,441 --> 00:40:47,111 Pellets like this floating in the sea, and then they're found in the bags. 494 00:40:47,236 --> 00:40:49,113 We caught three fish. 495 00:40:49,238 --> 00:40:54,910 They cut them open and each fish had five, six, seven pellets in it. 496 00:40:55,035 --> 00:40:59,540 [speaking in a foreign language] 497 00:41:01,625 --> 00:41:04,378 Because they can't ingest anything? They can't take in any more food? 498 00:41:04,503 --> 00:41:10,426 [speaking in a foreign language] 499 00:41:10,551 --> 00:41:12,761 [Craig] Even the supermarkets won't buy them. 500 00:41:12,887 --> 00:41:14,889 So, it's completely destroyed the local market. 501 00:41:18,184 --> 00:41:21,061 [Tanya] In a recent study published in Scientific Reports, 502 00:41:21,187 --> 00:41:26,066 U.C. Davis researchers examined 76 fish slated for human consumption 503 00:41:26,192 --> 00:41:29,653 in Indonesia, and 64 in California. 504 00:41:29,778 --> 00:41:32,281 They found that in both groups, roughly one quarter 505 00:41:32,406 --> 00:41:35,075 had anthropogenic debris in their guts. 506 00:41:35,201 --> 00:41:38,162 The researchers found plastic in the Indonesian population 507 00:41:38,287 --> 00:41:41,832 and plastic and textile fibers in the American one. 508 00:41:43,167 --> 00:41:45,586 When sampling blue mussels at six locations 509 00:41:45,711 --> 00:41:48,589 along the coastlines of France, Belgium, and Netherlands, 510 00:41:48,714 --> 00:41:54,678 microplastics were present in every single organism examined. 511 00:41:54,803 --> 00:41:58,140 When you eat shellfish, you're often eating the entire animal. 512 00:41:58,265 --> 00:42:00,726 So you're more likely to eat plastic. 513 00:42:24,792 --> 00:42:26,710 [birds chirping] 514 00:42:31,048 --> 00:42:33,300 [Craig] Lord Howe Island is a world heritage site... 515 00:42:36,011 --> 00:42:39,473 and home to migratory seabirds like the shearwaters. 516 00:42:39,598 --> 00:42:42,518 Seabirds are incredibly helpful 517 00:42:42,643 --> 00:42:45,145 because they act like an army of scientists. 518 00:42:45,271 --> 00:42:48,065 They travel thousands of miles across the ocean. 519 00:42:48,190 --> 00:42:50,818 They pick up plastic off the surface of the ocean, 520 00:42:50,943 --> 00:42:54,154 they bring it back to their rookeries where they feed it to their chicks. 521 00:42:54,280 --> 00:42:57,658 And that provides an incredible amount of scientific data 522 00:42:57,783 --> 00:43:00,744 in terms of where the plastic comes from, its distribution, 523 00:43:00,869 --> 00:43:02,830 and how it breaks up on the ocean's surface. 524 00:43:05,749 --> 00:43:08,335 Dr. Jennifer Lavers... 525 00:43:08,460 --> 00:43:13,090 she's devoted her life to studying the plight of seabirds. 526 00:43:14,675 --> 00:43:17,970 [shearwaters chirp] 527 00:43:18,095 --> 00:43:20,264 Shearwaters are incredible birds. 528 00:43:20,389 --> 00:43:23,892 They migrate thousands of miles, stopping only here to breed. 529 00:43:27,021 --> 00:43:29,690 All species of shearwater nest in the earth. 530 00:43:29,815 --> 00:43:33,819 Their parents return from their distant ocean feeding grounds by night 531 00:43:33,944 --> 00:43:36,030 to feed their chicks in their burrows. 532 00:43:36,155 --> 00:43:40,618 After 70 to 90 days, the chicks venture aboveground for the first time. 533 00:43:40,743 --> 00:43:43,537 They stretch their wings and begin developing their flight muscles 534 00:43:43,662 --> 00:43:46,290 [indistinct chatter] 535 00:43:52,338 --> 00:43:54,214 [Jennifer] We're gonna take some ambient temperature saltwater, 536 00:43:54,340 --> 00:43:56,175 like he would normally be fed by his parents, 537 00:43:56,300 --> 00:43:58,761 and Ian's just gonna hold the mouth open here, 538 00:43:58,886 --> 00:44:02,473 and I'm going to, um, put the tube down into the stomach 539 00:44:02,598 --> 00:44:05,309 if we can get him to cooperate for a moment. 540 00:44:06,518 --> 00:44:09,605 Have you ever received serious injury from one of these? 541 00:44:09,730 --> 00:44:14,151 Indeed. Have I ever. More than I can possibly count. 542 00:44:14,276 --> 00:44:17,780 Depending on how full his stomach is, we could be here for a little while. 543 00:44:19,823 --> 00:44:23,035 No, still nothin'. Still nothin'. 544 00:44:24,828 --> 00:44:25,788 There we go. 545 00:44:31,543 --> 00:44:33,796 [Craig] Whoa! Look at that. 546 00:44:35,130 --> 00:44:38,092 [Jennifer] Need to get some of the oil and stuff out of the way. 547 00:44:38,217 --> 00:44:40,761 It's very thick with all that oil in it. 548 00:44:40,886 --> 00:44:44,264 -That's a lot of plastic, isn't it? -Yeah, and some interesting colors. 549 00:44:44,390 --> 00:44:47,726 The red is quite, quite, uncommon. 550 00:44:47,851 --> 00:44:52,439 It looks like we've got quite a few of the resin pellets, the nurdles, 551 00:44:52,564 --> 00:44:54,441 lots of microplastics. 552 00:44:54,566 --> 00:44:55,692 Right. 553 00:44:55,818 --> 00:45:01,198 There's no way at 935 grams that he would be able to take to the air. 554 00:45:01,323 --> 00:45:04,993 I'm gonna make a bit of a note, he's got some damage to his lower mandible. 555 00:45:05,119 --> 00:45:07,746 Forty-one point seven. 556 00:45:17,131 --> 00:45:18,215 [Craig] Garbage thrown away 557 00:45:18,340 --> 00:45:22,302 in the United States can make its way to Antarctica. 558 00:45:22,428 --> 00:45:26,432 Plastic in our coastal waters is pulled into the center of massive, 559 00:45:26,557 --> 00:45:29,935 wind-driven, churning circular gyres. 560 00:45:30,060 --> 00:45:33,605 There are many other ocean currents also diverting the trash 561 00:45:33,730 --> 00:45:35,983 all around the surface of the ocean. 562 00:45:36,108 --> 00:45:40,404 In reality, it's just one ocean with no boundaries. 563 00:46:26,408 --> 00:46:28,702 [Jennifer] Yeah, the stomach is very, very full, 564 00:46:28,827 --> 00:46:32,748 and if we look here, uh, there's some very dark pieces, 565 00:46:32,873 --> 00:46:34,500 some very light white pieces, 566 00:46:34,625 --> 00:46:38,795 and if you see, you know, as I push on this, it's absolutely rigid. 567 00:46:38,921 --> 00:46:40,923 Completely... 568 00:46:41,048 --> 00:46:43,342 completely full of plastic all the way up. 569 00:46:47,346 --> 00:46:49,348 Ah! Look at that. 570 00:46:49,473 --> 00:46:54,144 Absolutely no doubt that this bird died as a result of that plastic. 571 00:46:54,269 --> 00:46:57,105 That is literally a gut full of plastic. 572 00:46:57,231 --> 00:47:00,734 -It's quite alarming, isn't it? -Ah, it's awful. 573 00:47:00,859 --> 00:47:03,445 Range of plastic types and colors. 574 00:47:03,570 --> 00:47:05,656 We've got everything from the blues and the reds, to-- 575 00:47:05,781 --> 00:47:08,367 His stomach's just filled with it. Big pieces too. 576 00:47:08,492 --> 00:47:10,244 Big, sharp pieces. 577 00:47:16,875 --> 00:47:20,170 Oh, wow, look at the size of that big, black piece. 578 00:47:20,295 --> 00:47:23,340 That is an enormous piece of plastic. 579 00:47:24,883 --> 00:47:26,301 Unbelievable. 580 00:47:28,345 --> 00:47:30,180 Look at the size of that. 581 00:47:40,816 --> 00:47:46,321 Jen, I counted 234 pieces of plastic out of that one bird. 582 00:47:46,446 --> 00:47:49,992 -Is that a record? -Not even close, unfortunately. 583 00:47:50,117 --> 00:47:54,454 So, for the species, the record is 276 pieces of plastic 584 00:47:54,580 --> 00:47:56,206 inside of one 90-day-old chick. 585 00:47:56,331 --> 00:47:58,292 And that plastic, when we weighed it out, 586 00:47:58,417 --> 00:48:01,378 accounted for 15 percent of that bird's body mass. 587 00:48:01,503 --> 00:48:03,630 That's a pretty scary statistic. 588 00:48:03,755 --> 00:48:06,842 If we translate that into human terms, it gets even worse. 589 00:48:06,967 --> 00:48:08,594 That would be equivalent to you and I 590 00:48:08,719 --> 00:48:12,389 having somewhere around six or eight kilos of plastic inside of your stomach. 591 00:48:12,514 --> 00:48:17,811 It's equivalent to about 12 pizzas' worth of food inside of your stomach. 592 00:48:37,914 --> 00:48:42,252 [Tanya] Midway Island is miles away from any coastline 593 00:48:42,377 --> 00:48:47,758 but it has one of the biggest populations of Laysan albatross in the world. 594 00:49:04,358 --> 00:49:05,859 Like the shearwater, 595 00:49:05,984 --> 00:49:10,072 their parents have traveled thousands of kilometers to find food. 596 00:49:28,465 --> 00:49:31,718 It's quite a bit of plastic for just one little bird. 597 00:49:34,262 --> 00:49:36,556 The parents were trying to do the right thing. 598 00:49:36,682 --> 00:49:38,266 There's a lot of squid beaks in here 599 00:49:38,392 --> 00:49:42,354 and, um, this purple color is evidence of the squid ink. 600 00:49:42,479 --> 00:49:44,481 It's just a shame that every now and then 601 00:49:44,606 --> 00:49:47,693 they got it wrong, and got it wrong in a bad way. 602 00:49:47,818 --> 00:49:49,820 [flies buzz] 603 00:50:09,840 --> 00:50:13,885 [Jennifer] To try and wrap your mind around the condition of this animal 604 00:50:14,010 --> 00:50:20,100 and the quality of its life, really, is quite an overwhelming thing. 605 00:50:20,225 --> 00:50:22,436 I do have some pretty rough days-- have to go home 606 00:50:22,561 --> 00:50:26,022 and really wrap my mind around, "Where do we go from here?" 607 00:50:26,148 --> 00:50:28,650 [flies buzz] 608 00:50:28,775 --> 00:50:30,193 All week we've been cutting up birds 609 00:50:30,318 --> 00:50:33,530 and this is without a doubt the absolute worst one that I've come across. 610 00:50:33,655 --> 00:50:36,074 That is an incredible amount of plastic. 611 00:51:21,536 --> 00:51:22,871 [Tanya] I've come to Asinara, 612 00:51:22,996 --> 00:51:27,501 a small island off the northern tip of Sardinia, to meet with Cristina Fossi 613 00:51:27,626 --> 00:51:32,506 a professor of ecotoxicology at the University of Siena. 614 00:51:32,631 --> 00:51:37,969 The turtle rescue center here has just received a loggerhead turtle. 615 00:51:38,094 --> 00:51:41,097 [Cristina] The animals come from Corsica, right, so from France. 616 00:51:41,223 --> 00:51:45,435 And they have identified the animals because they have a problem of floating. 617 00:51:45,560 --> 00:51:50,065 So, it was floating in a very unusual way and then they have discovered 618 00:51:50,190 --> 00:51:55,779 that the cause is the presence of a large amount of plastic in the stomach. 619 00:51:55,904 --> 00:51:57,447 -[Tanya] These plastics? -These plastics. 620 00:51:57,572 --> 00:52:02,160 They produce gas and then the animal is not more able to go down, to dive. 621 00:52:02,285 --> 00:52:05,497 Does he have to perform a surgery to remove this? 622 00:52:05,622 --> 00:52:09,459 -No, no. He use very simple stuff. -Yeah. 623 00:52:09,584 --> 00:52:12,504 This one was used to remove the gas 624 00:52:12,629 --> 00:52:16,675 from the intestinal tract, then he use-- 625 00:52:16,800 --> 00:52:17,801 [man] Metronidazole. 626 00:52:17,926 --> 00:52:20,804 It's, uh, an antibiotic, a normal antibiotic 627 00:52:20,929 --> 00:52:23,265 in order to save the animal from infection. 628 00:52:23,390 --> 00:52:24,349 Right. 629 00:52:24,474 --> 00:52:28,937 And then the last point was to use a fat, uh, diet. 630 00:52:29,062 --> 00:52:32,148 -Treat the gas, get everything moving... -Gas... 631 00:52:32,274 --> 00:52:33,900 -...and get it out. -Yes. 632 00:52:34,025 --> 00:52:37,863 [Cristina] So, commonly plastic bag that's floating on the surface 633 00:52:37,988 --> 00:52:40,907 can be misunderstood as a jellyfish. 634 00:52:41,032 --> 00:52:44,995 And then they can be eating days after days. 635 00:52:45,120 --> 00:52:47,497 Plastic bags or other pieces of plastic, 636 00:52:47,622 --> 00:52:51,960 obviously the consequence can be lethal for the animals. 637 00:53:09,644 --> 00:53:12,981 [Tanya] Cristina's name is well-recognized around the world for her stand 638 00:53:13,106 --> 00:53:16,067 against the killing of whales and dolphins. 639 00:53:16,192 --> 00:53:20,155 [Cristina] We use the approach of the skin biopsy 640 00:53:20,280 --> 00:53:23,199 in order to identify the level of chemicals 641 00:53:23,325 --> 00:53:27,662 and the toxicological effect on these wild animals. 642 00:53:33,293 --> 00:53:35,754 Today we are moving around the Gulf of Asinara, 643 00:53:35,879 --> 00:53:42,135 try to see some bottlenose dolphin, then we collect some microplastic samples. 644 00:53:44,512 --> 00:53:46,890 [Tanya] An increasing number of dolphins and turtles 645 00:53:47,015 --> 00:53:49,601 in the Mediterranean are turning up dead. 646 00:53:49,726 --> 00:53:52,312 Cristina's focus is to get to the bottom of this mystery. 647 00:53:57,108 --> 00:54:01,196 And she has a very unusual way of getting the information she needs. 648 00:54:02,739 --> 00:54:06,618 [speaks in Italian] 649 00:54:06,743 --> 00:54:08,536 [motor revs] 650 00:54:08,662 --> 00:54:10,246 [speaks in Italian] 651 00:54:11,873 --> 00:54:16,461 [man speaking in Italian] 652 00:54:16,586 --> 00:54:18,838 [Tanya] How can you get a tiny piece of blubber 653 00:54:18,964 --> 00:54:21,591 from whales and dolphins without hurting them? 654 00:54:24,636 --> 00:54:25,679 [speaks in Italian] 655 00:54:28,181 --> 00:54:29,307 [speaks in Italian] 656 00:54:31,309 --> 00:54:34,813 [Tanya] The dart bounces off, taking a small piece of flesh with it, 657 00:54:34,938 --> 00:54:38,233 which the scientists use to conduct their research. 658 00:54:38,358 --> 00:54:40,276 It's very difficult. 659 00:54:47,325 --> 00:54:48,868 [speaks in Italian] 660 00:54:48,994 --> 00:54:50,662 It may be, I don't know, but... 661 00:54:52,664 --> 00:54:59,004 So, we can start to process the biopsy that was collected with the darts. 662 00:54:59,129 --> 00:55:02,257 The species is bottlenose dolphins. 663 00:55:02,382 --> 00:55:06,761 That's one of the common species around the coast 664 00:55:06,886 --> 00:55:10,515 and we suppose also one of the most polluted ones. 665 00:55:10,640 --> 00:55:14,811 You expect that you're finding derivatives from plastics 666 00:55:14,936 --> 00:55:17,897 in the blubber of these animals because they're consuming 667 00:55:18,023 --> 00:55:21,317 other animals that are directly consuming the plastics. 668 00:55:21,443 --> 00:55:22,444 Exactly. 669 00:55:22,569 --> 00:55:25,613 And so, if the plastics are in the food chain for the dolphin, 670 00:55:25,739 --> 00:55:27,365 they're also in our food chain. 671 00:55:27,490 --> 00:55:28,491 Exactly. 672 00:55:28,616 --> 00:55:31,077 [motor revs] 673 00:55:38,960 --> 00:55:42,047 [Cristina] We have already very interesting result, 674 00:55:42,172 --> 00:55:45,383 but I would like to invite you into the lab. 675 00:55:47,802 --> 00:55:49,179 [Tanya] When animals eat plastic, 676 00:55:49,304 --> 00:55:52,974 they're also consuming the toxins attached to the plastic. 677 00:55:53,099 --> 00:55:55,560 Toxins pass into the bloodstream. 678 00:55:56,603 --> 00:55:59,314 There, they bio-accumulate in the fatty tissue 679 00:55:59,439 --> 00:56:01,483 and around the vital organs. 680 00:56:02,901 --> 00:56:06,738 When animals use the stored fat, the toxins circulate around the body, 681 00:56:06,863 --> 00:56:11,117 interfering with reproduction, metabolism growth, kidney and liver function. 682 00:56:12,702 --> 00:56:14,454 [beeps] 683 00:56:16,998 --> 00:56:19,125 As we have seen this day, 684 00:56:19,250 --> 00:56:22,462 there is clear evidence that plankton species 685 00:56:22,587 --> 00:56:27,300 and fin whale, for example, have a very high level of phthalates, 686 00:56:27,425 --> 00:56:29,886 that we consider one of the plastic derivatives. 687 00:56:34,891 --> 00:56:39,646 [Cristina] But that data can represent a real warning sign 688 00:56:39,771 --> 00:56:43,733 of exposure to the Mediterranean environment, 689 00:56:43,858 --> 00:56:48,905 including humans, in real toxicological risk. 690 00:56:57,956 --> 00:57:01,501 [indistinct chattering in the distance] 691 00:57:02,502 --> 00:57:04,170 [horn honks in the distance] 692 00:57:24,274 --> 00:57:29,279 [Craig] Smokey Mountain I operated as a two million-metric ton waste dump 693 00:57:29,404 --> 00:57:31,197 for more than 40 years. 694 00:57:31,322 --> 00:57:33,491 It closed in 1995. 695 00:57:36,953 --> 00:57:39,956 [Craig] This garbage tip contains so much methane 696 00:57:40,081 --> 00:57:41,833 which was produced by the garbage within it, 697 00:57:41,958 --> 00:57:45,670 that when it reaches a certain temperature, it catches fire. 698 00:57:45,795 --> 00:57:49,174 That creates this smoke that comes out of the top of the pile 699 00:57:49,299 --> 00:57:52,302 and filters over the city of Manila. 700 00:57:52,427 --> 00:57:57,015 So, sweet potatoes, corn, sugar cane, 701 00:57:57,140 --> 00:58:01,102 all growing on 40 years of garbage. 702 00:58:01,227 --> 00:58:05,773 -[woman] Yeah. -[Craig] You worked here as a 12-year-old. 703 00:58:05,899 --> 00:58:08,860 [woman] Yeah. To earn money to support my family needs. 704 00:58:08,985 --> 00:58:10,987 And what would you collect up here? 705 00:58:11,112 --> 00:58:15,158 Recyclables, like bottles, cans, and plastics. 706 00:58:15,283 --> 00:58:18,119 This, uh, local chap here is still 707 00:58:18,244 --> 00:58:20,580 harvesting the plastic that's in the ground. 708 00:58:20,705 --> 00:58:23,458 -Yeah, lot of plastic. -It's just everywhere. 709 00:58:23,583 --> 00:58:27,587 -What's the most common disease here? -[Leticia] Uh, pulmonary. 710 00:58:27,712 --> 00:58:30,215 -Pulmonary, such as tuberculosis, -Yeah. 711 00:58:30,340 --> 00:58:31,466 Yes, emphysema. 712 00:58:31,591 --> 00:58:34,844 Emphysema, yes. My father died due to emphysema. 713 00:58:42,185 --> 00:58:47,774 No one knows how much plastic has accumulated in the sea 714 00:58:47,899 --> 00:58:50,610 in the last 50 years, but one thing is sure, 715 00:58:50,735 --> 00:58:52,487 the pace has picked up. 716 00:58:55,490 --> 00:58:58,660 [film narrator] The world of plastics is present everywhere, 717 00:58:58,785 --> 00:59:01,913 yet this presence is but a premonition of a future world. 718 00:59:02,038 --> 00:59:05,166 Our children will see a bit of that world 719 00:59:05,291 --> 00:59:07,544 and our grandchildren will not see the end of it. 720 00:59:24,269 --> 00:59:27,146 [Craig] The smell is almost indescribable. 721 00:59:27,272 --> 00:59:31,526 It's kind of like a cross between sewage and oil, 722 00:59:31,651 --> 00:59:33,319 and it's everywhere. 723 00:59:36,573 --> 00:59:39,576 [metal clanking] 724 00:59:39,701 --> 00:59:42,203 [speaks in foreign language] 725 00:59:47,750 --> 00:59:52,880 [Craig] The ground, to within two inches above it is covered in flies. 726 00:59:54,048 --> 00:59:55,091 [flies buzz] 727 01:00:03,808 --> 01:00:06,019 [man speaks in Tagalog] 728 01:00:06,144 --> 01:00:08,813 -[men speaking indistinctly] -[chuckles] 729 01:00:08,938 --> 01:00:13,276 [children chattering indistinctly] 730 01:00:14,861 --> 01:00:18,197 [Craig] I could see a child flying a kite. 731 01:00:18,323 --> 01:00:22,285 You could see the kite was made from a plastic bag 732 01:00:22,410 --> 01:00:27,332 and he'd fashioned this himself and used straws as the mainframe for the kite. 733 01:00:29,083 --> 01:00:33,004 If you got behind him and looked towards the sky, 734 01:00:33,129 --> 01:00:36,591 he could have been any child anywhere in the world. 735 01:00:36,716 --> 01:00:40,386 [speaks indistinctly] 736 01:00:40,511 --> 01:00:41,971 [chuckles] 737 01:00:46,100 --> 01:00:50,813 [Craig] Every time it rains here, every time the wind blows offshore, 738 01:00:50,938 --> 01:00:56,027 the sludge, the plastic from all of that rubbish ends up straight in Manila Bay, 739 01:00:56,152 --> 01:00:59,781 and I guess into the stomachs of whatever marine animals 740 01:00:59,906 --> 01:01:02,867 are still able to survive in the bay. 741 01:01:05,995 --> 01:01:09,540 A lot of plastic here. I guess a lot of this is brought in by the river. 742 01:01:09,666 --> 01:01:11,417 Yeah, it came from the Pasig River. 743 01:01:11,542 --> 01:01:15,922 Also it's been washed up by, uh, the ocean during typhoons 744 01:01:16,047 --> 01:01:20,551 and, uh, also people living here also throw their garbage in this area 745 01:01:20,677 --> 01:01:23,221 because there are no garbage collectors 746 01:01:23,346 --> 01:01:25,014 coming into the area to collect the garbage. 747 01:01:25,139 --> 01:01:29,936 How much waste... plastic waste is put into the waterways here? 748 01:01:30,061 --> 01:01:34,148 -Do you have any idea? -Uh, around 1500 tons daily. 749 01:01:34,273 --> 01:01:36,484 One thousand five hundred tons every day? 750 01:01:36,609 --> 01:01:37,610 Yes. 751 01:01:42,573 --> 01:01:43,574 [man] One more, one more! 752 01:01:43,700 --> 01:01:45,785 -Ready? -[man] You go now! 753 01:01:45,910 --> 01:01:48,454 [boys scream] 754 01:01:48,579 --> 01:01:51,916 [boys laugh] 755 01:01:52,041 --> 01:01:54,127 [boy] One, two, three, four! 756 01:01:54,252 --> 01:01:55,878 [boys scream] 757 01:01:56,003 --> 01:01:57,004 Thank you. 758 01:01:57,130 --> 01:01:59,924 Well, I have to say, you're all much better basketballers than I am. 759 01:02:00,049 --> 01:02:01,843 -I'm so bad. I'm sorry. -Again, again? 760 01:02:01,968 --> 01:02:05,388 I'm no good at basketball. You're very good at basketball. This guy. 761 01:02:05,513 --> 01:02:07,223 -Thank you. -Very good. 762 01:02:07,348 --> 01:02:11,144 -Do you all live here? In Pier 18? -Yes. 763 01:02:11,269 --> 01:02:13,938 -And you play basketball all the time? -Yeah. 764 01:02:14,063 --> 01:02:15,398 Do you go to school? 765 01:02:15,523 --> 01:02:16,524 -Yes. -No. 766 01:02:16,649 --> 01:02:19,152 Yes, you go to school? You don't go to school? No? 767 01:02:19,277 --> 01:02:20,361 -No. -No? 768 01:02:20,486 --> 01:02:24,323 -So, what do you do during the day? -Uh, scavenger work. 769 01:02:24,449 --> 01:02:27,702 Scavenger, yeah? What do you scavenge for? 770 01:02:27,827 --> 01:02:29,412 -This. -The plastic? 771 01:02:29,537 --> 01:02:30,580 Plastic. 772 01:02:30,705 --> 01:02:32,957 Ah! And what do you do with the plastic, once you--? 773 01:02:33,082 --> 01:02:35,543 -Go to the junk shop. -Yeah? 774 01:02:35,668 --> 01:02:38,296 And what do they give you for the plastic? 775 01:02:38,421 --> 01:02:41,841 -Money. -Money. Is it good money? 776 01:02:43,885 --> 01:02:46,262 -What kind of money? -Money. 777 01:02:46,387 --> 01:02:48,306 -He's asking how much we're earning. -It's 150 pesos. 778 01:02:48,431 --> 01:02:50,475 -[Craig] Yeah? -One day. 779 01:02:50,600 --> 01:02:51,601 -For one day? -Yeah. 780 01:02:51,726 --> 01:02:53,519 And what do you do with the money? 781 01:02:53,644 --> 01:02:55,229 -I give it to my mother. -Your mother. 782 01:02:55,354 --> 01:02:56,481 -Yeah. -Yes? 783 01:02:56,606 --> 01:02:59,025 And what does she do with the money? 784 01:02:59,150 --> 01:03:02,195 -Buy the rice. -The rice. Right. 785 01:03:02,320 --> 01:03:06,282 So you can play, grow up, be healthy, play good basketball. 786 01:03:06,407 --> 01:03:08,117 Show me. Give me your shot. 787 01:03:24,342 --> 01:03:26,427 [Craig] Most of the waste created by the individuals 788 01:03:26,552 --> 01:03:28,721 within each of these villages, towns and cities 789 01:03:28,846 --> 01:03:33,559 generally ends up on the streets or in their canals. 790 01:03:33,684 --> 01:03:36,521 It's easy to understand how these sorts of places 791 01:03:36,646 --> 01:03:40,858 become delivery systems for plastic into our oceans. 792 01:03:45,988 --> 01:03:49,867 [Craig] I understand that this was ten feet deep in plastic. 793 01:03:49,992 --> 01:03:55,456 Literally ten feet of plastic that was pulled out of this canal. 794 01:03:55,581 --> 01:03:57,250 First we dredged, 795 01:03:57,375 --> 01:04:00,545 but we realized that we're digging down to China, we stopped. 796 01:04:00,670 --> 01:04:05,174 [Roel] What we did was to cover it up with, uh, good soil 797 01:04:05,299 --> 01:04:10,847 and garden soil, and then we put up, uh, the coco-pillows. 798 01:04:10,972 --> 01:04:14,225 It's, uh, made from coconut husk. 799 01:04:14,350 --> 01:04:19,021 And then we spread it up until there. We vegetated it in the vetiver grass. 800 01:04:22,024 --> 01:04:26,237 [Craig] The plants take the rest of the waste out of the water. 801 01:04:26,362 --> 01:04:29,282 -[Roel] Yes. -[Craig] And now we've got fish swimming. 802 01:04:29,407 --> 01:04:30,533 -[Roel] And turtles. -[Craig] Wildlife. 803 01:04:30,658 --> 01:04:32,451 [Craig] It's clean enough for animals to live in now. 804 01:04:32,577 --> 01:04:33,619 [Roel] It's clean enough, yes. 805 01:04:33,744 --> 01:04:34,829 -Is it drinkable? -Not yet. 806 01:04:34,954 --> 01:04:37,540 -Not yet. Working on that one. -Working on that one. 807 01:04:37,665 --> 01:04:40,126 [Craig] And so you're going to do this project now 808 01:04:40,251 --> 01:04:42,628 throughout the canals and river systems of Manila? 809 01:04:42,753 --> 01:04:47,258 Yes, uh, with the same idea of putting bioremediation 810 01:04:47,383 --> 01:04:48,926 and phytoremediation together. 811 01:04:51,721 --> 01:04:54,140 [rooster cackles] 812 01:05:02,523 --> 01:05:05,943 [Craig] Do you think that will solve the plastic pollution problem here? 813 01:05:06,068 --> 01:05:08,446 The one that will solve the plastic solution 814 01:05:08,571 --> 01:05:10,948 is the behavior of the people around this area. 815 01:05:11,073 --> 01:05:13,409 So, maybe we'll start with that first 816 01:05:13,534 --> 01:05:15,870 and then we'll solve everything else afterwards. 817 01:05:19,040 --> 01:05:21,792 [chants] 818 01:05:26,130 --> 01:05:29,717 [Tanya] I'm off to visit the tiny, isolated coral atoll of Tuvalu 819 01:05:29,842 --> 01:05:32,094 in the South Pacific, near Fiji. 820 01:05:33,846 --> 01:05:39,352 As a mother, I care deeply about the effects of plastic on our health. 821 01:05:39,477 --> 01:05:42,521 [sings in foreign language] 822 01:06:00,373 --> 01:06:04,168 Tuvalu gained its independence in 1978. 823 01:06:06,504 --> 01:06:11,217 It began importing foreign goods and food and with that came plastic. 824 01:06:13,844 --> 01:06:18,557 I realized just how tiny this nation was when I flew in over the atoll. 825 01:06:18,683 --> 01:06:22,436 Tuvalu is a microcosm of the entire planet, 826 01:06:22,561 --> 01:06:26,023 and they have nowhere to put the plastic. 827 01:06:26,148 --> 01:06:28,901 During World War II, in order to build an airstrip 828 01:06:29,026 --> 01:06:33,072 for the Allies in the Pacific theater, large quantities of coral were dug up 829 01:06:33,197 --> 01:06:36,534 and carted off to be crushed and mixed for the tarmac. 830 01:06:36,659 --> 01:06:40,329 Gaping holes left behind are called "borrow pits." 831 01:06:40,454 --> 01:06:43,708 They were never filled back in, and are now used for refuse. 832 01:07:22,246 --> 01:07:26,042 [fire crackling] 833 01:07:31,756 --> 01:07:35,634 [chickens cackling] 834 01:07:40,181 --> 01:07:42,725 [Tanya] How long have you lived in this borrow pit? 835 01:07:42,850 --> 01:07:45,519 -[woman] Twenty-five years. -So, you're 25 years old? 836 01:07:45,644 --> 01:07:48,064 -Yeah. -In your 25-year lifetime, 837 01:07:48,189 --> 01:07:52,985 have you seen the amount of plastic in your surrounding community increase? 838 01:07:53,110 --> 01:07:56,405 Yeah. Very increase. 839 01:07:56,530 --> 01:08:02,369 Before, in my early childhood, I don't see any plastic 840 01:08:02,495 --> 01:08:05,998 because we don't used to import packaging, plastics. 841 01:08:06,123 --> 01:08:10,795 [Tanya] Tell me what it was like growing up here as a child. 842 01:08:10,920 --> 01:08:14,090 We always, uh, swim at the borrow pit. 843 01:08:14,215 --> 01:08:19,804 [Marao] We don't know that there is, uh, "affectiveness" to us. 844 01:08:19,929 --> 01:08:23,974 We just swim and then we go-- We like fishing. 845 01:08:24,100 --> 01:08:26,936 [Tanya] You used to fish out of the borrow pit and eat the fish? 846 01:08:27,061 --> 01:08:28,604 But you don't do that anymore? 847 01:08:28,729 --> 01:08:31,607 No, we don't eat the fish. We just feed the pigs. 848 01:08:31,732 --> 01:08:33,567 -[Tanya] You feed the fish to the pigs? -[Marao] Yeah. 849 01:08:33,692 --> 01:08:36,195 [pigs squeak] 850 01:08:36,320 --> 01:08:41,700 What kind of health problems are you seeing people suffer from? 851 01:08:41,826 --> 01:08:45,454 Flu. Some people, they get cancer. 852 01:08:45,579 --> 01:08:50,251 And then some people, they don't get pregnant. 853 01:08:50,376 --> 01:08:53,754 People in the borrow pit are having problems conceiving? 854 01:08:53,879 --> 01:08:57,591 If things don't change in the borrow pit, 855 01:08:57,716 --> 01:09:00,928 but the people stay here, what do you think will happen? 856 01:09:02,054 --> 01:09:06,684 I think they get disease. And they don't want to leave. 857 01:09:06,809 --> 01:09:08,602 Like, this is a nice place, 858 01:09:08,727 --> 01:09:15,484 but because of the imported packaging, they destroy our paradise. 859 01:09:17,194 --> 01:09:20,072 And I want to give good future for my children. 860 01:09:21,198 --> 01:09:22,992 'Cause I love my children. 861 01:09:40,217 --> 01:09:43,762 [Craig] How does a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier handle its waste? 862 01:09:43,888 --> 01:09:48,893 With about 4,500 sailors onboard, just shy of half the population of Tuvalu 863 01:09:49,018 --> 01:09:52,855 the amount of waste generated every day is enormous. 864 01:09:52,980 --> 01:09:56,609 U.S. Navy is looking for a way to deal with shipboard waste 865 01:09:56,734 --> 01:09:57,902 without having to go into port. 866 01:09:58,027 --> 01:09:59,195 [brakes squeak] 867 01:10:01,655 --> 01:10:03,532 [Craig] The belly of the latest aircraft carrier 868 01:10:03,657 --> 01:10:09,872 will be fitted with a gleaming maze of steel pipes to devour the ship's waste. 869 01:10:09,997 --> 01:10:13,542 PyroGenesis of Montreal was contracted by the U.S. Navy 870 01:10:13,667 --> 01:10:17,630 to develop a green technology capable of processing the waste 871 01:10:17,755 --> 01:10:19,673 generated by these sailors. 872 01:10:19,798 --> 01:10:23,135 At the heart of this technology is a plasma torch 873 01:10:23,260 --> 01:10:27,181 that changes the molecular structure of whatever is put into it 874 01:10:27,306 --> 01:10:29,892 transforming it back to its core elements. 875 01:10:30,017 --> 01:10:32,937 Better still, it has no detrimental effect on the environment, 876 01:10:33,062 --> 01:10:35,898 it runs off its own energy, and is affordable. 877 01:10:37,066 --> 01:10:38,943 If they could shrink the plant into the size 878 01:10:39,068 --> 01:10:42,029 of something that you can put into a shipping container, 879 01:10:42,154 --> 01:10:45,741 take to small islands like Tuvalu, set it up so that you can put in 880 01:10:45,866 --> 01:10:48,535 all of the rubbish that's existing on the island, 881 01:10:48,661 --> 01:10:52,081 and have it turn into inert or nontoxic substances, 882 01:10:52,206 --> 01:10:54,750 that's going to go a long way to help solving the problems 883 01:10:54,875 --> 01:10:56,502 that exist on islands in the Pacific. 884 01:11:01,298 --> 01:11:05,970 [speaks in a foreign language] 885 01:11:11,225 --> 01:11:17,398 [all singing hymn] 886 01:11:17,523 --> 01:11:19,942 [Craig] If an innovative, workable solution 887 01:11:20,067 --> 01:11:24,280 like pyrogenesis is not implemented in places like Tuvalu, 888 01:11:24,405 --> 01:11:27,491 the quality of life will continue to decline. 889 01:11:27,616 --> 01:11:32,121 The island will eventually be choked by its own plastic waste. 890 01:11:32,246 --> 01:11:35,165 Combined with the rising sea level caused by climate change, 891 01:11:35,291 --> 01:11:38,002 Tuvalu's habitability is under serious threat. 892 01:11:38,127 --> 01:11:41,839 [singing of hymn continues] 893 01:11:50,431 --> 01:11:52,349 One of the kids we've befriended here 894 01:11:52,474 --> 01:11:56,145 has developed a pretty bad lingering cough. 895 01:11:56,270 --> 01:11:59,648 We think his problems might be linked to a hobby he shares with his friends, 896 01:11:59,773 --> 01:12:02,151 making jewelry out of melted plastic. 897 01:12:19,084 --> 01:12:21,587 [cooing] 898 01:12:21,712 --> 01:12:24,673 [Craig] Tanya is extremely protective of her children, 899 01:12:24,798 --> 01:12:27,259 so she's incredibly engaged in their well-being, 900 01:12:27,384 --> 01:12:29,928 particularly where she has control. 901 01:12:30,054 --> 01:12:32,514 And she has control over her environment. 902 01:12:33,849 --> 01:12:35,434 -[Craig] This is Charlie, huh? -[Tanya chuckles] 903 01:12:35,559 --> 01:12:38,479 Surprised he wasn't born with a face mask. [chuckles] 904 01:12:38,604 --> 01:12:40,981 -Yeah, right? And a nose clip? -[chuckles] And a nose clip. 905 01:12:41,106 --> 01:12:43,609 It wasn't easy for me to conceive. I'm an older mom. 906 01:12:43,734 --> 01:12:45,652 I worked really hard for this. 907 01:12:45,778 --> 01:12:48,697 [Tanya] All the time trying to conceive being really clean in my body. 908 01:12:48,822 --> 01:12:52,493 Went through my entire pregnancy without taking so much as a Tylenol. 909 01:12:52,618 --> 01:12:55,412 -Throw the line in there, Till. -Okay. 910 01:12:55,537 --> 01:12:57,206 This is actually Catfish Corner. 911 01:12:57,331 --> 01:12:59,124 [Tanya and Till chuckle] 912 01:12:59,249 --> 01:13:03,170 [Tanya] My kids make me really passionate about the subject. Annoyingly passionate. 913 01:13:03,295 --> 01:13:06,340 You know. Ask my husband. He'll roll his eyes. 914 01:13:06,465 --> 01:13:10,219 He goes from this guy who is washing Ziploc bags 915 01:13:10,344 --> 01:13:14,056 and I think, "Oh, I'm winning! My husband is washing Ziploc bags!" 916 01:13:14,181 --> 01:13:16,850 I see them drying in the sink and I'm like, "Yes!" 917 01:13:16,975 --> 01:13:22,398 But then he'll forget and I see, you know, plastic wrap over a food, 918 01:13:22,523 --> 01:13:24,024 and I'm like, "No!" 919 01:13:24,149 --> 01:13:27,820 Now, you've had a very healthy, uh, lifestyle. 920 01:13:27,945 --> 01:13:30,030 You haven't been able to control every aspect of it, 921 01:13:30,155 --> 01:13:33,575 so the likelihood is he may have plastic in his system. 922 01:13:33,700 --> 01:13:35,786 It's terrifying. It's awful. 923 01:13:35,911 --> 01:13:39,665 And it-- you know, [stammers] it's made me question sometimes, 924 01:13:39,790 --> 01:13:42,126 "Gosh, is even having children the right thing to do?" 925 01:13:43,377 --> 01:13:45,170 I'm still very, very motivated 926 01:13:45,295 --> 01:13:48,298 to obviously do the right thing by myself and my family, 927 01:13:48,424 --> 01:13:52,136 but also to try to incite change 928 01:13:52,261 --> 01:13:55,264 where I can as an environmentalist, as an activist. 929 01:13:55,389 --> 01:13:59,726 I'm optimistic because it beats the alternative. 930 01:14:05,441 --> 01:14:08,652 [Craig] Austin is a very cool city. It's environmentally aware. 931 01:14:10,988 --> 01:14:14,241 It was the first city in Texas to ban the plastic bag. 932 01:14:15,325 --> 01:14:17,411 It's an oasis of eco-friendly people 933 01:14:17,536 --> 01:14:20,289 in a state that's headquarters for the largest oil companies 934 01:14:20,414 --> 01:14:22,708 and petrochemical plants. 935 01:14:30,132 --> 01:14:35,095 PlastiPure is where we formulate and test plastics 936 01:14:35,220 --> 01:14:37,306 for their physical characteristics. 937 01:14:37,431 --> 01:14:42,603 On the CertiChem side, where we are here, we test plastics and other substances, 938 01:14:42,728 --> 01:14:48,525 as well as individual chemicals, uh, to see if they have estrogenic activity. 939 01:14:48,650 --> 01:14:50,110 [machine beeps and whirs] 940 01:14:50,235 --> 01:14:54,281 A lot of plastics, perhaps the great majority, probably 941 01:14:54,406 --> 01:14:57,701 release chemicals that have estrogenic activity. 942 01:14:57,826 --> 01:15:00,913 [Tanya] Estrogenic activity, or "E.A.," 943 01:15:01,038 --> 01:15:04,208 happens when a chemical like BPA or phthalate 944 01:15:04,333 --> 01:15:09,713 leaches from plastic and enters the body where it mimics the hormone estrogen. 945 01:15:09,838 --> 01:15:12,341 Ninety-two point six percent of Americans 946 01:15:12,466 --> 01:15:17,513 age six and older have detectible levels of BPA in their bodies. 947 01:15:17,638 --> 01:15:20,974 The levels in children between six and 11 years of age 948 01:15:21,099 --> 01:15:23,769 are twice as high as those in older Americans. 949 01:15:25,145 --> 01:15:27,481 [Tanya] Are all of those chemicals not regulated? 950 01:15:27,606 --> 01:15:33,862 [Dr. Bittner] No, the FDA at present does not have any regulations 951 01:15:33,987 --> 01:15:40,369 for how many chemicals and what levels of chemicals having estrogenic activity 952 01:15:40,494 --> 01:15:45,624 can be released from plastics or from cosmetics or papers or silicones. 953 01:15:45,749 --> 01:15:48,710 So, how is the general public protected from that kind of thing? 954 01:15:48,835 --> 01:15:50,879 -Uh, they aren't. -They aren't? 955 01:15:51,004 --> 01:15:54,716 [news reporter] From baby bottles to sippy cups to food can liners 956 01:15:54,841 --> 01:15:57,052 to water bottles hydrating the youngest athletes, 957 01:15:57,177 --> 01:16:02,266 consumers have been exposed to a root chemical called Bisphenol A or BPA. 958 01:16:02,391 --> 01:16:05,394 An artificial sex hormone used as a core building block 959 01:16:05,519 --> 01:16:09,690 in close to seven billion pounds of plastic on the market today, 960 01:16:09,815 --> 01:16:11,608 because of its strength and resiliency. 961 01:16:11,733 --> 01:16:14,528 This isn't a weak, uh, contaminant. 962 01:16:14,653 --> 01:16:15,862 This is a powerful contaminant 963 01:16:15,988 --> 01:16:19,241 and it's striking right at the core of American public health. 964 01:16:19,366 --> 01:16:22,786 When something says that it's BPA-free, is that something I can trust? 965 01:16:22,911 --> 01:16:29,668 Over 90 percent of all plastics that don't have BPA, 966 01:16:29,793 --> 01:16:34,590 nonetheless, uh, release chemicals having estrogenic activity. 967 01:16:34,715 --> 01:16:38,760 So, BPA is not the only bad guy that we need to be looking out for. 968 01:16:38,885 --> 01:16:42,055 BPA is only one bad guy. 969 01:16:42,180 --> 01:16:45,225 -Like saying, "I've caught Al Capone!" -Yeah. 970 01:16:45,350 --> 01:16:47,019 -"I've just handled... -Yeah. [chuckles] 971 01:16:47,144 --> 01:16:49,313 ...the criminal problem in the United States!" 972 01:16:50,939 --> 01:16:53,775 We do quite a bit of this testing to see where the issues are 973 01:16:53,900 --> 01:16:57,988 but we also use that data to help manufacturers make safer products. 974 01:16:58,113 --> 01:17:00,449 Right. The average consumer goes, "Poly-whatta-whatta?" 975 01:17:00,574 --> 01:17:01,783 You know, "I don't get it. 976 01:17:01,908 --> 01:17:04,411 Tell me what is the right one, what is safe, what isn't." 977 01:17:04,536 --> 01:17:05,746 When we look at baby bottles, 978 01:17:05,871 --> 01:17:08,040 we have to look at all the different components 979 01:17:08,165 --> 01:17:11,293 that come in contact with the milk or with the baby. 980 01:17:11,418 --> 01:17:14,588 All of the hard and clear materials that we've tested 981 01:17:14,713 --> 01:17:16,423 leach these estrogenic chemicals. 982 01:17:16,548 --> 01:17:22,095 Other things, like the nipple, are generally made from silicone or latex. 983 01:17:22,220 --> 01:17:27,392 Latex, uh, always, from our tests, has come back positive for E.A. 984 01:17:27,517 --> 01:17:29,770 And silicone generally is positive for estrogenic activity. 985 01:17:29,895 --> 01:17:34,691 And stainless steel is obviously, I thought, a better option. 986 01:17:34,816 --> 01:17:36,568 If it doesn't have a liner, 987 01:17:36,693 --> 01:17:39,696 uh, stainless steel, it tends to be fine and glass tends to be fine. 988 01:17:39,821 --> 01:17:43,241 The colorants, uh, tend to leach a lot of chemicals, 989 01:17:43,367 --> 01:17:46,703 so we, uh, try to stay away from colorants when we can. 990 01:17:46,828 --> 01:17:49,539 When we can't, white and black tend to be... 991 01:17:49,665 --> 01:17:51,208 -The least? Okay. -The least. 992 01:17:51,333 --> 01:17:54,795 And we've started using a lot more foil in our house, rather than this stuff. 993 01:17:54,920 --> 01:17:55,921 -Foil is a better option. -[Tanya] Okay. 994 01:17:56,046 --> 01:17:59,216 We use foil in the lab because foil doesn't leach these chemicals. 995 01:17:59,341 --> 01:18:04,513 And this, I know, Styrofoam, is a personal, personal pet peeve of mine. 996 01:18:04,638 --> 01:18:09,101 The likelihood is estrogenic chemicals will leach out of styrene products. 997 01:18:09,226 --> 01:18:10,477 Cold foods, anything? 998 01:18:10,602 --> 01:18:13,480 Likely, hot fluids would increase the amount of leaching, 999 01:18:13,605 --> 01:18:14,815 but it'd still be leaching something. 1000 01:18:14,940 --> 01:18:20,195 [Dr. Bittner] The majority of plastics increase the release of chemicals 1001 01:18:20,320 --> 01:18:24,700 having estrogenic activity after they've been exposed, 1002 01:18:24,825 --> 01:18:26,493 to particularly sunlight. 1003 01:18:26,618 --> 01:18:28,203 [Tanya] How do you not consume it? 1004 01:18:28,328 --> 01:18:31,957 You can't go anywhere without seeing food wrapped in plastic. 1005 01:18:32,082 --> 01:18:35,544 You can't go to a restaurant without, you know, 1006 01:18:35,669 --> 01:18:39,756 takeout boxes being in plastic, hot foods going into plastic. 1007 01:18:39,881 --> 01:18:42,843 My answer there is, well, demand safer plastic. 1008 01:18:42,968 --> 01:18:46,805 So, what we're gonna do is go inside a couple of restaurants 1009 01:18:46,930 --> 01:18:49,808 and ask them about, uh... 1010 01:18:49,933 --> 01:18:50,934 We'll ask them for food 1011 01:18:51,059 --> 01:18:53,186 and see if they can't give it to us in a non-plastic container. 1012 01:18:58,066 --> 01:18:59,860 -Hello, how are you doing? -Good, how are you? 1013 01:18:59,985 --> 01:19:03,113 I'm not too bad. Can I get the, um, "Power Plant"? 1014 01:19:03,238 --> 01:19:05,824 Can I get a small "Berry Blast"? 1015 01:19:05,949 --> 01:19:10,704 Hello, there. Um... Can I get an orange juice, please? 1016 01:19:10,829 --> 01:19:11,788 What can I get you for lunch today? 1017 01:19:11,913 --> 01:19:14,332 -I'm getting the BLT. -[man] A BLT. 1018 01:19:14,458 --> 01:19:17,335 Do you have anything not wrapped in plastic? 1019 01:19:17,461 --> 01:19:19,212 -I have nothing to do with the food. -[Craig chuckles] 1020 01:19:19,337 --> 01:19:22,841 Do you have anything other than plastic to put it in? 1021 01:19:22,966 --> 01:19:26,386 No. You can buy our giant little reusables. 1022 01:19:26,511 --> 01:19:28,680 Yeah, but that's still plastic. 1023 01:19:28,805 --> 01:19:30,807 -This one's what we got. -Without the plastic lid's fine. 1024 01:19:30,932 --> 01:19:33,268 -Is that paper? It is? Great. Yeah. -Yes. 1025 01:19:33,393 --> 01:19:36,730 -Do you have anything other than plastic? -We have that one in a cold press. 1026 01:19:36,855 --> 01:19:39,775 It's actually exposed to less oxygen, so it's way better juice 1027 01:19:39,900 --> 01:19:41,777 with twice the amount of vitamins and nutrients. 1028 01:19:41,902 --> 01:19:44,988 -That sounds really healthy. -Yeah, it's the way to go for the balance. 1029 01:19:45,113 --> 01:19:46,740 -Yeah, that sounds great. -Cool, man. 1030 01:19:46,865 --> 01:19:49,075 But do you serve it in anything other than plastic containers? 1031 01:19:49,201 --> 01:19:51,995 We have them made, uh, at our central kitchen every morning, 1032 01:19:52,120 --> 01:19:54,456 and they bring 'em to us on the cold press juicer, 1033 01:19:54,581 --> 01:19:56,750 so it's ready to go, bottled for convenience. 1034 01:19:56,875 --> 01:19:58,335 But that's in plastic, yeah? 1035 01:19:58,460 --> 01:20:01,129 -Do you have something not plastic? -No. 1036 01:20:01,254 --> 01:20:04,007 And you serve all your drinks in plastic cups as well? 1037 01:20:04,132 --> 01:20:05,175 Yes, sir. 1038 01:20:05,300 --> 01:20:06,927 Keep the straw 'cause that's plastic. 1039 01:20:07,052 --> 01:20:09,721 -I'll have to leave it then, I think. -Yeah? 1040 01:20:09,846 --> 01:20:11,014 -Yeah. -Okay, that's okay. 1041 01:20:11,139 --> 01:20:13,225 -Yeah. Okay. Well, thanks very much. -Yeah. 1042 01:20:13,350 --> 01:20:14,893 All right, what can I get you? 1043 01:20:15,018 --> 01:20:17,771 Yeah, I felt like I was a bit of an eco-warrior. 1044 01:20:17,896 --> 01:20:22,192 Tell me, what's my food wrapped in? It's not plastic, is it? [chuckles] 1045 01:20:22,317 --> 01:20:24,528 I'm going to die of something. 1046 01:20:24,653 --> 01:20:28,240 -Yeah, but do you wanna die early or late? -[man chuckles] 1047 01:20:28,365 --> 01:20:30,909 My boyfriend actually tells me every single day of my life 1048 01:20:31,034 --> 01:20:32,828 to not be drinking water bottles from my car 1049 01:20:32,953 --> 01:20:34,162 but if I'm thirsty, I'm thirsty. 1050 01:20:34,287 --> 01:20:36,915 You know what? He's right. And you've got that wrapped in paper. 1051 01:20:37,040 --> 01:20:38,124 That's good. 1052 01:20:38,250 --> 01:20:39,960 That's impressive for a takeaway place. 1053 01:20:40,085 --> 01:20:42,212 Take the salad and stick 'em in like, a few of these. 1054 01:20:42,337 --> 01:20:44,214 Yeah, that'd be better than sticking it in plastic. 1055 01:20:44,339 --> 01:20:46,550 If you could put it maybe between two paper plates. 1056 01:20:46,675 --> 01:20:49,261 It's just all the chemicals in this that get into the food. 1057 01:20:49,386 --> 01:20:52,180 You've made such a great sandwich, by the look of it. 1058 01:20:52,305 --> 01:20:56,601 [Tanya] We gave in to the sales hype of the '50s that plastic was "disposable," 1059 01:20:56,726 --> 01:20:59,229 that we could throw it away. 1060 01:20:59,354 --> 01:21:01,106 There is no "away." 1061 01:21:06,903 --> 01:21:10,532 It's so very hard as a parent, as a mom, as a woman, 1062 01:21:10,657 --> 01:21:14,035 to feel like you can do the best thing, 1063 01:21:14,160 --> 01:21:15,829 you know, that you can do the right thing anymore. 1064 01:21:15,954 --> 01:21:19,374 Every day, you know, we're contributing potentially 1065 01:21:19,499 --> 01:21:22,961 to a dreadful health problem later on down the line. 1066 01:21:31,177 --> 01:21:33,138 No. There's nothing else to put it in. 1067 01:21:33,263 --> 01:21:34,890 Beep, beep, beep. 1068 01:21:38,226 --> 01:21:41,855 What this white stuff is, is like the worst of the worst. 1069 01:21:42,939 --> 01:21:45,859 [Craig] Like a rubbish bin, the earth is filling up with the stuff. 1070 01:21:45,984 --> 01:21:48,194 There is nowhere else to put it. 1071 01:21:48,320 --> 01:21:50,030 [Tanya] That's why, as much as possible, 1072 01:21:50,155 --> 01:21:56,036 we choose foods and drinks that don't have plastic around them. 1073 01:21:56,161 --> 01:21:59,456 [Craig] It starts with the individual and it starts with us. 1074 01:21:59,581 --> 01:22:02,751 What do you do? You can't possibly filter out 1075 01:22:02,876 --> 01:22:05,253 these tiny particles from the entire ocean. 1076 01:22:05,378 --> 01:22:06,963 You can't filter the entire ocean. 1077 01:22:07,088 --> 01:22:10,467 In fact, so much plastic is in the ocean now 1078 01:22:10,592 --> 01:22:13,428 in a form that we really can't get to it 1079 01:22:13,553 --> 01:22:17,807 that I feel the emphasis needs to immediately shift 1080 01:22:17,933 --> 01:22:19,142 toward "stop putting it in." 1081 01:22:22,854 --> 01:22:23,855 [Craig] Mike deGruy is right. 1082 01:22:23,980 --> 01:22:26,775 But how do we get to the point where we can stop putting it in? 1083 01:22:28,568 --> 01:22:30,570 -Hi. That's me. -I'd like to speak to the manager. 1084 01:22:30,695 --> 01:22:33,031 I notice when I came in here and ordered, uh, 1085 01:22:33,156 --> 01:22:37,452 my sandwich and my drink, they both came in plastic containers. 1086 01:22:37,577 --> 01:22:40,872 Our cups are a hundred percent plant-based so they can be composted. 1087 01:22:40,997 --> 01:22:44,709 You're one of the first places in Austin I've come to that has an alternative. 1088 01:22:44,834 --> 01:22:45,794 Is that right? 1089 01:22:45,919 --> 01:22:47,545 Best alternative option I've got for you today. 1090 01:22:47,671 --> 01:22:49,714 That's perfect. I appreciate it. Least you've got an alternative. 1091 01:22:49,839 --> 01:22:51,675 -Exactly. -Thank you very much. Appreciate it. 1092 01:22:51,800 --> 01:22:53,468 -Have a great weekend. -You too. 1093 01:22:53,593 --> 01:22:57,806 Find me some Gala apples that are not in plastic. 1094 01:22:58,807 --> 01:23:01,142 [Craig] Demand that your supermarket deliver your food products in paper 1095 01:23:01,267 --> 01:23:02,978 or just as they come. 1096 01:23:03,103 --> 01:23:07,065 They don't need to be wrapped in plastic and if they are, take the plastic off 1097 01:23:07,190 --> 01:23:09,150 and leave it with them and say, 1098 01:23:09,275 --> 01:23:12,237 "You dispose of it and dispose of it properly." 1099 01:23:12,362 --> 01:23:14,531 Because once it becomes their problem, 1100 01:23:14,656 --> 01:23:16,866 you'll find that they will do something about it. 1101 01:23:41,891 --> 01:23:45,645 Don't put your plastic rubbish in a dumpster 1102 01:23:45,770 --> 01:23:47,731 where you know it's going to landfill. 1103 01:23:51,985 --> 01:23:55,864 [Craig] In 1991, Germany became the first country in the world 1104 01:23:55,989 --> 01:23:59,200 to pass packaging laws forcing plastic manufacturers 1105 01:23:59,325 --> 01:24:02,203 to be responsible for the recycling or disposal 1106 01:24:02,328 --> 01:24:04,831 of any packaging material they sell. 1107 01:24:04,956 --> 01:24:06,499 The industry set up a company 1108 01:24:06,624 --> 01:24:11,337 to oversee plastic waste collection recognized by the green dot. 1109 01:24:12,547 --> 01:24:14,966 When I was a kid, we used to run around the neighborhood 1110 01:24:15,091 --> 01:24:17,969 collecting glass bottles to take to the store 1111 01:24:18,094 --> 01:24:19,929 to collect the 5-cent refund that we'd get. 1112 01:24:21,639 --> 01:24:25,185 Plastic packaging pretty much killed the bottle deposit system. 1113 01:24:25,310 --> 01:24:28,605 But here in Germany, they've reinstated it. 1114 01:24:28,730 --> 01:24:32,233 You can take your plastic bottles to almost any supermarket 1115 01:24:32,358 --> 01:24:36,154 and put them in this machine. And what it does is it reads a barcode 1116 01:24:36,279 --> 01:24:39,282 which tells the machine the kind of plastic that it is, 1117 01:24:39,407 --> 01:24:43,203 that it's recyclable, and which retailer it comes from. 1118 01:24:43,328 --> 01:24:47,082 So the consumer gets a 25-cent deposit off every bottle, 1119 01:24:47,207 --> 01:24:48,625 the retailer gets the plastic, 1120 01:24:48,750 --> 01:24:52,545 which they can sell to recyclers for a lucrative amount of money. 1121 01:24:52,670 --> 01:24:54,255 And on the streets of Germany, 1122 01:24:54,380 --> 01:24:58,968 you very rarely see these things anymore because everybody recycles them. 1123 01:25:04,057 --> 01:25:07,268 [Craig] The Germans demonstrated that there is profit to be made. 1124 01:25:08,728 --> 01:25:12,065 Today, recycling is a lucrative industry. 1125 01:25:16,569 --> 01:25:17,946 Pressure your government. 1126 01:25:18,071 --> 01:25:21,950 Tell them that you do not accept that plastic should be in the environment. 1127 01:25:22,075 --> 01:25:24,744 The manufacturers of plastic have their own lobby groups 1128 01:25:24,869 --> 01:25:27,122 and they'll lobby the government to get the best possible deal 1129 01:25:27,247 --> 01:25:30,208 for them to get their products into the marketplace 1130 01:25:30,333 --> 01:25:32,794 for the least cost, and the least cost means 1131 01:25:32,919 --> 01:25:35,380 that they don't have to be responsible for it. 1132 01:25:35,505 --> 01:25:37,423 If they manufacture it, they should be responsible 1133 01:25:37,549 --> 01:25:39,843 for its collection and for its proper disposal. 1134 01:25:39,968 --> 01:25:42,887 [Tanya] We will all be better off if less plastic is manufactured 1135 01:25:43,012 --> 01:25:44,180 in the first place. 1136 01:25:44,305 --> 01:25:47,183 Scientists are already calling for governments 1137 01:25:47,308 --> 01:25:50,645 to reclassify plastic as a hazardous substance. 1138 01:25:50,770 --> 01:25:54,732 Because then, existing laws about hazardous substances 1139 01:25:54,858 --> 01:25:55,942 will already be in effect. 1140 01:25:56,067 --> 01:25:59,654 Plastic bags and water bottles are the worst single-use offenders. 1141 01:25:59,779 --> 01:26:03,783 What if we ban them outright to stop that vicious cycle? 1142 01:26:03,908 --> 01:26:09,038 Rwanda is one of the very few countries that has banned plastic bags. 1143 01:26:11,833 --> 01:26:17,213 [woman] Rwanda being an agricultural country... 1144 01:26:17,338 --> 01:26:19,924 whereby we don't have a lot of industries 1145 01:26:20,049 --> 01:26:23,761 we have tried to assess the impact of plastic bags 1146 01:26:39,777 --> 01:26:42,488 [man] I think it's a shocking waste of valuable resources 1147 01:26:42,614 --> 01:26:45,575 that these materials are being put in the landfill. 1148 01:26:45,700 --> 01:26:49,454 They're so much more valuable. If we put them in the landfill, 1149 01:26:49,579 --> 01:26:54,709 the cost in Europe is roundabout a minus 100 pounds a ton, $150. 1150 01:26:54,834 --> 01:27:01,424 But as a useful plastic, it could be worth plus $1,200, $1,500 a ton. 1151 01:27:01,549 --> 01:27:03,134 So, it's a huge difference in value. 1152 01:27:04,552 --> 01:27:08,056 We actually have the answers now to recycling most plastics, 1153 01:27:08,181 --> 01:27:11,351 uh, and the challenge really is to get everyone onboard 1154 01:27:11,476 --> 01:27:15,104 with those ideas, and also to get the collection infrastructure going right 1155 01:27:15,230 --> 01:27:18,024 so that we get big volumes coming concentrated in one place, 1156 01:27:18,149 --> 01:27:20,777 so that people can then have the confidence to invest 1157 01:27:20,902 --> 01:27:22,737 in the recovery technology. 1158 01:27:23,738 --> 01:27:26,824 [Craig] Once sorted, recycled plastics are brought into factories like this 1159 01:27:26,950 --> 01:27:30,370 where they can become part of a circular economy, 1160 01:27:30,495 --> 01:27:33,498 cleaned of labels and processed into newborn nurdles, 1161 01:27:33,623 --> 01:27:35,917 ready to be sold once again. 1162 01:27:37,001 --> 01:27:39,003 As recyclers, we think governments could do more 1163 01:27:39,128 --> 01:27:41,339 to encourage development of circular supply chains. 1164 01:27:41,464 --> 01:27:44,175 A lot of recycled plastics can be used back, as we say, 1165 01:27:44,300 --> 01:27:46,344 in "closed loop," back in the same products. 1166 01:27:46,469 --> 01:27:48,263 And that's happening a lot with bottles 1167 01:27:48,388 --> 01:27:51,099 and pots, tubs and trays from the packaging stream, 1168 01:27:51,224 --> 01:27:52,600 but there are plenty of other outlets 1169 01:27:52,725 --> 01:27:54,769 where a short-life item, like a piece of packaging 1170 01:27:54,894 --> 01:27:56,521 can go into a long-life application. 1171 01:27:56,646 --> 01:27:58,856 For example, in construction products, 1172 01:27:58,982 --> 01:28:02,193 uh, in automotive, in making cars and trains 1173 01:28:02,318 --> 01:28:03,695 and airplanes and things like that 1174 01:28:03,820 --> 01:28:07,240 where you can get the performance of the recycled polymer just as good 1175 01:28:07,365 --> 01:28:09,450 as virgin material that's come out of the ground. 1176 01:28:09,575 --> 01:28:12,453 You can take it from a bottle one day to a shirt the next day. 1177 01:28:12,578 --> 01:28:16,249 From that shirt, then it can become a component in a vehicle. 1178 01:28:16,374 --> 01:28:18,501 It can become something that's sent to space. 1179 01:28:18,626 --> 01:28:20,003 Through the Plastic Bank, 1180 01:28:20,128 --> 01:28:24,257 we make plastic waste a currency, so that people in developing countries 1181 01:28:24,382 --> 01:28:29,220 can earn an income while preventing plastic from entering the ocean. 1182 01:28:30,596 --> 01:28:34,100 [Craig] David Katz and Shaun Frankson founded the Plastic Bank. 1183 01:28:35,435 --> 01:28:38,146 They established a social plastic recycling system in Haiti 1184 01:28:38,271 --> 01:28:41,774 that exchanges plastic for solar cell phone charging, 1185 01:28:41,899 --> 01:28:44,402 sustainable cook stoves and cash. 1186 01:28:44,527 --> 01:28:48,990 [Shaun] It's like a fair-trade plastic where it's ethically sourced... 1187 01:28:49,115 --> 01:28:52,201 and it's above-market rate income that they earn. 1188 01:28:52,327 --> 01:28:54,495 The people in need can go and collect the plastic 1189 01:28:54,620 --> 01:28:56,164 and create a microeconomy around recycling. 1190 01:28:56,289 --> 01:29:00,126 This is something that we can scale anywhere in the world. 1191 01:29:00,251 --> 01:29:02,253 [Craig] This is a self-sustaining social enterprise. 1192 01:29:03,755 --> 01:29:06,049 All of the plastic collected through the Plastic Bank goes through 1193 01:29:06,174 --> 01:29:09,635 the recycling process and is sold as "social plastic" 1194 01:29:09,761 --> 01:29:13,056 to be used in manufacturing by values-aligned brands, 1195 01:29:13,181 --> 01:29:15,433 or it can be used to 3D print. 1196 01:29:15,558 --> 01:29:17,602 They're using it instead of virgin plastic. 1197 01:29:18,686 --> 01:29:20,396 If you're choosing between two products 1198 01:29:20,521 --> 01:29:22,857 and one's made of social plastic and one's not, 1199 01:29:22,982 --> 01:29:26,194 you're really choosing between, "Do I help or do I hurt the planet?" 1200 01:29:27,278 --> 01:29:29,655 Social plastic is really our way 1201 01:29:29,781 --> 01:29:33,326 that we can create an organic, global infrastructure. 1202 01:29:33,451 --> 01:29:38,164 [Tanya] New technology means that waste can now be converted into energy. 1203 01:29:39,499 --> 01:29:41,918 In Europe alone, there are 15 million tons 1204 01:29:42,043 --> 01:29:46,005 of end-of-life plastic going into landfill every year. 1205 01:29:46,130 --> 01:29:48,091 Cynar, a waste-to-fuel company, 1206 01:29:48,216 --> 01:29:51,219 designed a machine that turns end-of-life plastic 1207 01:29:51,344 --> 01:29:53,304 like candy wrappers and snack packets, 1208 01:29:53,429 --> 01:29:56,474 which aren't usually recyclable, into diesel. 1209 01:29:57,558 --> 01:30:00,686 Using a heating process called "pyrolysis," 1210 01:30:00,812 --> 01:30:05,191 it turns an environmental problem into a valuable commodity. 1211 01:30:05,316 --> 01:30:09,695 Each machine can process about 20 tons of plastic daily, 1212 01:30:09,821 --> 01:30:13,199 making about 18,000 liters of diesel 1213 01:30:13,324 --> 01:30:16,452 or the equivalent of 113 barrels of oil a day. 1214 01:30:18,454 --> 01:30:20,039 [car engine revving] 1215 01:30:24,001 --> 01:30:26,838 [Craig] Islands like Lord Howe manage their plastic waste 1216 01:30:26,963 --> 01:30:29,674 with solutions that match the way they live. 1217 01:30:29,799 --> 01:30:32,051 There is no burning and there is no landfill on this island. 1218 01:30:32,176 --> 01:30:36,013 Food waste, the garden waste, paper and cardboard gets composted. 1219 01:30:36,139 --> 01:30:39,433 All the recyclables are baled and sent back to the mainland, 1220 01:30:39,559 --> 01:30:41,853 and currently the island's diverting 85 percent 1221 01:30:41,978 --> 01:30:43,437 of all their waste from landfill. 1222 01:30:43,563 --> 01:30:45,481 This is the recycling sorting facility. 1223 01:30:45,606 --> 01:30:48,568 We can separate, we can bale everything. 1224 01:30:48,693 --> 01:30:52,947 You can galvanize a community to do amazing things. 1225 01:30:53,072 --> 01:30:54,866 [rattling] 1226 01:30:58,786 --> 01:31:01,706 [woman] The whales are diving into a sea of plastic bottles 1227 01:31:01,831 --> 01:31:05,418 and the bottles were collected from the Bristol 10K Race. 1228 01:31:06,419 --> 01:31:09,463 [Tanya] It was important to the artist, Sue Lipscombe, 1229 01:31:09,589 --> 01:31:12,758 to make this sculpture out of sustainable materials. 1230 01:31:12,884 --> 01:31:17,805 She used recycled plastics and locally-grown willow. 1231 01:31:17,930 --> 01:31:20,349 [Tanya] There are 70,000 bottles. 1232 01:31:20,474 --> 01:31:22,393 That means in some way, 1233 01:31:22,518 --> 01:31:26,939 up to 70,000 people have contributed to this art. 1234 01:31:27,064 --> 01:31:30,443 I kick off by telling the kids something about whales 1235 01:31:30,568 --> 01:31:33,529 and the reaction is just fantastic. 1236 01:31:33,654 --> 01:31:37,825 They love hearing about how big they are. They really get it. 1237 01:31:37,950 --> 01:31:40,953 They ask you all sorts of perceptive questions 1238 01:31:41,078 --> 01:31:43,456 an adult might not think about. 1239 01:31:43,581 --> 01:31:45,791 And I really just love the enthusiasm of the pupils. 1240 01:31:45,917 --> 01:31:49,086 Wouldn't it be great if politicians 40 years down the line 1241 01:31:49,212 --> 01:31:50,963 still had that same enthusiasm 1242 01:31:51,088 --> 01:31:53,216 that schoolchildren show when they come here? 1243 01:31:53,341 --> 01:31:54,926 Wouldn't the world be a different place? 1244 01:32:01,349 --> 01:32:04,727 [woman] We've treated the ocean as a place to throw things, 1245 01:32:04,852 --> 01:32:09,482 dispose of things that we did not want close to where we thought we live. 1246 01:32:50,481 --> 01:32:54,360 [Craig] In 2015, natural history broadcaster Sir David Attenborough, 1247 01:32:54,485 --> 01:32:57,029 met with President Barack Obama. 1248 01:32:57,154 --> 01:33:00,324 Obama, who spent his boyhood in the natural splendor of Hawaii, 1249 01:33:00,449 --> 01:33:02,368 grew up watching Attenborough's films. 1250 01:33:03,703 --> 01:33:07,707 What we're seeing is global trend, uh, that... 1251 01:33:07,832 --> 01:33:10,668 depend on the entire world working together. 1252 01:33:10,793 --> 01:33:13,796 -[David] Yes. -My daughters, I find Malia and Sasha... 1253 01:33:13,921 --> 01:33:17,049 they're much more environmentally aware, this generation... 1254 01:33:17,174 --> 01:33:18,884 -I believe that. -...than some previous generations. 1255 01:33:19,010 --> 01:33:22,096 They think it's, uh, self-apparent that we've got a problem 1256 01:33:22,221 --> 01:33:24,140 and that we should be doing something about it. 1257 01:33:24,265 --> 01:33:29,478 I absolutely agree. And the young people, they care. 1258 01:33:29,603 --> 01:33:32,231 They know that this is the world that they're gonna grow up in 1259 01:33:32,356 --> 01:33:34,233 and they're going to spend their lives in. 1260 01:33:34,358 --> 01:33:37,903 But I think it's... I think it's more idealistic than that. 1261 01:33:38,029 --> 01:33:41,657 They actually believe that humanity, human species, 1262 01:33:41,782 --> 01:33:46,329 has no right to destroy and despoil, regardless. 1263 01:33:46,454 --> 01:33:48,789 -They actually feel that very powerfully. -Right. They do. 1264 01:33:48,914 --> 01:33:54,295 The whole of the ecosystems of the world are based on a healthy ocean. 1265 01:33:54,420 --> 01:33:59,800 And if that part of the planet becomes dysfunctional, goes wrong, 1266 01:33:59,925 --> 01:34:02,845 then the whole of life on this planet will suffer. 1267 01:34:03,888 --> 01:34:06,390 The whole planet is where we live. 1268 01:34:06,515 --> 01:34:12,646 There is no "away" that you can put things and expect that they're really away. 1269 01:34:12,772 --> 01:34:15,358 This phrase "not in my back yard"-- 1270 01:34:15,483 --> 01:34:20,488 the ocean is everyone's back yard or front yard or living space. 1271 01:34:20,613 --> 01:34:25,826 No matter how you look at it, this planet is governed by the blue part. 1272 01:34:25,951 --> 01:34:29,830 The world truly is mostly a blue place. 1273 01:34:29,955 --> 01:34:33,626 I'll be just as worried about Tilly and Charlie 1274 01:34:33,751 --> 01:34:35,086 when they're... [chuckles] 1275 01:34:35,211 --> 01:34:37,755 in their 70s and 80s and I'm long gone. 1276 01:34:37,880 --> 01:34:40,049 I still want them to be healthy and certainly not suffering 1277 01:34:40,174 --> 01:34:42,134 the effects of any decisions that I made. 1278 01:34:58,150 --> 01:35:00,569 [Craig] I wanna go back to where it all started. 1279 01:35:00,694 --> 01:35:02,613 I wanna go back to the whales. 1280 01:35:02,738 --> 01:35:06,826 I wanna go and find the juvenile that we first saw. 1281 01:35:07,910 --> 01:35:12,081 If whales could talk to us, I imagine they would ask us, 1282 01:35:12,206 --> 01:35:13,916 "What were we thinking?" 1283 01:35:14,041 --> 01:35:17,545 Every other species on the planet works towards the benefit 1284 01:35:17,670 --> 01:35:20,256 of the ecology and environment that it lives in, 1285 01:35:20,381 --> 01:35:23,968 but us humans, we just seem like passengers on this earth. 1286 01:35:25,428 --> 01:35:27,930 I want to say to the parents of the juvenile, 1287 01:35:28,055 --> 01:35:32,017 "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, on behalf of humanity, 1288 01:35:32,143 --> 01:35:35,354 for putting plastic into your home." 1289 01:35:35,479 --> 01:35:38,274 And I want to say, "We'll share this story 1290 01:35:38,399 --> 01:35:41,485 because from knowing comes caring 1291 01:35:41,610 --> 01:35:44,280 and from caring comes change."