00:00:29.279 --> 00:00:31.197
The Great Lakes are

00:00:31.197 --> 00:00:34.200
such an incredible and unique ecosystem.

00:00:39.039 --> 00:00:40.957
Five interconnected lakes

00:00:40.957 --> 00:00:44.169
that together
make the largest freshwater system

00:00:44.169 --> 00:00:47.172
in the entire planet.

00:00:52.719 --> 00:00:55.388
And it's really hard to appreciate exactly

00:00:55.388 --> 00:00:59.059
how big the Great Lakes are
until you're out on them.

00:01:04.147 --> 00:01:07.776
About ten years ago,
I had this this little question

00:01:07.776 --> 00:01:11.321
come into my mind,
which is how all great science starts.

00:01:12.072 --> 00:01:15.950
As much as we know about plastic pollution
in the world's oceans,

00:01:16.493 --> 00:01:18.995
I wonder if there's plastic pollution here
in the Great

00:01:18.995 --> 00:01:21.998
Lakes.

00:01:30.673 --> 00:01:31.800
So contacted

00:01:31.800 --> 00:01:35.053
my collaborators and asked, hey,
what do you think about this idea?

00:01:35.053 --> 00:01:36.304
Next time we're out.

00:01:36.304 --> 00:01:39.307
Let's drag a net to the water
and see what we find.

00:01:40.725 --> 00:01:43.311
When we brought in our first net,

00:01:43.311 --> 00:01:46.106
I realized that my whole life had changed.

00:01:47.732 --> 00:01:48.942
I couldn't sleep at night.

00:01:48.942 --> 00:01:53.363
I just had all of these questions
that came into my mind and really decided

00:01:53.363 --> 00:01:58.034
that freshwater plastic pollution,
specifically, was going to be my research

00:01:58.034 --> 00:02:00.995
focus from here on out.

00:02:02.122 --> 00:02:03.373
The Cuyahoga River,

00:02:03.373 --> 00:02:07.085
as it reaches Lake
Erie is an exhausted stream,

00:02:07.627 --> 00:02:11.840
abused
and misused by man and his machines.

00:02:13.133 --> 00:02:17.053
20 plus years ago, we used to find
a lot of really big garbage.

00:02:18.388 --> 00:02:21.182
Now we're finding a lot more of that
every day.

00:02:21.182 --> 00:02:23.351
Throw away, only use it once

00:02:23.351 --> 00:02:26.437
type plastics. Ann has her own system,

00:02:26.437 --> 00:02:28.940
when she prepares salads and other foods,

00:02:28.940 --> 00:02:31.943
she just covers them with clear
plastic film.

00:02:32.026 --> 00:02:34.445
It's easy to remove and put back again

00:02:34.445 --> 00:02:37.448
to protect the food all through the meal.

00:02:38.700 --> 00:02:39.909
We really started

00:02:39.909 --> 00:02:43.288
using plastics as a society in the 1950s.

00:02:43.872 --> 00:02:48.126
We really were seeing a shift
in how people lived in the home.

00:02:48.418 --> 00:02:52.422
The time people had to reuse, repurpose,
repair items.

00:02:52.422 --> 00:02:57.218
And so we saw this shift
towards these single use or disposable

00:02:57.218 --> 00:03:01.514
plastic, plastic bags,
utensils, cups, straws,

00:03:01.514 --> 00:03:05.518
any plastic that's designed to be used
one and then thrown away.

00:03:06.561 --> 00:03:08.438
We see so much of this plastic

00:03:08.438 --> 00:03:11.441
being used in society
because it's convenient.

00:03:12.692 --> 00:03:17.238
With the increased use of plastics,
there's a greater chance

00:03:17.238 --> 00:03:20.241
those plastics will get
into the natural environment.

00:03:26.831 --> 00:03:29.834
So welcome to Toledo, Ohio.

00:03:29.834 --> 00:03:32.170
I don't usually look this bad.

00:03:32.170 --> 00:03:35.173
I promise.

00:03:35.590 --> 00:03:38.593
It's the Ottawa River
that runs through here.

00:03:38.718 --> 00:03:41.387
And what happens is these logjams

00:03:41.387 --> 00:03:45.308
kind of start piling up,
and then the trash has nowhere to go,

00:03:45.308 --> 00:03:48.478
and the water gets so low
that all this trash starts

00:03:48.478 --> 00:03:51.731
building up behind these logjams
and creates these.

00:03:51.731 --> 00:03:53.775
We call them trash dams.

00:03:53.775 --> 00:03:54.943
It's not easy to get out.

00:03:54.943 --> 00:03:57.362
As you can see, it takes boats,

00:03:57.362 --> 00:03:59.572
a little bit of skill
and a little bit of risk.

00:03:59.572 --> 00:04:02.575
I guess.

00:04:03.826 --> 00:04:04.994
They bring my club down here.

00:04:04.994 --> 00:04:07.413
I'm a science teacher.
Environmental science teacher.

00:04:07.413 --> 00:04:09.707
So one of the things we've been doing
over the last couple of years,

00:04:09.707 --> 00:04:12.710
and we've been working with these people
in the in the canoes and kayaks,

00:04:12.877 --> 00:04:16.506
and what we're actually doing
is they throw the trash up on the shore.

00:04:17.340 --> 00:04:21.928
My students collect and tabulate the data
about what types of trash is there.

00:04:22.095 --> 00:04:24.847
And then we of course, carry it out
to make sure that it gets disposed of.

00:04:24.847 --> 00:04:29.727
11 big pieces of styrofoam or styrofoam cup
and ten small pieces of styrofoam

00:04:30.979 --> 00:04:31.312
it is

00:04:31.312 --> 00:04:34.315
very important to clean up what we can.

00:04:34.357 --> 00:04:36.734
Due to the fact
that our future generations are

00:04:36.734 --> 00:04:38.152
the ones that are going to suffer.

00:04:38.152 --> 00:04:41.698
Even though currently we aren't suffering
too back from garbage,

00:04:41.698 --> 00:04:45.493
the buildup will eventually cause
lots of other people to suffer.

00:04:45.743 --> 00:04:48.871
We're seeing a lot of styrofoam,
and the thing that I see from

00:04:48.871 --> 00:04:51.874
my perspective is that it
never gets better.

00:04:51.874 --> 00:04:54.460
There are some years that are up,
some years are down,

00:04:54.460 --> 00:04:56.838
but there's always
tons of plastic down here.

00:04:56.838 --> 00:05:00.300
And although we leave this place feeling
really good about what we've accomplished,

00:05:00.675 --> 00:05:03.344
we also leave with a sense
that there needs to be more

00:05:03.344 --> 00:05:06.347
that's done.

00:05:10.101 --> 00:05:13.104
Plastic ends up in the lake
in a multitude of ways.

00:05:13.438 --> 00:05:16.399
Scientific studies
actually show that the vast majority

00:05:16.399 --> 00:05:20.236
of litter is unintentional littering.

00:05:20.653 --> 00:05:23.531
It's people
putting their garbage out at night

00:05:23.531 --> 00:05:26.576
and a raccoon goes through it
and it scatters everywhere.

00:05:26.576 --> 00:05:29.329
Our windstorm comes in and it blows over.

00:05:30.330 --> 00:05:31.914
We've all had this experience.

00:05:31.914 --> 00:05:35.084
You walk down the side of the road
and you see straws

00:05:35.084 --> 00:05:38.087
and cups and food wrappers.

00:05:38.254 --> 00:05:41.174
When a storm event happens,
all of that washes down

00:05:41.174 --> 00:05:44.135
the storm drains.

00:05:45.470 --> 00:05:46.346
Storm drains.

00:05:46.346 --> 00:05:49.849
They don't go to a wastewater
treatment facility to get processed.

00:05:49.891 --> 00:05:54.771
They go directly in to a nearby creek,
river, or possibly even Lake Erie,

00:05:55.063 --> 00:05:59.734
and any trash that's on the landscape
will probably get filtered to the road,

00:06:00.068 --> 00:06:03.488
filter to a storm drain,
and then out in to the lake.

00:06:20.588 --> 00:06:21.464
So, you know,

00:06:21.464 --> 00:06:25.510
this is this is Mill Creek,
which runs through actually

00:06:25.510 --> 00:06:30.098
a lot of Erie, Pennsylvania, runs
through a lot of residential areas.

00:06:30.556 --> 00:06:33.518
Most of it is actually a buried river,

00:06:33.726 --> 00:06:37.730
but a lot of storm drains go into it
so people don't see the water.

00:06:37.730 --> 00:06:41.776
They don't realize that the storm drains
are going directly into this creek.

00:06:42.193 --> 00:06:45.947
And so it all ends up flowing down here
before it makes its way to the lake.

00:06:53.079 --> 00:06:55.915
So we're gonna dump everything,
and then we want to do a quick sort

00:06:55.915 --> 00:06:58.960
here in the field plant
you can throw away.

00:06:58.960 --> 00:07:01.963
And then the big plastic
may be kind of put to the side.

00:07:02.296 --> 00:07:04.966
That's
what we're going to take back to the lab.

00:07:04.966 --> 00:07:07.927
I'll try not to get you wet.

00:07:13.683 --> 00:07:14.058
I think

00:07:14.058 --> 00:07:18.646
what's really intriguing about this study
is that we're fortunate

00:07:18.646 --> 00:07:21.649
that we have a litter boom,
but most rivers don't.

00:07:21.941 --> 00:07:25.194
So normally, everything you see here,
this is

00:07:25.194 --> 00:07:29.198
what would be flowing out into the lakes

00:07:30.366 --> 00:07:33.369
all across the country.

00:07:33.828 --> 00:07:35.580
All across the world.

00:07:35.580 --> 00:07:37.832
You know,
this is the stuff that you would find.

00:07:37.832 --> 00:07:40.251
And this is what

00:07:40.251 --> 00:07:42.128
fish are swimming in.

00:07:42.128 --> 00:07:46.090
This is what frogs and other
amphibians are, you know,

00:07:46.090 --> 00:07:49.844
trying to live amongst.

00:07:51.762 --> 00:07:54.265
And then, you
know, you kind of have people questioning

00:07:54.265 --> 00:07:57.268
whether or not this is going
to have an impact on an ecosystem.

00:07:57.810 --> 00:08:00.396
If this was your house,

00:08:00.396 --> 00:08:04.484
I think it's pretty easy to say that,
that it would be affecting you.

00:08:04.484 --> 00:08:07.487
You know, all of this this is just insane.

00:08:10.781 --> 00:08:11.949
What's really interesting

00:08:11.949 --> 00:08:16.871
is that if you get down into all of this,
what seems to be organic debris,

00:08:17.538 --> 00:08:21.375
what you also notice is
where all of this plastic starts.

00:08:22.251 --> 00:08:23.461
You see nurdles.

00:08:23.461 --> 00:08:26.255
These are pre-production plastics.

00:08:26.255 --> 00:08:29.258
It's just enmeshed within all of this.

00:08:34.680 --> 00:08:36.849
Small plastics arise from two ways.

00:08:36.849 --> 00:08:39.852
They're either manufactured
in small plastics.

00:08:41.437 --> 00:08:45.316
Microbeads is one example,
but pre-production plastic pellets,

00:08:45.316 --> 00:08:48.319
otherwise known as nurdles,
are another great example.

00:08:50.196 --> 00:08:54.033
It's the other way that we get
microplastics is from big plastic

00:08:54.033 --> 00:08:57.912
items slowly
breaking into smaller and smaller pieces.

00:08:59.956 --> 00:09:00.957
We're sitting on the beach.

00:09:00.957 --> 00:09:04.710
That flip flop
that gets left behind bakes in the sun.

00:09:04.710 --> 00:09:08.047
It becomes brittle,
and then the wind and the waves act on it.

00:09:08.047 --> 00:09:11.050
And it breaks into these smaller
and smaller pieces.

00:09:17.557 --> 00:09:19.976
Just last year in Ohio alone,

00:09:19.976 --> 00:09:23.229
there were 36,000 small pieces of plastic,

00:09:24.272 --> 00:09:29.277
88% of what we find on Ohio's beaches
during our adopted beach cleanups

00:09:29.318 --> 00:09:32.446
is either partially
or completely composed of plastic,

00:09:32.446 --> 00:09:36.450
and about 81.53%
of what we're finding across

00:09:36.450 --> 00:09:39.954
the region is composed
at least partially of plastics.

00:09:46.043 --> 00:09:48.671
It's so difficult
to get people to understand

00:09:48.671 --> 00:09:51.757
how prominent plastic is,
because you go out in the lake

00:09:51.757 --> 00:09:55.386
and you look in the water and it
it actually looks pretty pristine.

00:09:55.886 --> 00:09:58.889
And then you take that water
and you filter it,

00:09:59.098 --> 00:10:02.643
and then that's when you start
seeing all these little bits of plastic.

00:10:04.061 --> 00:10:05.688
From a scientific standpoint,

00:10:05.688 --> 00:10:08.691
that's kind of the bigger concern.

00:10:09.859 --> 00:10:10.860
What we're looking for

00:10:10.860 --> 00:10:13.863
is FIDO and zooplankton.

00:10:14.113 --> 00:10:16.782
And sometimes when we're doing these tows

00:10:16.782 --> 00:10:19.785
we will find floating microplastics.

00:10:27.752 --> 00:10:30.046
There's a yellow piece,

00:10:30.046 --> 00:10:32.965
a couple of clear pieces.

00:10:32.965 --> 00:10:36.135
And then the very circular one,
you can see it.

00:10:36.135 --> 00:10:38.304
That's actually a plastic pellet.

00:10:38.304 --> 00:10:41.307
So that's plastic in its virgin form.

00:10:41.807 --> 00:10:44.518
So we'll take this sample back
with us to the lab,

00:10:44.518 --> 00:10:47.521
and we can look at it under a microscope.

00:10:50.399 --> 00:10:52.568
Did you see that blue right there.

00:10:52.568 --> 00:10:54.320
So that's a microbeads.

00:10:54.320 --> 00:10:57.907
And so these were plastic beads
that were put in beauty products.

00:10:58.407 --> 00:11:03.954
So it's illegal to put plastic beads
in shampoo, body wash and toothpaste.

00:11:03.954 --> 00:11:08.042
However, if you look at other products
like your deodorant makeups,

00:11:08.084 --> 00:11:11.671
nail polish, you'll see
they have polyethylene or polypropylene.

00:11:11.671 --> 00:11:13.089
And that's actually plastic.

00:11:18.636 --> 00:11:21.639
I don't think because.

00:11:22.473 --> 00:11:25.476
Thank you.

00:11:31.190 --> 00:11:32.983
My name is Eddie Olschansky

00:11:32.983 --> 00:11:35.986
I'm the founder of Trash Fish.

00:11:37.488 --> 00:11:38.739
It all started

00:11:38.739 --> 00:11:41.742
just through me fishing in my kayak.

00:11:42.243 --> 00:11:43.994
I broke my leg, actually,

00:11:43.994 --> 00:11:47.832
and fishing from crutches and a wheelchair
wasn't too much fun anymore.

00:11:47.832 --> 00:11:51.335
So I bought myself my first kayak
and started paddling around.

00:11:53.546 --> 00:11:57.133
When I got in the water
and I was up in every nook and cranny

00:11:57.466 --> 00:12:00.886
and you see just how much trash there is,
you could be standing

00:12:01.387 --> 00:12:02.430
on the other side of the river

00:12:02.430 --> 00:12:04.765
just a couple of feet away from it,
and never see it.

00:12:04.765 --> 00:12:05.891
And then once you get up underneath

00:12:05.891 --> 00:12:09.729
one of those trees and you lift up
some leaves and you see tin cans

00:12:09.729 --> 00:12:14.150
and pop bottles that have been there
for a decade, maybe it was shocking.

00:12:17.862 --> 00:12:19.780
I didn't even want to be doing it.

00:12:19.780 --> 00:12:21.866
I just couldn't stop doing it.

00:12:21.866 --> 00:12:25.870
Seeing all the trash there
and knowing that, like so many people

00:12:26.287 --> 00:12:29.623
didn't didn't want that trash to be there,
you know, I was like,

00:12:29.623 --> 00:12:33.335
I'm, I'm the only one down here
and I'm going to have to take care of it

00:12:33.335 --> 00:12:36.338
myself.

00:12:38.090 --> 00:12:41.135
I grew up, there's bags in this,
purple box.

00:12:41.135 --> 00:12:41.969
There's also gloves.

00:12:41.969 --> 00:12:45.264
But again, I kind of advise against
using them because you're grabbers

00:12:45.848 --> 00:12:48.851
more and more people started
finding out what I was doing

00:12:48.851 --> 00:12:50.102
and wanted to get involved.

00:12:50.102 --> 00:12:55.816
I had almost no intention of sharing this
with anyone and the community support.

00:12:55.816 --> 00:12:58.903
When they saw me do it
and someone comes up to me and says,

00:12:59.236 --> 00:13:02.198
hey, like, I wish I had a kayak
so I could help you do this.

00:13:02.281 --> 00:13:05.242
I was like,
I could just jump on the internet and buy

00:13:05.242 --> 00:13:09.663
some cheap used kayaks and give people
an opportunity to help a river.

00:13:09.663 --> 00:13:12.666
People that don't even use it
recreationally like I do.

00:13:12.666 --> 00:13:15.669
People that just understood
that there was a problem.

00:13:16.086 --> 00:13:19.048
I had a way to give them an opportunity
to help be the solution

00:13:19.048 --> 00:13:20.216
to that problem, and.

00:13:23.010 --> 00:13:26.305
The section of the river that I focus on
is the shipping channel,

00:13:26.347 --> 00:13:30.392
of the Cuyahoga River, which is the last
about six and a half miles of it.

00:13:30.976 --> 00:13:35.689
I think it's closer to a driveway
for a couple of businesses than it is

00:13:35.731 --> 00:13:38.734
a natural river,
like what you're seeing here today.

00:13:40.486 --> 00:13:41.529
That section of the river

00:13:41.529 --> 00:13:44.532
has obviously a storied past.

00:13:46.826 --> 00:13:48.577
We've all heard the tales of it

00:13:48.577 --> 00:13:52.540
catching on fire, and we've remediated
a lot of the problems that it had,

00:13:52.873 --> 00:13:57.419
but it has new and worsening,
you know, issues of its own

00:13:57.419 --> 00:14:00.422
at this point.

00:14:01.590 --> 00:14:03.342
It's the last stop for the trash.

00:14:03.342 --> 00:14:09.014
This stuff comes from way
upstream suburbia and downtown Cleveland.

00:14:09.014 --> 00:14:12.643
All those sewer systems
release that trash into that river.

00:14:12.852 --> 00:14:15.646
And as they say, it flows downstream.

00:14:15.646 --> 00:14:17.815
And it doesn't stop
until it gets to the lakes.

00:14:22.111 --> 00:14:24.905
One problem in terms of getting people

00:14:24.905 --> 00:14:28.659
interested in plastic pollution
as an issue, was that there weren't really

00:14:28.659 --> 00:14:31.787
any numbers that described
how bad the problem was.

00:14:32.580 --> 00:14:37.001
There was speculation that there might be
a garbage patch in the Great Lakes,

00:14:37.001 --> 00:14:38.168
because the concentrations

00:14:38.168 --> 00:14:41.630
that they had found were similar to
what is seen in the Atlantic.

00:14:42.548 --> 00:14:45.593
I thought as a modeler,
this is something that we could simulate,

00:14:45.843 --> 00:14:49.096
try to see where the plastic is going
and and try to predict

00:14:49.096 --> 00:14:52.099
whether there would be a garbage patch
and if so, where.

00:14:52.391 --> 00:14:55.811
We estimated that there were 10,000

00:14:56.270 --> 00:14:59.607
metric tons
that entered the Great Lakes every year,

00:14:59.899 --> 00:15:02.651
and that 22 million pounds of plastic

00:15:02.651 --> 00:15:05.863
and about half of that we estimated
would be going into Lake Michigan,

00:15:06.989 --> 00:15:11.201
an additional 2500 tons going into, Erie.

00:15:11.410 --> 00:15:14.496
And then,
you know, about 1200 into, Ontario.

00:15:14.496 --> 00:15:18.375
And and then the other spread
about 10,000 metric tons,

00:15:18.375 --> 00:15:22.338
we calculated, is about 28 Olympic
sized swimming pools full of plastic

00:15:22.338 --> 00:15:26.258
bottles, which gives you a sort of better
spatial picture of of what that would be.

00:15:26.258 --> 00:15:28.469
It's a lot of plastic.

00:15:28.469 --> 00:15:29.136
There have been studies

00:15:29.136 --> 00:15:32.389
that have been done on
what the future scenarios will look like.

00:15:33.098 --> 00:15:39.521
It was estimated that basically 19 - 21
million metric tons of plastic enter

00:15:39.521 --> 00:15:42.733
aquatic ecosystems
every year, and by 2030,

00:15:42.733 --> 00:15:45.903
that was predicted
to go to over 50 metric tons.

00:15:45.903 --> 00:15:50.366
So that's probably more than more than
doubling within within that time frame.

00:15:51.158 --> 00:15:54.912
Other estimates
going up to to 2050 indicate similar.

00:15:55.663 --> 00:15:59.500
We don't change the way that we are doing
business in terms of rate usage

00:15:59.500 --> 00:16:00.501
and production of plastic.

00:16:11.679 --> 00:16:12.846
Just heading out into West

00:16:12.846 --> 00:16:15.849
Harbor to do a clean up.

00:16:15.975 --> 00:16:19.687
I've had a couple of, nasty days of wind
coming out of the north northeast.

00:16:20.229 --> 00:16:23.232
Pushes a whole lot of water down
the channel.

00:16:25.818 --> 00:16:27.194
My name is Joshua Dykstra.

00:16:27.194 --> 00:16:30.114
I am the,
the founder and director and president

00:16:30.114 --> 00:16:33.117
of Eriesponsible, Inc..

00:16:33.784 --> 00:16:38.247
We we go out to marinas,
to beaches, open water.

00:16:38.247 --> 00:16:41.375
We're one of the only open
water organizations that that does cleanup

00:16:41.500 --> 00:16:44.712
and what we're trying to do
there is effect change and get people

00:16:44.712 --> 00:16:45.879
to see what we're doing, seeing that

00:16:45.879 --> 00:16:48.090
we're having a good time doing it
and the changes that we're making.

00:16:48.090 --> 00:16:51.760
And and then they'll pick it up
and do it on their own.

00:16:55.264 --> 00:16:55.472
Yeah.

00:16:55.472 --> 00:16:58.642
So this is typical of a collection zone.

00:16:59.560 --> 00:17:03.522
And you can see it's already continued
and started to break down.

00:17:04.732 --> 00:17:05.315
You can see the

00:17:05.315 --> 00:17:08.318
plastic as it has started to deteriorate.

00:17:08.402 --> 00:17:10.696
It becomes smaller plastic.

00:17:10.696 --> 00:17:13.115
And animals confuse the strands

00:17:13.115 --> 00:17:16.368
with grasses and other things
that they're used to eating.

00:17:16.910 --> 00:17:17.870
And that's what gets,

00:17:17.870 --> 00:17:20.831
you know, wrapped up in their intestines
and in their stomach.

00:17:20.831 --> 00:17:23.834
And it even collects other plastic.

00:17:24.626 --> 00:17:25.919
So here's

00:17:25.919 --> 00:17:28.922
a very good example of what we're trying

00:17:29.590 --> 00:17:32.593
to take out of the lake.

00:17:33.302 --> 00:17:35.471
Plastics in the lake,

00:17:35.471 --> 00:17:38.265
cause a dramatic effect
in multiple situations.

00:17:38.265 --> 00:17:41.477
The first and probably biggest
problem is with our wildlife.

00:17:42.603 --> 00:17:45.606
We saw, one of our, our local ducks,

00:17:46.273 --> 00:17:48.817
with a piece of plastic
sticking out of its beak.

00:17:48.817 --> 00:17:50.944
Probably thought it was food.

00:17:50.944 --> 00:17:51.361
The danger.

00:17:51.361 --> 00:17:53.155
And that's probably the larger wildlife,

00:17:53.155 --> 00:17:54.990
but also some of the larger
fish you've got.

00:17:54.990 --> 00:17:57.826
We have a lot of carp,
a lot of bottom feeders.

00:17:57.826 --> 00:18:01.246
I would, confer
with, with some of our local scientists,

00:18:01.246 --> 00:18:03.540
but I'd be willing to bet
that a lot of the dead fish that

00:18:03.540 --> 00:18:07.086
you see pop up
if you cut them up and, looked inside,

00:18:07.419 --> 00:18:10.172
you'd find a fair amount of
plastic that was undigested.

00:18:16.011 --> 00:18:17.554
My name is Chelsea Rochman

00:18:17.554 --> 00:18:20.182
I'm a professor
at the University of Toronto in ecology

00:18:20.182 --> 00:18:23.727
and evolutionary biology, and I'm also
a co-founder of the U of T trash team.

00:18:25.521 --> 00:18:28.440
My PhD in marine ecology,
and I am pretty much

00:18:28.440 --> 00:18:31.443
now 100?reshwater ecologist.

00:18:32.736 --> 00:18:35.197
Starting out in the middle of the ocean
and doing my work, actually

00:18:35.197 --> 00:18:36.865
in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

00:18:36.865 --> 00:18:39.535
You definitely found plastic
in pretty much every sample.

00:18:39.535 --> 00:18:42.996
And when it came to fish, maybe 1 in 4
and a couple pieces here and there,

00:18:42.996 --> 00:18:45.999
maybe sometimes even 1 in 10 fish.

00:18:46.291 --> 00:18:49.086
But when you get out into the middle
of the ocean, what you notice

00:18:49.086 --> 00:18:52.214
is that the majority of it is microplastic
as far as the eye can see.

00:18:52.714 --> 00:18:55.634
And I was interested
in science to inform policy.

00:18:55.634 --> 00:18:57.678
And you can't clean that up.

00:18:57.678 --> 00:19:00.931
And so realizing quickly that the research

00:19:00.931 --> 00:19:04.643
I wanted to do to inform policy
should start where the plastics start.

00:19:06.228 --> 00:19:09.731
So I started working in freshwater
streams and wastewater

00:19:09.731 --> 00:19:14.361
treatment plants and runoff systems
from agriculture and other sites.

00:19:15.154 --> 00:19:19.158
And then I came to Toronto and suddenly
going on a boat in the middle of the lake.

00:19:19.158 --> 00:19:22.202
We weren't capturing fish
with microplastic.

00:19:22.202 --> 00:19:24.371
One out of every 10 or 1 out of every four
fish.

00:19:24.371 --> 00:19:26.874
Suddenly it was every single fish
that we thought that then,

00:19:26.874 --> 00:19:29.877
not just a couple pieces,
but sometimes hundreds of pieces.

00:19:30.961 --> 00:19:33.589
The Great Lakes, I do think, have
a serious plastic problem.

00:19:33.589 --> 00:19:38.051
I've never worked in an area within North
America where I've seen this much

00:19:38.051 --> 00:19:41.054
plastic pollution in the water.

00:19:43.599 --> 00:19:45.475
Microplastics, because they are

00:19:45.475 --> 00:19:49.146
so tiny,
are very easily ingested by organisms.

00:19:49.438 --> 00:19:52.482
And when they ingest that plastic, it's
not just the plastic

00:19:52.482 --> 00:19:56.236
that they're ingesting, but all the
chemicals that are in and on that plastic.

00:19:58.572 --> 00:19:59.406
Plastic, when it's

00:19:59.406 --> 00:20:02.409
manufactured, is embedded with chemicals,

00:20:02.701 --> 00:20:06.705
things like plasticizers and colorants
and UV stabilizers.

00:20:07.456 --> 00:20:10.626
In addition,
as plastic is out in the environment,

00:20:10.918 --> 00:20:13.921
other chemicals will adhere to it.

00:20:14.755 --> 00:20:17.758
Growing up in the 70s, you know,
I read The Lorax.

00:20:18.967 --> 00:20:21.386
Things are so dreary they're almost as bad

00:20:21.386 --> 00:20:24.389
as up in Lake Erie.

00:20:24.765 --> 00:20:27.726
The reason it had that
kind of infamous quality

00:20:28.060 --> 00:20:32.981
is because the Great Lakes were used
as industrial dumping grounds for decades,

00:20:34.066 --> 00:20:37.986
things like polychlorinated biphenyls
that were used as industrial insulators,

00:20:37.986 --> 00:20:41.073
things like polyaromatic hydrocarbons
that come out from power

00:20:41.073 --> 00:20:44.076
plants.

00:20:45.244 --> 00:20:46.453
When there's plastic,

00:20:46.453 --> 00:20:50.666
the chemicals will adhere
to the surface of those plastics.

00:20:50.666 --> 00:20:55.212
So when this little piece of plastic
that is ingested by an organism

00:20:55.212 --> 00:20:58.548
is not just taking in that plastic, it's
taking in all of those chemicals.

00:20:59.007 --> 00:21:03.011
And so each piece of plastic becomes
like a little poison pill

00:21:03.262 --> 00:21:07.266
transferring or moving those chemicals
from the external environment

00:21:07.266 --> 00:21:09.184
into that organism.

00:21:09.184 --> 00:21:12.562
Many of them are endocrine disruptors,
so they mimic hormones,

00:21:12.562 --> 00:21:15.649
and so they create
changes in the organisms.

00:21:16.566 --> 00:21:19.569
Maybe they don't swim as fast,
maybe they have trouble breathing,

00:21:19.820 --> 00:21:23.991
maybe their sex changes
so that male fish become female fish.

00:21:23.991 --> 00:21:26.618
And so therefore they can't propagate.

00:21:26.618 --> 00:21:29.579
And they also become vectors
to move those chemicals

00:21:29.579 --> 00:21:31.540
from the external environment into us.

00:21:31.540 --> 00:21:34.751
So you go out and you go fishing,
you catch that fish, you're going to be

00:21:34.751 --> 00:21:37.754
then taking in the chemicals
that that fish is taking in.

00:21:37.963 --> 00:21:40.966
And so you have
this bioaccumulation effect

00:21:41.174 --> 00:21:44.428
where some of these
microplastics are so small that they can

00:21:44.428 --> 00:21:48.348
be ingested by planktonic organisms
at the very base of the food chain.

00:21:48.348 --> 00:21:51.643
And then you have a small fish
that eats millions of plankton,

00:21:51.852 --> 00:21:54.730
and then you have a medium
fish that eats hundreds of small fish,

00:21:54.730 --> 00:21:58.692
and then you have a large fish
that eats tens of medium fish,

00:21:58.692 --> 00:22:01.153
and then you have a human
that eats that fish.

00:22:01.153 --> 00:22:06.700
And all along those chains you have this
increase in the amount of these chemicals.

00:22:15.250 --> 00:22:15.876
You see their

00:22:15.876 --> 00:22:19.796
bladders, see those little bubbles
kind of towards the top behind their head.

00:22:20.547 --> 00:22:23.467
Here we have fathead minnow.

00:22:23.467 --> 00:22:29.056
They have been exposed to plastic
without chemicals,

00:22:29.681 --> 00:22:33.352
plastic with chemicals,
and then just the chemical itself.

00:22:33.727 --> 00:22:35.103
We're measuring

00:22:35.103 --> 00:22:39.066
a variety of different effects
over the 28 days that they're exposed.

00:22:39.358 --> 00:22:42.527
Delays in development, deformities

00:22:43.570 --> 00:22:49.326
saw some eye pigmentation issues
and some some fogginess

00:22:49.326 --> 00:22:52.329
in some of the eyes from the treatments,
which is interesting.

00:22:52.579 --> 00:22:57.250
We can take that information and say,
okay, this type of plastic

00:22:57.250 --> 00:23:00.337
with this type of chemical causes
these types of effects.

00:23:02.047 --> 00:23:04.549
So this big blue
one that you can see here,

00:23:04.549 --> 00:23:07.552
this is one of the fragments
that I picked out of the stomach.

00:23:08.053 --> 00:23:11.807
So it just broke off
probably from a larger plastic item.

00:23:11.807 --> 00:23:15.644
And just as it's in the environment,
smaller and smaller pieces can start

00:23:15.644 --> 00:23:16.353
breaking down.

00:23:17.354 --> 00:23:20.357
So this is a really, really tiny fiber.

00:23:20.649 --> 00:23:23.652
So that would be something that comes off
your clothes.

00:23:24.236 --> 00:23:27.239
We've been surprised by the kind
of particles that we're finding.

00:23:28.824 --> 00:23:30.409
We've found a lot of rubber

00:23:30.409 --> 00:23:33.412
particles,
which is like an entire particles

00:23:33.412 --> 00:23:36.540
that can come off when you drive
and they get washed into lakes

00:23:36.832 --> 00:23:40.335
and they're particularly harmful
because they have a lot of added chemicals

00:23:40.335 --> 00:23:43.213
that can be toxic to fish.
And we've been finding hundreds

00:23:43.213 --> 00:23:46.216
of particles of tire rubber
in some of the fish.

00:23:48.927 --> 00:23:49.302
Study

00:23:49.302 --> 00:23:53.974
just came out in 2021, and it's showing
that the chemicals associated with tire

00:23:53.974 --> 00:23:57.310
rubber are killing off salmon species.

00:23:58.812 --> 00:24:01.815
This is the first study
documenting microplastics

00:24:02.065 --> 00:24:05.068
killing off an organism.

00:24:07.612 --> 00:24:11.867
We not only find microplastics in fish,
but studies are coming out.

00:24:11.867 --> 00:24:13.535
We find it in bottled water.

00:24:13.535 --> 00:24:15.745
We find it in tap water.
We find it in beer.

00:24:15.745 --> 00:24:16.955
We find it in sea salt.

00:24:16.955 --> 00:24:19.166
We find it in your fruits and vegetables

00:24:19.166 --> 00:24:22.210
that can actually make its way
through the soil into plants.

00:24:22.502 --> 00:24:26.339
And if it's making its way through
the soil and to plants, well, animals

00:24:26.381 --> 00:24:27.007
eat plants.

00:24:27.007 --> 00:24:30.677
Not just humans,
but beef and chickens and, you know,

00:24:30.969 --> 00:24:34.890
so it's making its way basically
into every kind of form

00:24:35.265 --> 00:24:39.686
of food that we have,
which means there's no doubt

00:24:39.686 --> 00:24:41.897
that it's making its way into us.

00:24:41.897 --> 00:24:45.734
You know, a couple of studies have
come out showing that it's in human feces.

00:24:47.903 --> 00:24:48.278
Every

00:24:48.278 --> 00:24:51.281
place we
looked, we end up finding microplastics.

00:24:52.157 --> 00:24:56.620
That's the reality
that we're living in as humans.

00:24:56.620 --> 00:25:01.833
We are ingesting,
drinking and inhaling plastic every day.

00:25:02.918 --> 00:25:05.045
The chemicals are associated with plastic.

00:25:05.045 --> 00:25:08.048
They're disrupting our gut bacteria.

00:25:08.298 --> 00:25:10.300
And this is leading to digestive issues.

00:25:10.300 --> 00:25:13.303
So they're seeing an increase
in digestive diseases.

00:25:13.303 --> 00:25:16.765
They're also seeing that
our endocrine system is being disrupted.

00:25:16.765 --> 00:25:19.768
So the endocrine system is
what affects our hormones.

00:25:19.935 --> 00:25:23.980
Hormones affect every function
in an organism's body.

00:25:24.356 --> 00:25:28.235
And plastics could be affecting

00:25:28.235 --> 00:25:31.238
fertility
and reproduction capabilities in humans.

00:25:31.404 --> 00:25:35.158
So much to the point that humans
may no longer be able to reproduce.

00:25:46.795 --> 00:25:48.713
And this whole project,

00:25:48.713 --> 00:25:52.300
was funded by Meijer Grocery stores.

00:25:52.634 --> 00:25:55.428
They donated $1 million to the Council

00:25:55.428 --> 00:25:58.765
of the Great Lakes
so we could have these robots.

00:25:58.765 --> 00:26:02.185
The Pixie Drone and BeBot spread
all over the Great Lakes.

00:26:08.942 --> 00:26:10.026
It kind of picks up

00:26:10.026 --> 00:26:13.029
where human clean up, drops off.

00:26:13.154 --> 00:26:16.908
Since as we walk a beach,
we can't see what's under the surface.

00:26:16.908 --> 00:26:19.911
We can only pick what's on the surface.

00:26:20.036 --> 00:26:23.039
Definitely an awesome way
to clean the beach.

00:26:23.415 --> 00:26:27.627
And the amount of awareness it creates
is is really the other big thing.

00:26:27.627 --> 00:26:28.962
I mean,

00:26:28.962 --> 00:26:30.255
I can't tell you how many times we've run

00:26:30.255 --> 00:26:31.715
this and people
just come out of the woodwork.

00:26:31.715 --> 00:26:34.634
They want to know what we're doing, why
we're doing it, what it's accomplishing.

00:26:34.634 --> 00:26:37.596
And and that's how
we're really going to affect major change.

00:26:37.887 --> 00:26:41.391
It's not just removing
a few items of plastic from the beach.

00:26:41.391 --> 00:26:44.311
It's getting people to think differently
and act differently.

00:26:44.311 --> 00:26:46.688
It's getting people to
to spend money differently.

00:26:46.688 --> 00:26:50.358
So large corporations
have to produce things differently

00:26:50.525 --> 00:26:53.570
and change the cost of certain items.

00:26:53.570 --> 00:26:54.112
If we can,

00:26:55.155 --> 00:26:55.614
you know,

00:26:55.614 --> 00:26:59.993
get compostable and biodegradable plastics
at the same cost of single use.

00:27:00.952 --> 00:27:03.955
I can't imagine
how many more people would buy those.

00:27:05.206 --> 00:27:07.417
But it all starts
with that one conversation

00:27:07.417 --> 00:27:09.044
and having a conversation starter.

00:27:09.044 --> 00:27:12.380
And I can't think of a better conversation
starter than 1,000 pound

00:27:12.422 --> 00:27:15.425
beach cleaning robot.

00:27:21.139 --> 00:27:21.973
And part of the battle

00:27:21.973 --> 00:27:25.060
is just recognizing what's trash
and what isn't trash.

00:27:26.227 --> 00:27:29.856
We've got straw particles, cigaret butts.

00:27:33.610 --> 00:27:35.695
It's fine, but a couple more.

00:27:35.695 --> 00:27:38.698
I don't think that
this is a littering problem.

00:27:39.574 --> 00:27:41.368
So many people do

00:27:41.368 --> 00:27:46.748
all of the right things and take
all the right steps to properly dispose

00:27:46.748 --> 00:27:50.502
of their trash and recycling sorted
and take the caps off.

00:27:50.919 --> 00:27:54.589
But once it's in the bin,
that burden is off of you,

00:27:54.589 --> 00:27:58.718
and there's really no way to know what
happens to it or where it goes after that.

00:28:00.095 --> 00:28:01.930
No matter
what you do and how hard you try,

00:28:01.930 --> 00:28:04.265
there's no guarantee
that some of your trash

00:28:04.265 --> 00:28:08.019
doesn't end up in this river
or a river halfway across the world

00:28:08.103 --> 00:28:11.106
without you ever having littered
intentionally in your life.

00:28:11.523 --> 00:28:15.235
No matter what we do,
cleaning it up is not going to stop it.

00:28:16.861 --> 00:28:18.321
Solve this problem.

00:28:18.321 --> 00:28:20.740
You start
at the very beginning of its life.

00:28:20.740 --> 00:28:22.575
That's where you focus the attention.

00:28:22.575 --> 00:28:24.786
It's not at the cleanup. It's
not at the end.

00:28:24.786 --> 00:28:26.079
By then, it's too hard.

00:28:26.079 --> 00:28:29.124
You can't filter all of the microplastics
out of Lake Erie

00:28:29.290 --> 00:28:31.626
without killing Lake Erie,

00:28:31.626 --> 00:28:34.546
because you're going to be filtering out
all the microorganisms

00:28:34.546 --> 00:28:37.549
that are so critical
to the very base of the food chain.

00:28:37.757 --> 00:28:40.760
So if you want to solve this problem,
you start at the very front end.

00:28:40.927 --> 00:28:44.889
So you start by limiting our use of fossil
fuels.

00:28:45.014 --> 00:28:46.391
You start by limiting

00:28:46.391 --> 00:28:50.145
the production of plastic pellets
that go into plastic products.

00:28:50.353 --> 00:28:54.315
And the way that you do that, aside
from legislation that affects

00:28:54.315 --> 00:28:59.487
those communities that you can do it on an
individual level by not buying plastic,

00:29:00.238 --> 00:29:01.448
because ultimately,

00:29:01.448 --> 00:29:05.410
any corporation will tell you
we're just doing what people demand.

00:29:05.744 --> 00:29:08.580
We're just giving you what you want.

00:29:08.580 --> 00:29:10.957
So if you don't want it, don't buy it.

00:29:12.125 --> 00:29:15.128
If you
go grocery shopping, bring your own bags.

00:29:15.587 --> 00:29:18.214
The average American family
is going to use

00:29:18.214 --> 00:29:21.217
1500 disposable plastic bags per year.

00:29:22.552 --> 00:29:24.429
If you're going out to eat,

00:29:24.429 --> 00:29:27.432
let the waitstaff know
you don't need a straw.

00:29:27.640 --> 00:29:31.060
We're using 500 million
straws a day in the United States.

00:29:31.269 --> 00:29:34.731
That's a lot of straws.
500 million straws.

00:29:34.731 --> 00:29:38.985
Over 365 days of a year
will really add up in the long run.

00:29:40.111 --> 00:29:43.114
In the United States, we use 50

00:29:43.114 --> 00:29:47.285
billion bottles of water per year
to try to switch over

00:29:47.285 --> 00:29:50.914
to putting filtered or tap water
in your own refillable bottles.

00:29:52.290 --> 00:29:54.584
And the reason we're trying
to phase away from these

00:29:54.584 --> 00:29:57.587
plastics is the environmental issues,
the human health issues.

00:29:57.837 --> 00:30:00.840
But we've also seen a huge collapse
in recycling

00:30:01.007 --> 00:30:04.260
and a global perspective,
not just here in the United States.

00:30:06.095 --> 00:30:07.388
We only recycle

00:30:07.388 --> 00:30:10.225
8% of plastics that can be recycled.

00:30:10.225 --> 00:30:12.852
Everything else is going to landfill.

00:30:12.852 --> 00:30:16.272
So it's really important that we no longer
rely on recycling

00:30:16.564 --> 00:30:19.567
as the solution to the plastic
pollution issue.

00:30:19.901 --> 00:30:22.737
It's not working anymore.

00:30:22.737 --> 00:30:25.114
Single use plastics is the problem.

00:30:25.114 --> 00:30:28.535
But until grocery stores mandate
that they're not going to buy

00:30:28.576 --> 00:30:31.871
plastic bags until restaurants stop using

00:30:31.871 --> 00:30:34.874
plastic cups, plastic container straws

00:30:35.083 --> 00:30:39.045
until industry stop packaging
all of their items and products

00:30:39.045 --> 00:30:42.882
in plastics that end up in the landfill,
in the lake, wherever it is,

00:30:44.050 --> 00:30:45.969
we're not going to be able to

00:30:45.969 --> 00:30:48.972
to really have that change
that we're looking for,

00:30:49.389 --> 00:30:50.348
change needs to happen.

00:30:50.348 --> 00:30:53.351
There's no argument for pollution.

00:30:53.560 --> 00:30:56.563
It's just a matter of getting people
to think differently.

00:31:01.276 --> 00:31:01.985
Count back from three

00:31:01.985 --> 00:31:06.072
3, 2, 1

00:31:08.157 --> 00:31:10.618
Hold it tight

00:31:10.618 --> 00:31:13.246
When I started a refill shop
because I started

00:31:13.246 --> 00:31:17.041
using natural products in my home
after I was diagnosed with Lyme disease.

00:31:17.041 --> 00:31:20.044
But learning more about sustainability,
it's become

00:31:20.044 --> 00:31:23.339
more of a passion of mine

00:31:23.339 --> 00:31:26.342
because we need to be more sustainable,

00:31:26.342 --> 00:31:29.929
and we need to really consider
what products that we're using at home,

00:31:30.305 --> 00:31:33.308
how they're affecting our health
and how they're affecting our environment.

00:31:35.643 --> 00:31:38.062
So a refill shop is a place
that you can come

00:31:38.062 --> 00:31:42.066
bring your own containers and refill them
with eco friendly products,

00:31:43.151 --> 00:31:46.696
things like shampoo and conditioner
and body wash.

00:31:46.696 --> 00:31:51.367
We also have laundry, soaps, dish
soap, cleaners for your home.

00:31:51.367 --> 00:31:54.370
We have everything,
everything sustainable.

00:31:54.370 --> 00:31:57.373
Three so you're going to fill water up
to the top.

00:31:57.415 --> 00:31:59.876
Okay, it's highly concentrated.

00:32:01.461 --> 00:32:04.213
Since opening our shop in October of 2020,

00:32:04.213 --> 00:32:07.842
we've saved 7819 containers,

00:32:08.092 --> 00:32:13.598
meaning that people have brought their own
containers and refilled 7819 times,

00:32:13.890 --> 00:32:19.646
which means we're saving 7819 bottles
that are plastic

00:32:19.938 --> 00:32:22.899
from either Lake Erie or a landfill

00:32:22.899 --> 00:32:25.902
where they're not being properly recycled.

00:32:26.736 --> 00:32:29.614
I think it's really important
for people to understand

00:32:29.614 --> 00:32:33.785
that plastic is always going to be
an issue, but there's a way to combat

00:32:33.785 --> 00:32:38.289
the issue, making sure that you are
supporting a circular economy,

00:32:39.040 --> 00:32:40.792
which means that you purchase the item,

00:32:40.792 --> 00:32:43.836
you use the item,
and you find a way to use it.

00:32:43.836 --> 00:32:48.007
Again, instead of a linear economy
where you purchase it, you use it

00:32:48.007 --> 00:32:51.010
and you throw it in the trash.

00:32:54.555 --> 00:32:55.765
Basics of a circular

00:32:55.765 --> 00:32:59.143
economy is so we're going to generate
waste.

00:32:59.560 --> 00:33:01.646
We're humans. We're living organisms.

00:33:01.646 --> 00:33:02.855
We generate waste.

00:33:02.855 --> 00:33:04.732
What we need to do is try to figure out

00:33:04.732 --> 00:33:09.028
how to remove some of that waste
before it makes it to landfill.

00:33:09.988 --> 00:33:12.991
This can happen through composting,
of food waste.

00:33:13.074 --> 00:33:15.785
It can happen through repurposing.

00:33:15.785 --> 00:33:19.080
Putting items in reusable
containers, doing

00:33:19.080 --> 00:33:23.418
give back programs similar
to how milk was distributed to people

00:33:23.418 --> 00:33:27.797
you know in the 1920s and 30s,
and then also repurposing items.

00:33:28.881 --> 00:33:31.634
If you buy something in a glass jar,
keeping

00:33:31.634 --> 00:33:35.888
that glass jar to hold two containers,
maybe using it as a drinking glass.

00:33:36.180 --> 00:33:38.850
And so by removing those items
throughout the process,

00:33:38.850 --> 00:33:41.853
in a circular economy,
there's ultimately going to be less

00:33:42.020 --> 00:33:45.023
that is sent to landfill at the end.

00:33:48.276 --> 00:33:51.279
We're accustomed to this throwaway
culture.

00:33:51.279 --> 00:33:54.282
We always talk about throwing stuff away.

00:33:54.365 --> 00:33:57.994
There is no way that somebody's community,
that's where someone lives.

00:33:59.370 --> 00:34:02.915
Whatever we can do as a culture,
as a society, to try and minimize

00:34:03.166 --> 00:34:07.003
that which we're throwing away,
I think is fundamentally critical.

00:34:11.257 --> 00:34:13.926
We want

00:34:13.926 --> 00:34:17.680
to introduce people to other products
and other brands and other sort

00:34:17.680 --> 00:34:21.851
of consuming behaviors that you have
the best options accessible to you.

00:34:22.477 --> 00:34:27.190
We added on to our residential pickup
program, a little offering of products

00:34:27.190 --> 00:34:30.359
that we called Skosh,
which literally means a small amount.

00:34:31.319 --> 00:34:35.948
We sell things like deodorant,
soap, toothbrushes, coffee.

00:34:35.948 --> 00:34:36.282
Right.

00:34:36.282 --> 00:34:40.536
Things that you normally would buy
that comes in a ton of plastic packaging.

00:34:40.745 --> 00:34:44.832
All of the products that we're offering
are minimally or not at all packaged.

00:34:45.041 --> 00:34:47.168
They're all, compostable.

00:34:47.168 --> 00:34:50.213
And so you can use this product,
to its full extent

00:34:50.213 --> 00:34:53.216
and then throw it back in our bin
to have it composted.

00:34:53.841 --> 00:34:58.471
It's not going to shatter
the economy of the plastics industry,

00:34:58.471 --> 00:35:03.101
but it's this invitation to allow people
to be exposed to new ways

00:35:03.101 --> 00:35:04.477
of interacting with things.

00:35:04.477 --> 00:35:06.104
And by participating in it,

00:35:06.104 --> 00:35:09.649
we can show the rest of the our community
and the rest of the world like that.

00:35:09.649 --> 00:35:11.109
This is this is possible.

00:35:15.863 --> 00:35:16.489
Before we

00:35:16.489 --> 00:35:20.535
talk about the recycling of plastic,
I really wanted to start

00:35:20.535 --> 00:35:25.373
by kind of providing
an overview of the flow of plastics,

00:35:25.373 --> 00:35:28.918
just to try and kind of wrap our head
around some numbers.

00:35:29.252 --> 00:35:32.672
Just over the last 70 years,
we've produced

00:35:33.005 --> 00:35:38.761
10 billion metric tons of this material.

00:35:40.346 --> 00:35:41.806
Over that 70 year period.

00:35:41.806 --> 00:35:45.810
I spent a lot of time advocating
for people to make personal changes.

00:35:46.310 --> 00:35:50.857
And I think that that is critically
important because that reduces the demand.

00:35:51.232 --> 00:35:54.235
So if you
but I think that there's a bigger problem

00:35:54.277 --> 00:35:57.280
and that has to be solved
at a more legislative level.

00:35:57.488 --> 00:36:01.409
That is that's one of the probably
the biggest kind of fallacies

00:36:01.659 --> 00:36:04.662
that been has been propagated
on to the American people

00:36:04.662 --> 00:36:08.291
is this idea that people are the problem
when it comes to litter.

00:36:08.708 --> 00:36:13.254
The fact that there's trash in our lake
is because of you as an individual.

00:36:13.254 --> 00:36:15.047
It's your consumption.

00:36:15.047 --> 00:36:18.009
Well, no, I mean,
you go to a grocery store frequently.

00:36:18.009 --> 00:36:21.888
You don't have an option
not to buy something wrapped in plastic.

00:36:22.388 --> 00:36:26.767
If you want to go buy cheese at the
grocery store, it's wrapped in plastic.

00:36:27.101 --> 00:36:30.688
You don't have another option,
so it's not really the consumer's problem.

00:36:31.314 --> 00:36:35.651
And even upstream from not every one trash

00:36:35.651 --> 00:36:39.906
can of garbage that you or
I put out at the curb.

00:36:40.406 --> 00:36:45.328
70 trash cans are produced at industries
upstream from us.

00:36:45.786 --> 00:36:47.788
So who's the real problem there?

00:36:47.788 --> 00:36:50.458
Is it us as a consumer
or is it industry.

00:36:52.251 --> 00:36:53.169
We really need to be

00:36:53.169 --> 00:36:56.964
I think asking harder questions
and demanding more of manufacturers

00:36:56.964 --> 00:36:58.758
that we're buying products from.

00:36:58.758 --> 00:37:02.762
Why is it that
an aluminum can isn't always recyclable?

00:37:02.762 --> 00:37:03.804
Why is it that

00:37:03.804 --> 00:37:07.475
you can't manufacture a plastic bottle
that is infinitely recyclable?

00:37:07.808 --> 00:37:11.354
I think there's a ton of blame shifting
that takes place in the world

00:37:11.354 --> 00:37:12.230
of zero waste.

00:37:12.230 --> 00:37:15.983
In the world of plastics recycling,
that puts a ton of the blame

00:37:15.983 --> 00:37:19.028
on the individual
to have to know everything

00:37:19.028 --> 00:37:22.990
in and out of the ever
changing landscape of recycling.

00:37:23.407 --> 00:37:25.785
That really should be
the burden of the manufacturer.

00:37:25.785 --> 00:37:29.705
I see no logical reason
why we can't demand that of people

00:37:29.705 --> 00:37:32.708
making and selling products.

00:37:33.751 --> 00:37:36.337
You really have to focus on

00:37:36.337 --> 00:37:42.551
changing policies that cause industries
to become responsible for their trash.

00:37:43.636 --> 00:37:45.513
If you force them, if

00:37:45.513 --> 00:37:49.350
you have extended corporate responsibility
and they are now responsible for that

00:37:49.350 --> 00:37:50.142
shampoo bottle,

00:37:50.142 --> 00:37:54.438
they are now responsible for that bottle
that your beverage came in.

00:37:55.106 --> 00:37:58.901
They will then ensure
that they get those bottles back.

00:37:59.443 --> 00:38:04.615
That's how you force them
to actually invest in recycling efforts.

00:38:04.657 --> 00:38:08.536
That's how you kind of use
the market in your favor,

00:38:08.828 --> 00:38:12.415
is by extending the responsibility
to the corporations who are

00:38:12.415 --> 00:38:15.418
actually manufacturing these goods.

00:38:17.086 --> 00:38:20.131
But you can't advocate for those changes

00:38:20.131 --> 00:38:23.134
if you're not willing to make the changes
in your own life too.

00:38:26.262 --> 00:38:28.681
So I always tell people,
start with yourself.

00:38:28.681 --> 00:38:34.520
And as you make changes, then as you are
the change you want to see in the world,

00:38:34.520 --> 00:38:38.691
then you can push for other people
in corporations to do that too.

00:38:39.150 --> 00:38:40.776
But you have to start with yourself.

00:38:42.987 --> 00:38:44.739
Make sure that we're electing

00:38:44.739 --> 00:38:48.034
elected officials
who understand the breadth of our issues,

00:38:48.284 --> 00:38:51.996
and that are willing to go into
the legislature and argue about the things

00:38:51.996 --> 00:38:54.248
that they don't see every day,
but they know are very real

00:38:54.248 --> 00:38:58.377
for their constituents in their districts,
which include plastic pollution

00:38:58.377 --> 00:39:02.590
and water affordability and addressing
aging water infrastructure.

00:39:02.798 --> 00:39:07.845
We need legislators that are not scared
to go into the chambers and really stand

00:39:07.845 --> 00:39:11.474
ten toes down on these issues
and make the progress needed,

00:39:11.474 --> 00:39:16.020
and to stand up to producers
and put in stringent measures

00:39:16.020 --> 00:39:19.273
that hold them accountable
for the pollution that they are creating.

00:39:20.983 --> 00:39:23.819
Well, if you went to the store today, you
probably have already seen the changes.

00:39:23.819 --> 00:39:26.822
Washington's plastic bag ban
now in full effect.

00:39:27.073 --> 00:39:30.201
The city of Philadelphia
is getting rid of plastic bags,

00:39:30.368 --> 00:39:33.829
and tomorrow is the next phase
in this environmental movement.

00:39:34.121 --> 00:39:37.124
Stores will start getting fined
for using them.

00:39:37.708 --> 00:39:40.461
Starting November 1st,
the bring Your Own Bag act

00:39:40.461 --> 00:39:42.630
will go into effect in Baltimore County.

00:39:42.630 --> 00:39:46.175
The act will require stores
and restaurants to charge a fee

00:39:46.217 --> 00:39:48.552
for a paper bag or reusable bag.

00:39:48.552 --> 00:39:51.305
Or you can just bring your own bag
for free.

00:39:51.305 --> 00:39:54.767
10% of the total waste in
this country is plastic bags.

00:39:55.726 --> 00:39:57.186
It's a very high

00:39:57.186 --> 00:40:00.981
percent and we need to take some action.

00:40:01.273 --> 00:40:03.734
now.

00:40:03.734 --> 00:40:06.612
Today marks a turning point.

00:40:06.612 --> 00:40:09.281
No more use it and lose it.

00:40:09.281 --> 00:40:13.244
It's time to turn off the tap
on single use plastic pollution.

00:40:13.786 --> 00:40:16.455
I'm happy
to announce that the Government of Canada

00:40:16.455 --> 00:40:20.501
has moved forward
a comprehensive plan to ban harmful

00:40:20.501 --> 00:40:24.046
single use plastics
and keep them out of the environment.

00:40:33.931 --> 00:40:37.226
When you see disturbances in the water,
when you see this,

00:40:37.226 --> 00:40:40.646
what should be pristine,
what should be protected be contaminated.

00:40:41.021 --> 00:40:43.399
It's a deeply disturbing thing.

00:40:43.399 --> 00:40:48.070
It really calls into question, the extent
of the damage that we've already caused.

00:40:48.237 --> 00:40:52.074
And all of the work that still needs
to be done to continue to remediate.

00:40:52.283 --> 00:40:55.369
Our legacy of contamination
and of pollution.

00:40:56.620 --> 00:40:57.830
We have fresh water.

00:40:57.830 --> 00:41:02.001
It is not grandiose or crazy to think
that you should be able to drink from it.

00:41:02.293 --> 00:41:04.962
And yet that is unthinkable.

00:41:04.962 --> 00:41:07.882
We need to get our act together.

00:41:07.882 --> 00:41:10.092
Requires a communal effort.

00:41:10.092 --> 00:41:14.889
And it requires a systemic effort
to really begin addressing the crisis

00:41:14.889 --> 00:41:17.892
that our waterways are seeing currently.

00:41:20.895 --> 00:41:22.813
We talk a lot about once

00:41:22.813 --> 00:41:25.816
you see the plastic, you can't unsee it.

00:41:25.941 --> 00:41:29.236
So I can't walk up
and down the beach anymore without seeing,

00:41:29.445 --> 00:41:31.405
you know, every little piece of plastic
that's out there.

00:41:31.405 --> 00:41:34.408
I can't drive down the street anymore
without seeing that.

00:41:35.034 --> 00:41:39.788
When you see it, it's damaging
and you want to make a difference.

00:41:39.788 --> 00:41:40.873
And I think if more people start

00:41:40.873 --> 00:41:44.084
to see things that way, it'll
be hard not to make changes.

00:41:46.086 --> 00:41:47.046
It's going to take a long time.

00:41:47.046 --> 00:41:48.589
It's a generational issue.

00:41:48.589 --> 00:41:51.592
It's nothing that's going to be fixed
probably in my lifetime.

00:41:51.884 --> 00:41:54.595
We're
just hoping to change the culture and

00:41:54.595 --> 00:41:57.598
and be the catalyst for change.

00:41:58.807 --> 00:42:01.227
I don't know that
there's going to be an end,

00:42:01.227 --> 00:42:06.398
maybe that I'll see in my lifetime,
but the means justify themselves.

00:42:06.398 --> 00:42:10.319
Like we know out here, we're making
a difference day in and day out.

00:42:10.528 --> 00:42:12.279
Whether that trash is going to

00:42:12.279 --> 00:42:15.824
flow down the river again in the morning,
and I got to go back out and get it.

00:42:16.033 --> 00:42:17.952
That that doesn't bother me anymore.

00:42:17.952 --> 00:42:22.998
I'm, I'm I'm ready to just be out there
all the time until I don't have to.

00:42:23.249 --> 00:42:26.252
And I hope that one day I won't have to.

00:42:26.377 --> 00:42:28.837
But it's going to take
a lot of us to get there.

00:42:32.925 --> 00:42:35.886
We are the solution
to the issue of plastic pollution.

00:42:36.178 --> 00:42:39.431
And when you make simple changes
in your everyday life

00:42:39.848 --> 00:42:41.976
and you encourage others
to make those changes

00:42:41.976 --> 00:42:44.895
just through conversations
or through your own actions.

00:42:44.895 --> 00:42:48.315
More and more people will get involved,
and eventually we're going to see

00:42:48.315 --> 00:42:51.318
big changes being made.

00:42:52.361 --> 00:42:53.320
Find a challenge

00:42:53.320 --> 00:42:56.448
that resonates with you
and try and try and do something about it.

00:42:56.949 --> 00:42:57.741
Take a risk.

00:42:57.741 --> 00:42:58.867
Do something.

00:42:58.867 --> 00:43:04.456
Don't sit on your hands and let's all try
and collectively rise to the challenges.

00:43:04.456 --> 00:43:07.835
Because if we don't, we're truly
running out of time

00:43:07.835 --> 00:43:10.838
to make some monumental changes.

00:43:12.464 --> 00:43:14.258
I have hope because I think that a lot

00:43:14.258 --> 00:43:18.095
of the climate change impacts
are being seen on an everyday basis

00:43:18.095 --> 00:43:23.017
now. And so it's going to rise
in terms of priority and important.

00:43:23.809 --> 00:43:26.312
I think that our young people
are our hope.

00:43:26.312 --> 00:43:28.105
They are not the future,

00:43:28.105 --> 00:43:30.524
they are the present.
They are dealing with these things today

00:43:31.775 --> 00:43:33.277
and they are fired up about it.

00:43:33.277 --> 00:43:36.363
And I think we're going
to be held accountable to respond to it.

00:43:38.991 --> 00:43:40.117
We have to remember that

00:43:40.117 --> 00:43:43.120
water connects us all to each other.

00:43:43.454 --> 00:43:46.415
We are now more than ever
a global community,

00:43:47.708 --> 00:43:50.336
and what we're doing here
could be affecting people

00:43:50.336 --> 00:43:53.339
in, you know, Ecuador.

00:43:56.050 --> 00:43:58.844
By protecting my lake,

00:43:58.844 --> 00:44:02.890
which is important for my own livelihood
and the water that my daughter drinks.

00:44:02.890 --> 00:44:06.560
But I'm also protecting people
that are very far

00:44:06.560 --> 00:44:09.563
removed from me.

00:44:09.855 --> 00:44:11.273
Frequently we're planting

00:44:11.273 --> 00:44:14.610
trees that we never get to sit
in the shade of.

00:44:14.610 --> 00:44:17.613
I think that right now,
this is a call for us to act

00:44:17.613 --> 00:44:21.408
as a species
for the benefit of future generations.