Open Blog #1

I went to the recycling team's showing of the documentary 'Bag It' last night with pretty low expectations. Don't get me wrong, there are some good documentaries out there, but usually at the end of a very long day, the last thing I want to do is be bored to sleep by another environmental documentary. I'm pleased to report I was very wrong!

'Bag It' was not only very informative but was also incredibly hilarious. The main character was just a huge goofball which made him very easy to relate to. As I've mentioned before, I'm a marine science major, and I really enjoyed how there was a large section of the documentary that focused on what happened when a lot of plastic found its way into the oceans. They focused on the Midway Island albatross population, which is very ecologically significant. The island is the largest breeding ground for these birds, but recently, scientists are finding that there is a higher and higher percentage of plastic in the guts of these birds. When parents bring back food from out to see to feed to their babies, they are bringing larger quantities of plastic. The plastic gets into the baby birds and stays there, in some cases, until they die. Prior to the 60's and 70's, no plastic was found in these birds, and the populations were a lot more stable.

Another aspect of plastic that the documentary focused on pretty heavily was the banning of plastic bags by many countries. Germany, Ireland, Australia, and many others have either completely gotten rid of plastic bags or put a tax on each bag used. In Ireland, the change seemed to happen almost over night. Why pay 22 cents for each plastic bag each time you needed one when you could spend a euro on a reusable bag one time to use many times?

I wish that the United States as a whole would implement some of these plastic policies, but so far, very few states and countries have any policies in place.