Keating_Addicted+to+Plastic+annotation

‘Addicted to Plastic: The Rise and Demise of a Modern Miracle,’ directed by Ian Connacher (2007)  The film follows the global journey the director takes to discover the life of plastic from production, use, and disposal to sales/advertisement. 5 continents and 12 countries later, the investigation into the life of plastic yielded expert opinions and first-hand experiences that summed up the history, impact, and solutions to plastic usage/disposal, its toxicity, and possible biodegradability.  //Behavioral/educational: // - The APC’s insistence that the current production/usage of plastic is sufficient, but that people “can’t be pigs” which is the main cause to disposal problems like the Eastern Garbage Patch in the North Pacific central gyre…besides individual action, what about the education of people in the effects that plastics can have on them and the environment, or would that be admitting there’s a flaw in their extremely integrated convenience product? - The fact that plastic in all its forms have found a way to implement itself into soil, water, and also our bodies makes it seem like a virus: the “modern clay” has found a way to exploit our need for convenience, but then also - The battle of finding changes that can be made to the plastics industry to show the value of plastics – their effects and recycling potential - The disconnect about how many materials are actually used for just one product and the need for education on how to properly separate and dispose of  //Economic/technological: // - Successful and innovative methods of recycling or reusing plastics are few, but gaining momentum in moving us away from reliance on their convenience and cheap costs; it’s a matter of finding the few methods that will take the space of those already in place, as well as  //Organizational/economic: // - The industrial movement to help them stay in business – changing packaging, changing materials used; how to properly make this transition without adding to current production and consumption problems  <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">- The element of personal journey to seek out answers surrounding the veil around plastic production/disposal; it captures the audience more and allows the delivery of information/facts easier when its in a more playful environment <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">- How different forms of plastic from the production process find their way into different ecosystems since only half of all plastics float…changed my perception of how plastic can travel throughout the food chain (bioaccumulation) <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">- only 5% of the 100 billion pounds of plastic are cycled annually in the U.S.; the rest is sold to China/India, which have trouble managing their own plastic waste let alone another country’s <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">- In Denmark, Coke recycles certain bottle types up to twenty times…so why don’t they implement that in other countries? Is it a mandate provided by the country, or is it something that appeals to their customers so they adhere to different production practices to make money? <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">- There is enough land to produce biomaterials for agriplastics, but does this take into account the land required for food? Accuracy in these calculations and statistics is key for food dependence, especially with a growing world population <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">- More alternatives are being introduced, but the idea of decreasing consumption hasn’t been implemented yet <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">- The wide variety of products that are able to be made from recycled plastics: jackets, carpets, etc.; how to promote their production and feasibility <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">- How India is managing the shift from a recycling oriented society to a throw-away society; currently 60% of all plastics are recycled, but throw-away convenience is becoming popular with the increasing population <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">- Very successful for educational uses, not only of students and consumers but of business owners who should be looking for adoption of new-age plastics for their packaging, etc. <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">- New solutions/more alternatives that show promising effects without having to decrease consumption: plastic created from plants/bacteria, TieTek (melts all types of plastic and creates railroad ties for global distribution), <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">- Increasing reusability by either relying more heavily on glass, or by solidifying practical recycling techniques for certain types of plastic (and only using those types of plastic in production) <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">- University departments, not just companies, dedicated to green works and finding solutions to plastic usage <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">- Stimulation of new forms of use and labor integrated with environmentally-friendly plastics <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"> - Very successful in introducing the life cycle of a material, as well as solutions that are being implemented to reverse the negative impact that it has had on the world since its introduction; applied a light-heartedness to the material while promoting the crucial problems that the world (not just people, but animals, plants, etc.) is facing - Would have liked to see more public involvement or smaller solutions that individual onsumers could take (besides not supporting the bottled water industry) to reduce, reuse, or recycle their plastics
 * <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">1. Title, director and release year? **
 * <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">2. What is the central argument or narrative of the film? **
 * <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">3. What sustainability problems does the film draw out? **
 * <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">4. What parts of the film did you find most persuasive and compelling? Why? **
 * <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">5. What parts of the film were you not compelled or convinced by? **
 * <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">6. What additional information does this film compel you to seek out? Where do you want to dig deeper and what connections do you want to make with other issues, factors, problems, etc.? **
 * <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">7. What audiences does the film best address? What kind of imagination is fostered in viewers? Do you think the film is likely to change the way viewers think about and act on environmental problems? **
 * <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">8. What kinds of action or points of intervention are suggested by the film? **
 * <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">9. What could have been added to this film to enhance its environmental educational value? **