Plasticized

I watched plasticized for my Environmental Science class. It was about a voyage to the north pacific gyres to collect plastic. In the movie the narrator doesn't seem quite convinced that the plastic is a problem. It starts out that they are collecting plastic bits and at first it isn't that much. They continue to sail on. The evidence becomes more and more overwhelming as they sail further and further out. There is a point in the film where their sail breaks and they have to fix it themselves and carry on. For a week of their journey the waters are harsh and the sky is pouring rain. Their catch does not seem significant. The scientist explains that with the rough waters and the weather that the plastics are being cycled down deep into the ocean. They then come along a calm time again. The scientist jumps in after a water bottle. They then finally come to what they were looking for, the so called plastic island. The narrator still doesn't seem impressed with the fact that it is not completely covered like an island. they begin to have fun and catch large pieces of plastic that have not biodegraded. This is because they simply can not biodegrade, they can only photo-degrade, which means the sun breaks them into smaller and small pieces but never gets rid of them. After this they head back to shore and your hear them report a lot of their findings. It was a very interesting documentary.

Most Important Environmental Issues

After all that we have learned this semester, our teacher wants us to now reflect on the most important and most interesting parts of what we learned. By far the two things that were most interesting and most important to me were the use of plastics and our food sources. Plastics are important to me because of the nature of what they are. Plastics are a single use item that does not biodegrade. I don't like the idea that something we use once will pollute the earth almost indefinitely. I also do not like that the plastics are polluting the oceans and harming animals. I think it is very selfish of humans to think that these matters don't concern us because its only harming the animals and ecosystems and not our own self. I think society needs to think about putting more regulations and bans on plastics. I think we need to change our thoughts about why we do what we do. Why do we use a plastic bag once and throw it way only so that it can go into the ocean and be eaten by turtles who are killed by the plastic bags and don't know any better? I know myself I am trying to be better about bringing my own cups for coffee and taking my own bags instead of plastic bags. Also refusing to use water bottles and taking my own water as well. I also am not a fan of our food industry now after learning a little more about it. I specifically was horrified by the treatment of the animals that become our meat. It has really prompted me to eat less meat and to really strive to eat better meat if I am going to eat it. To really research where it came from and how the animals were treated. Also I have been going to more farmers markets for my produce. I didn't like how the pesticides that are used on our produce are potentially harmful and harm those who live in the area surrounding. I think we all should make a better effort to know where our food is coming from and to use local foods. Pertaining to the food I thought it was interesting the difference between mono-crop farms and farms that rotate crops. Mono-crop farms plant one crop in the area and do not switch out whats being grown. It depletes the soil of nutrients and does not distribute them back. Farms that rotate crops will plant one crop and the next time they plant a crop that will distribute nutrients that the first plant took out to help keep the soil rich and nutrient rich. I thought this was cool and interesting.