Do the preparation task first. Then read the text and do the exercises.
Preparation
A Plastic Ocean
A Plastic Ocean is a film to make you think. Think, and then act. We need to take action on our dependence on plastic. We've been producing plastic in huge quantities since the 1940s. Drink bottles, shopping bags, toiletries and even clothes are made with plastic. 1) _____. What happens to all the rest? This is the question the film A Plastic Ocean answers. It is a documentary that looks at the impact that plastic waste has on the environment. Spoiler alert: the impact is devastating.
The film begins as a journey to film the largest animal on the planet, the blue whale. But during the journey the filmmakers (journalist Craig Leeson and environmental activist Tanya Streeter) make the shocking discovery of a huge, thick layer of plastic floating in the middle of the Indian Ocean. 2) _____. In total, they visited 20 locations around the world during the four years it took them to make the film. The documentary premiered in 2016, and is now on streaming services such as Netflix.
It's very clear that a lot of research went into the film. There are beautiful shots of the seas and marine life. 3) _____. We see how marine species are being killed by all the plastic we are dumping in the ocean. The message about our use of plastic is painfully obvious.
4) _____. In the second half, the filmmakers look at what we can do to reverse the tide of plastic flowing around the world. They present short-term and long-term solutions. These include avoiding plastic containers and 'single-use' plastic products as much as possible. Reuse your plastic bags and recycle as much as you can. The filmmakers also stress the need for governments to work more on recycling programmes, and look at how technology is developing that can convert plastic into fuel.
We make a staggering amount of plastic. In terms of plastic bags alone, we use five hundred billion worldwide annually. Over 300 million tons of plastic are produced every year, and at least 8 million of those are dumped into the oceans. 5) _____. Once you've seen A Plastic Ocean, you'll realise the time is now and we all have a role to play.
I watched many years ago a documentary called "Ilha das Flores" (BR) from 1989, that talks about the same theme, but goes beyond that, and shows the social inequality spectrum, besides consumerist habits that makes us to creat the big amount of garbage that is presented on the movie.
I have watched Apocalypse WW2. It has 6 episodes and the years are separated in these episodes. I found this documentary gripping and informative. I can recommend.
I recommend "Before the flood" directed by Fisher Stevens and produced by Leo DiCaprio. It's a docummentary about the global warming and how the artic is melting, it's very sad but makes you take counciosness about the situation
The solution to this problem is return to glass. Everything was made of glass many years ago. Not only is glass safe and clean for the environment, but also for people. For instance, a glass bottle maintains the water inside it clean and suitable to drink, whereas a plastic bottle pollutes water with plastic particles. It tastes plastic!
I agree with your opinion! I've also thought about that fact that many years ago people even didn't know about plastic bottles and bags. And what? Everything was okay! And the oceans were also okay. Today I've read in one article that there are even special oceans where people send all rubish. It's unbelievable!
And also I prefer special bags which are not made with plastic. Especially now they are produced with different designs. And you can even take them to the university, not only to the supermarkets :)
I'd recommend the historical ones such as Titanic 20 Years Later. It's about the well-known ship Titanic which was sunk and damaged in the 20th century.
A good documentary to watch is "The social dilemma". It talks about the impact and influence of social media on human life. It's on Netflix.
one image says 1000 words.
From National Geographic in Indonesia
https://ic.pics.livejournal.com/revo2012/30210894/20947/20947_original…
One image says 1000 words
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/article/explore-garbage-wave
In my opinion, this film helps us think about what we are not doing to take care of the environment because it shows how we're destroying life on the planet with our daily actions in which we use plastic waste almost all the time. I think it is important that we take measures to reduce the negative impact, there are many solutions that we can do: carry our cloth bags when we go to the supermarket, bring our own thermos of water, buy second-hand clothes, think before buying something that we don't really need, also we dont forget to pick up the trash after leaving a place where we have consumed something like food whic uses plastic to protect it.
If each of us were aware of reducing our plastic waste, we could help improve life on the planet.