Bag It is a documentary film by Reel Thing Productions, uncovers the story behind plastic and our nations obsession with using it for e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g.
It begins with the notion that the first time see or hear something for the first time, you then continue to see or hear about that many times over and you wonder why you never realized it before. Plastic is one of those things. Think about it and you will begin to realize how much plastic is ALL OVER this planet. Not only just plastic, but throw-away-after-one-use plastic comprises most of the items you see. I would say that all plastic will be thrown away—sometimes you get more use out of some things than others—but, eventually our plastic items will break, and we will have to buy new ones. (Planned Obsolescence, People!) However, most plastic we use is not meant to be saved: bags, bottles, containers, packaging, etc…
In fact, I am told that I should not save and re-use plastic bottles and bags that are meant for one-time-use-only because the chemicals on them will get into my system. WAIT. The chemicals on them will get into my system? But only if I reuse it…So those chemicals know to stay out of my system the first time I use it?? Wow, smart chemicals. Or maybe there is some piece of information I am not being told. Hmm…
Bag It also discusses the classic 3 R’s: Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. While these are great principles to live by, we seem to have forgotten the first two, throw everything in recycling and call it a day. It is a great thing, but our current system actually DOWNcycles items rather than REcycles them. The film mentions that we really need a fourth R, before any of the other three—and that is Redesign. Redesign the products, but mostly, redesign the system.
So, what does all this have to do with food? (It always does relate back to food!) Well, think about it next time we go to the grocery store. Nearly every product comes with some sort of plastic packaging—and if it doesn’t, then we put it in plastic!! Sometimes there are multiple layers of plastic, just to be safe that the germs do not get into the food. (What about those scary chemicals in the plastic though?)
I will part with a statistic of massive proportions: we use 40 times more plastics than food.
Just think about all of this next time you are…well anywhere!
And check out the film:
http://www.reelthing.us/
http://vimeo.com/5645718
This is a great review of a both culturally and academically rich film! I am not familar with the term Planned Obsolescence though I can imagine its meaning-- Is this at all related to the fact that Apple products are made to be thrown away?
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of Apple products, the film made me think about the laptop I so proudly blogged about as a 100 percent recyclable computer. Since watching the film, I highly doubt any part of it is from recyclable materials, let alone will be broken apart for recycling. Apple I assume only uses the pure plastic pellets like every other corporation and eventually my laptop will end up back in China where some child is paid below minimum wage to pull it into pieces and dispose of it.
those chemicals are scary! makes me want to go get that test that he had done, i dont remember what it was called though. hmm.
ReplyDeleteMaureen--
ReplyDelete(Any anyone else who may be interested!)
I recommend you watch The Story of Stuff: http://www.storyofstuff.com/
Cheers.