For my second extra credit blog post, I watched A Plastic Ocean on Netflix and here is my review:

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5203824/

Message: Refuse single-use plastics and spend your consumer dollars wisely because plastic waste & styrofoam are damaging our oceans and inevitably affecting us. We will show you why plastics should cease to be produced and then dumped into our landfills and the ocean – because it never goes away.

Summary: The documentary, A Plastic Ocean, begins with the Director Craig Lesson, attempting to follow and record Blue Whales off of the coast of Sri Lanka. Craig has always had a fascination for these animals, which began when he was a child. While filming a juvenile pigmy Blue Whale, the camera glances up towards the surface of the water – where loads of plastic and trash are floating and bobbing in the waves. This is how Craig begins the story…The waste problem is disproportionally affecting Blue Whales because they feed by opening their mouths and sucking in up to a hundred gallons of water and cannot distinguish between krill and plastic before digestion. The scientists in the documentary even found plastics along the ocean floor, where sunlight never reaches. The documentary quickly touches on Earth systems, particularly the 5 massive gyres that can be found all over the world.

Biases: The Director, Craig Lesson, has major devotion for the ocean to where he understand its intrinsic value. This attribute would greatly sway the way this documentary is directed and the messages he intends to spread. In addition, it is plain to see that this documentary was targeted towards Americans because it mostly discusses American influence on waste.

Reflection: I found it rather shocking that almost every plastic product made on the planet is, in one way or another, still around. This revelation further proves one of Barry Commoner’s Laws of Ecology that we learned about it class – but it’s still disturbing to realize that the massive amount of plastic that I have encountered and use throughout my life is somewhere now, even years after I enjoyed that Starbucks Frapp! Another reflection I’ve made while watching this film was the blatant environmental injustice that occurs in countries outside of the United States. For instance, the documentary highlights on a country where 2,000 families live on a 123.5 acre lot designated to be a landfill in 1998. Just like we’ve discussed in class, this community also faces birth defects, cancer and other implications due to the pollution that they are surrounded by. It is so unfortunate that these people do not realize the connection between the place they live and their health – some even burn plastic to help cook food! I feel like awareness to the health effects of plastics and living on landfills is desperately needed in these areas!!

Earlier this week I was feeling bold and decided to write emails to South Carolina’s legislature concerning the debate on whether or not SC should allow off-shore drilling in the near future. After conducting research into voting trends of our state senators, I noticed that Senator Lindsey Graham was beginning to vote more in-favor of environmentally friendly bills… this was a very small trend, but a trend nonetheless. I wrote to Mr. Graham telling him how I appreciated his new found concern for the environment and I hope he would continue to consider the impacts that his votes have on the planet. I concluded stating that the off-shore drilling plan could detrimentally affect the state’s $2M tourism industry if something were to go wrong. This was his response:

Dear Ms. Barto:

Thank you for contacting me regarding offshore drilling.  I firmly believe the United States must break its dependence on energy from unstable areas of the world–particularly the Middle East–but that we must also be good stewards of South Carolina’s natural environment. Safe and environmentally conscious offshore drilling can create jobs and decrease our dependence on foreign oil and gas.  I believe the question of whether to permit drilling off the coast of South Carolina should be closely evaluated, and ultimately the people of South Carolina should make the decision.  As the Senate considers this issue, I will continue to seek a balance between energy independence and the protection of South Carolina’s coast. As your United States Senator, my primary job is to understand and represent the interests of all South Carolinians.  The opportunity to hear from you about the issues confronting our nation is not only essential to representative democracy, but allows me to better serve the people of South Carolina.  We will not see eye-to-eye on every issue; however, I promise to always give your concerns the consideration they deserve. I encourage you to visit my website — http://lgraham.senate.gov — as it will have information on the most recent activities before the U.S. Senate.  You can also sign up for our e-mail newsletter, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube pages which will provide the latest information and updates on the major issues facing our state and our nation. Thank you again for contacting me. I truly appreciate the opportunity to hear from you and am honored to have the opportunity to represent your interests in the U.S. Senate.

Oh well, I guess you can’t win all of them. If off-shore drilling creates jobs, then who cares about what an oil spill would do to our beautiful marshlands, coasts, and marine life? Not to mention, fishing jobs – jobs related to tourism – and overall quality of life in our waters? Graham takes an L for this one, for some reason I am not sure that he would actually take my concerns seriously when it came down to making more $$$. But that doesn’t mean we should give up!!