Discovery and Discovery Plus will showcase The Story of Plastic on World Environment Day. It focusses upon man-made pollution and its worldwide effects
This World Environment Day, June 5, Discovery, Discovery HD and recently launched Discovery Plus app will showcase, The Story of Plastic, a look at the man-made crisis of pollution and the effect it has on our planet and the people that inhabit it. Spanning three continents, the film illustrates the ongoing catastrophe: fields full of garbage, veritable mountains of trash; rivers and seas clogged with waste; and skies choked with the poisonous emissions from plastic production and processing.
It features interviews with experts and activists on the frontlines of the fight, revealing the disastrous consequences of the flood of plastic smothering ecosystems and poisoning communities around the world — and the global movement rising up in response. With engaging original animation, archival industry footage starting in the 1930s and first-person accounts of the unfolding emergency, the film distills a complex problem that is increasingly affecting the planet’s and its residents’ well-being.
“The issues highlighted in the film illuminate how the decisions made locally can affect us globally. We are eager to highlight the solutions laid out in the film that will help make our world a cleaner and healthier place to live in,” says Nancy Daniels, chief brand officer, Discovery and Factual.
“It was always a priority for us to find the film a home that would amplify the important messages and voices,” states filmmaker Deia Schlosberg. “I have been passionate about this issue for over 10 years. The Story of Plastic showed us the truth of what plastic is doing to our planet,” explains co-executive producer and award-winning musician Jackson Browne.
It shines a light on the environmental damage and human rights abuses that occur throughout the life cycle of plastic — not just once it’s disposed off. The message around plastic has, for decades, been controlled by its producers, who have deliberately focussed on waste. The film reveals how the plastics’ industry is simultaneously blaming consumers for pollution and aggressively investing to produce more single-use plastic than ever before. It highlights, that while cleanup is important, the real solution lies in stopping the mass production of plastic in the first place. “The crisis doesn’t start when the plastics enter the ocean. It starts when the oil and the gas leave the wellhead, and it keeps on being a problem at every step along the way,” says film subject Carroll Muffett of Centre for International Environmental Law.
Beyond illuminating the nature of the crisis, the film also puts the spotlight on the global resistance and network of every-day heroes working internationally to combat this urgent problem, including Charlie Moore (Algalita Marine Research & Education) who discovered the North Pacific Garbage Patch, Ellen and Elise Gerhart of Pennsylvania who protested the construction of a fracked gas pipeline through their family’s property and Yvette Arellano (Texas Environmental Justice Advocacy Services), who supports communities sitting at the fence-line of the petrochemical corridor along the Gulf Coast.
The Story of Plastic forcefully identifies a pressing global challenge which first surfaced around 15 years ago. It highlights how the actions of one group can affect not only their world but that of their neighbours on the other side of the globe too. As activist Shibu K Nahir explains, “Look at our globe: it’s a water world… So if you imagine that we are in a womb filled with water, whatever I do here is going to affect every single life form on this earth… Whether a person in Europe or US or India or Africa or Philippines, it’s a life… We need to bring in that kind of a spirit of unity across boundaries, because these toxins do not understand political boundaries.”