Plastic Paradise The Great Pacific Garbage Patch Analysis

Name: Chan Hiu Ching Student ID: 4020618
Plastic Paradise: The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a documentary directed by Angela Sun in 2014. This spectacular documentary is about the devastating drawbacks of plastic production and offers a glimpse of garbage island in the North Pacific. Near the beginning of the documentary, the director interviews some citizens at a beach and finds out they do not realize the extent of the problem. In order to investigate the problem, the director travels to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch which has become the world’s biggest landfill under the North Pacific Gyre currents. The movie shows plenty of micro-plastic and non-biodegradable fishing gear are collected in the patch – that

For example, some shocking statistics are given to show the dramatic increase in plastic consumption – that the American people use one million plastic bags per minute and 85 million plastic bottle per three minutes. Moreover, the director interviews biologist, activist, engineer and volunteer to illustrates the drawbacks of plastic consumption and understand the problem from various angles. In addition, the documentary makes a good use of animation to clarify the formation of garbage island in the South Pacific and helps viewers fully understand the abstract ideas. Despite the disturbing and realistic image of a bird being cut open is shown, the director sends a clear and important message about the environmental impact of using plastic to viewers successfully. Moreover, the hidden meaning of the documentary is the invention of plastic is not evil but it depends on how we use it, how much we produce it and how we treat the plastic garbage. People from every walk of life have responsibility to protect our environment and should make an effort to minimize the use of plastic. For example, the government should regulate the use of BPA in plastic production and find out an environmentally-friendly method to decompose the plastic. While the government take the lead, it is vital involve the entire community in reducing plastic waste. The irresponsible people from plastic industry should stop using BPA in the plastic production and should realize the serious consequences of rapid plastic production. For citizens, they have to change their attitudes towards using plastic. In daily life, they can use reusable bottles instead of using plastic bottles, bring recycle bags and say no to plastic bags. With determination and perseverance, the environmental problem can definitely be solved. However, my only disappointment in