Why Plastic Pollution Is Even Worse Than You Think
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- Опубликовано: 27 май 2024
- Plastic pollution, explained. Support OCC and get 20+ bonus, ad-free videos by signing up for Nebula: go.nebula.tv/occ/
In this Our Changing Climate climate change video essay, I look at an aspect of plastic pollution that often is ignored in the face of plastic pollution in the ocean. While ocean plastic pollution is an important issue, plastic is actually a fossil fuel production. This means that the emissions from plastic creation are massive. Unfortunately, the fossil fuel industry sees plastic as a plan B in the face of a renewables transition. This means that plastic pollution in the ocean and the atmosphere will only rise as fossil fuel industries seek to cover their losses. Unfortunately, recycling plastic is not a viable solution. Recycling plastic is actually an industry-backed tool to get people to buy more plastic without actually recycling most of the plastic, leading to lots of plastic pollution. At the end of the day, only bans and a transition away from plastic can halt plastic pollution both in terms of emissions and ocean plastic pollution.
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Timestamps:
Intro - 0:00
What's Plastic? - 0:49
Big Oil Loves Plastic - 2:10
The Real Impact of Plastic - 4:10
Recycling Is a Sham - 6:24
We Need a Different World - 8:32
Sponsored Message - 10:06
Outro - 11:56
I use Epidemic Sound for some of my music: epidemicsound.com/creator
_______________________
Further Reading and Resources: ourchangingclimate.notion.sit...
#Plastic #PlasticPollution #FossilFuels
💡 In what ways are you trying to minimize plastic in the world?
😔 Correction: at 3:18 I meant to say "million" instead of "billion"
👍 Consider commenting and liking!!! It really helps this video beat the pesky algorithm!
There are options here like bulkfood stores and buying more local and seasonal stuff but those are generally more expensive. As a student it's too expensive to consume more ethically, paying rent is hard enough.
That said, I have been vegan for a while and vegetarian before that for most of my life. I don't buy clothes if I don't need them and prefer to buy them second-hand. I try to be consious of high climate impact things like electronics so not buying a new phone too often, use things until they can't be easily maintained and fixed anymore.
Where is the bonus content in Nebula? And why is your Nebula upload after your youtube upload?
I’ve recently made two swaps. The first was to stop buying milk alternatives packaged in Tetra Pak cartons. Our local council has collected cartons for recycling for a few years, I always knew they were a problem, so when the council announced they would now end up at waste to heat facilities, that was my prompt to stop buying them. And happily, here in the UK, the old fashioned milk deliveries never went away. We now get oat milk in glass bottles delivered by an EV, the bottles get reused on average 25 times. The oat milk, made by Oato, is absolutely delicious too!
The other swap was to an online food company that has a growing range of zero waste food items. The deliveries are sent out in reused plastic crates and all of the food is in reused plastic pots.
Both swaps cost a little bit more, but then again there’s less trips to the supermarket and I’m not picking up as many things on a whim.
so the solutuin and the alternative of the plastic is nebula and curiosity stream?
Cutting out fast fashion is a big one. Most of the clothes at H&M are literally made of oil. I buy clothes second-hand and buy loose produce at the store.
Single use plastics are the most insane thing ever. We make this material that lasts hundreds of years just to use it once.
Cause it's cheap and helps food stay fresh
Hi
Hi
Yes
@@maknyc1539 partially, food isn't really where most of the waste comes from. Literally just product packaging
Holy cow.
"Companies have placed the burden on the consumers"
Yes, individuals can make a change, but if One company makes a change, it will be a lot bigger
Yeah, it's almost like they control what there is for us for us to consume and in what quantities
it's still ultimately up to individuals, but the problem is advertisement, misinformation, diversion and manipulation of consumers by companies.
it's a complete fool's errand to try to tell a company that it should stop doing the very thing it exists for under the current economic system: the maximization of profit.
so there's really two options in regards to channeling efforts for things to improve:
- working on spreading information and awareness, effectively impacting consumer demand.
- campaigning for an overhaul of the economic system.
expecting the cogs of a company to suddenly turn the other way any time soon because people wish for them to so will get us nowhere.
E x a c t l y
At times point we ALL have to do whatever we can to solve this problem, yes big companies play a huge part in this but they exist because they have consumers. If no one would support them anymore they couldn’t exist. So governments should step in and force companies to change their ways, but we as individuals can also make huge changes by becoming aware of how we spend our money and who we are supporting
Honestly if companies decided to stop using plastics, the plastic would not be a problem. but they prefer making more profit since it's cheaper. simply Capitalism.
Marketing departments never try to make informed consumers, they always try to cultivate misinformed consumers making irrational choices.
Informed consumers doesn't matter they don't also control production
Meanwhile, in another classroom at the same university, they tech us that consumers make rational choices,
Well, I'm not sure today, but it was like that way up to 2009.
I'd like to see more discussion about how marketing is just another construct to reinforce capitalist structures. It's more problematic than gets discussed.
@@thecrazygainerguy Marketing and advertising undermine the basic principles people use to justify capitalism and "free markets", but no supporter of those ideas seems to care about it.
@@1ucasvb marketers and business majors are the parasites of the country. Their jobs are basically to artificially raise the value of products via convincing people that their products are worth more than it actually is, a lot of times they use deceptive means to do so. They save company costs and hence make the ones in power more profit, NOT customer costs, aka working class.
I recently learned that even "cardboard" containers for oat milk is lined with plastic!
I knew long ago they are lined with something synthetic. It is obvious when you look at it
Yeah being able to buy things in glass from farmers or even reuse safe plastics is better than constantly buying milk from the grocery store
Those containers consist of up to seven layers with multiple polyethylene films and an aluminium barrier, they are hard to recycle
Those are mostly Tetra Pak cartons. The man that started the business became a billionaire, and meanwhile millions of people’s lives are just that little bit worse thanks to the pollution from those laminated monsters.
Are you in the UK? If you are, I can heartily recommend Oato milk. Delivered to your door in reused glass pint bottles, really tasty stuff.
Or maybe try making it yourself? I tried before going the milk delivery route, looked at a few tutorials here on RUclips, but it’s definitely a bit more involved than just blending oats and water.
yep i’ve been making it at home it’s super easy just blend and strain
Long-time viewer here. I voted for a different title, but I have to say - after watching the video - the current title really fits. Plastic pollution really IS so much worse than I even imagined. It's horrifying, really.
There should be something like a sequel to "thank you for smoking", talking about exactly this plastics problems and recycling scams named "Thank You For Wrapping"
Excellent idea.
That would be fantastic!
Yeeees!
This is so important, but it's so difficult to feel like we can do anything under the crushing existential weight of it all. I want to do so much more.
That’s true. We as individuals really can’t do much, however, if you start changing yourself and do what you can then the people around you will then follow suit. By talking to others, and educating them, soon the world will start changing too and the crushing influence of the plastics industry will become another old memory. Climate strikes are happening quite frequently around the world, and people are taking pollution more seriously. I know it’s not exactly world changing but, by doing the best you can instead of letting this existential crisis hit you into apathy, then you’re really doing something. And it gives a little bit of hope, even if it’s ultimately insignificant.
take control of what you can, dont cry over what you cant (if appropriate)
If the recycling industry is a scam, we could invent an at home appliance to convert out used plastic back into pellets and sell them directly to manufaturers, it's the production of new plastic and the disuse of used plastic that's the problem, the actual forming of and using of plastic is not.
The only thing you can really do is avoid plastics at all costs (starting a garden is the way to go, otherwise farmers markets usually let you bring your own reusable bags) and spread the message to stop using plastics. There’s a quote that goes “every soul is like a raindrop that falls into the vast ocean of consciousness, most raindrops hit the surface and make a small ripple that fades away… but some ripples become waves.” It’s up to you to choose to help save this planet and everyone else will follow in time:)
I've been to the US a few times and was stunned, each time, to find that your use of plastic products keeps going up instead of down. In Europe, we've been on the opposite trend for quite a few years already. The amount of plastic a tourist is forced to 'consume' on a daily basis in the US is staggering, infuriating, devastating, shocking, maddening, and just plain insane. I'm hoping such amazing videos will have at least some effect on consumers, no matter where in the world they live.
you should see shopping for groceries in Japan, when i was there it was 3 layers of various packaging.....
As a European who is already sickened by the amount of plastic we use, I'm afraid to see how plastic in the USA is like
@@redlorax5380 it's *a lot* worse.
@@sarjulia I went to the Dominican Republic and the resort had water saving toilots, reusing paper towels program, bamboo planted, plants on buildings, recycled coral to make buildings, paper straws, wooden disposable utensils, and the resort even produced goods in a sustainable way. I am now going on a vacation to my home country AMERICA. So I can compare which country uses more plasticm
@@NewOldObsession came to write this... In a small store in Japan when you buy a rice triangle you get the multi-layered plastic wrapping of the triangle itself, plus a plastic bag, plus a small, plastic-based, plastoc-wrapped wet handkerchief, plus sometimes plastic-wrapped chopsticks... YAAAAAHHH!! And that's even before the gift-giving culture with all the wrappings and bags!
Time to boycott plastics even harder. Amazing video as always! Algorithm, do your thing
The device you are watching this on is made from non recyclable materials... Including plastic.
You should see the amount of wasted plastic in the medical field! It’s impossible without plastic though!
@@acstarproductions Agree! Medical waste is astronomical! It's only skyrocketed since the COVID pandemic.
@@Anon-xd3cf Buying a fairphone would help. The phone is easy to repair, upgrade and fully modular.
@@khankhattak. as well as keeping the one you already have for as long as possible. My previous smartphone lasted me 7 years while other people change phones at least every other year... It seems crazy to me. Unless you're an app or a smartphone tech developer or something on those lines, almost nobody should change phones that often. So, please, use what you already have and research beforehand what you'll buy in the future (in terms of quality and reparability), you'll safe money and reduce the waste and environmental impact of producing a new phone (or whatever it is your replacing) if you buy something that will last and that can be easily repaired or upgraded if need be.
And yet in an engineering school I've heard a plastics teachers say "Plastic doesn't pollute at all", as to say the product in itself doesn't cause any pollutions (I suppose he was doing the link with gas emissions...). This kind of misinformation must end.
Great video as always.
Especially "funny" because plastic itself absolutely does cause microplastic and leaching pollution.
scary
I don't understand why companies keep getting away with this... Every little bit helps but something needs to change
Great video as always Charlie!
Glad to see you here , your videos show the self sufficient lifestyle that eliminates plastics and the need to be dependent on government for anything , while a better life .☮
Ok
Interaction
love it
Here’s mine for the algorithm
Interaction indeed
Yes
+++
You'd be surprised how many people just have no care on plastic at all while they state things like supporting the electric car revolution.
Electric cars are not a cure all. We'd be better off investing more in Mass transit, high speed rail, bikes, and good land use policies.
@@LoveToday8 No. Electric cars are the most sufficient cure for the Car Culture is here to stay permanently.
@@LoveToday8 correct, EVs, pollute big time: factories, batteries, mining for lithium, electric power plants. I fear for earth and its animals that are going extinct.
These videos just keep getting better, and to know that they're reaching out to more and more people is awesome.
One of the craziest single use plastics I know of is tea bags, the fact that paper tea bags has micro plastic in it is ridiculous. One of my personal goals is to reduce my use of single use plastics and switch to reusable non plastic items (or long use plastic if more practical).
Well if you bought good tea from a good company like Five O'Clock you wouldn't have that problem. They make organic tea
@@karolinakuc4783 That is something I am working on. The trick is finding alternative venders for tea flavors I love. I've been drinking more coffee this year and haven't made it a major priority yet
Its really amazing how you are producing these and always with the message in the end being, do direct action. There is so much thought and work in each of the videos.
My parents and grandparents got along just fine without plastic. Glass, cloth, paper, wood, metal, were the materials used for everything. Goods were sold and advertized as long-lasting, now every thing has a life of 6 mos - 2 years.
every time i watch a video related to climate change i always feel terrible and hopeless. it's so mental draining. will we ever be able to save our planet? the ones who can actually make a change couldn't care less about this. more often than not i feel like ignoring everything i know about this topic and just focus on doing things that bring me joy :(
I've been struggling with this too. Although it's depressing, I've resigned myself to the fact that things are going to get bad especially for those of us that are younger. I also know that at the rate at which pandemics are going to happen, the infertility rates, and also the rate at which pollution is killing people, we are probably going to go extinct within the next 100 years or at least decrease significantly in numbers. It's going to take some Ice Ages and environmental cycles but life will find a way to get to a new normal. We just need to find a way to help decrease our footprint and actually help the environment and it'll bounce back. It took me a long time to fully realize this but I don't get as anxious anymore. I'm just going to do my absolute best to improve the Earth and leave when it's my time
Joy is important too! You can't carry the world's weight on your shoulders all alone, you can only do your bit as best as you can. Others are there to share the load. Doing things that make you happy on a regular basis is the best you can do. How would you have the energy to tackle climate issues otherwise? It's ok to turn away once in a while for some good self care ;) That's what helps me.
@@Tina-zz5kt thank you for your answer ❤
It s not "climate change" (a figment of the imagination of Greta Thumberg) but Plastic pollution (a sad reality)
@@manoela7373 you are welcome! ❤
I did a senior project on production of polymer grade from food waste. It is too costly to compete with that from fracking and too energy intensive to make sense.
You are criminally underrated
Nah his content sucks.
I was always content with returnable containers. And when I was a kid and we went on picnics or other outings, we only had regular utensils. No plastic spoons, forks, foam plates or cups. Never felt it was a problem or an inconvenience. Still had a great time.
"Mushroom plastic" that is degradable seems promising, from a cost perspective too.
smooth editing once again ✨
This was a great video! You keep it fast (which does make me replay parts sometimes), easy to watch, educative, fact based and most of all, in depth, saying how it is, and sharing info that can and will be new information to many. Well done.
I learned a lot from this. I’m sending it to friends
I've used Loop - it's like the modern day milkman but with products in reusable containers from different companies that you get in a big tote box that you return after to be cleaned after use.
In the future can you mention that there is an extended version on Nebula at the beginning of the video? Just so I know to watch it there instead, rather than getting to the end on RUclips and then having to go over there and find the bonus content buried in the middle.
What do you mean??
@@papasscooperiaworker3649 there is an extended version of this video on Nebula. He doesn't mention that it exists until the end of this video. And the extension in the Nebula version is in the middle, not just at the end.
I am a Nebula subscriber but their app isn’t that great (Apple TV) so unless there is a reason I typically watch videos on RUclips instead. But if there is an extended version I'd rather just watch the whole thing on Nebula rather than watching the RUclips version first, finding out about the extended version at the end, and then having to find the extended portion in the Nebula video. So I'm just asking for him to say at the beginning of the video that there is an extended version and that Nebula subscribers should watch over there instead.
Everybody needs to see this
Incredible work as usual the topics you choose to explore and the extent to which you explore them are incredible
This is awesome. Keep up the good work!
Great great video. Thank you! It's so annoying that even if you want to and try to avoid plastic it's so difficult to find things that aren't unnecessarily wrapped.
I'm already vegan but Seaspiracy documentary opened my eyes even more, I've been so blinded about the consequences of my actions
Not your actions. The actions of oil and plastic producers and their lobby(read legalised corruption)
@@redlorax5380 yeah... I try to not but packed products all I can
@@OnesFan1 I don't mean to discourage people from individual actions int heir sphere of influence. Limiting personal plastic use is a good thing to do. As are other individual actions. But as long as the companies don't follow, it will be like a droplet on a hot plate
I'm always blown away by your work
Very informative, perspectives we unknowingly miss!
Love your videos! Please keep it up!
Incredible work as always!
This is the reason i have been thinking about building zero plastic food store but i am not sure how i would do it :D i guess start with dry products like pasta and rice and when i find out how to do the other products i will just add them to the store :D
That would be awesome! We need more zero-waste shops :)
Don't forget about wax paper! It can come in very handy with food storage
Maybe you can buy from your nearest farmers?
@@enderdragon9752 i like the way you think 👌
Maybe there's a zero waste store somewhere in your area to help you with tips on how to get started? I live in Germany and I'm very lucky to have one right around the corner, I know they'd be happy to help.
I am looking forward to the episode _Why Paid Content Is Even Worse Than You Think_ . The people who need to see it will never actually see it. The people who already know about the problems will see it, so new viewers will never see it. At least RUclips is accessible, so accessible, you don't even need an account to view videos.
The dislikes are from fossils fuel companies.
wow ! don't tel me for you paper cup that cost 9 times of what cost plastic cup and why plastic is bad if wise recycled
the dislike dose not matter from who are but at last they are not hypocrite
1500 $ for a phone is ok ! 100k foar a car is ok even if i must earn x times more money just to make other richer and have a good imagine
@@TheMakyato what?
@@nhlombardi6946 "help me to help you "
@@TheMakyato you can help me by chilling on the egg nog
@@nhlombardi6946 well in that case keep dreaming !!!!!!!
This channel is always so informative.
Just finding your channel today, your editing and narration is fantastic, looking forward to seeing more videos
Ive been looking for a really enlightening source I lost about the recycling social engineering campaign in wake of the environmentalist movement in the early 70s and have been looking for it for some time. I'm glad you are bringing that fact up at least.
your videos deserve more attention. Keep up!
US companies talk about ramping up their plastic production. Meanwhile: "EU bans 10 most common single-use plastic items found on beaches"
Great Video, maybe you open some peoples eyes!
Great and informative vid as always
This video is SO incredibly informational and has been phenomenally helpful to me. Thank you so much for educating others on such an important topic as Plastic!
Lovely video as always, thanks so much for making it and helping to keep people informed!
Woohoo!! Thank you for another great video, it is super informative as always! I'll be waching this again on nebula ;)
Great video as usual.
Such quality video! I'll be sure to subscribe
Great video! Very educational
Great content my dude!
Amazing as usual
Excellent video
Get this to the top of trending
LOVE THUS CHANNEL.. THANK YOU
Great wrk guys thank you
Excellent video, thank you.
Another great video!
I love that this talks about the SOURCE of the problem
I wish there were some easy CTA links to sign petitions or something too
Very enlightening video
hope more people get recommended this video and watch it. important info
I was watching this because it was in my recommended just to realize I needed it for school, glad that I got a video that I willingly watched already
In Europe plastics are on a decline though. They keep getting banned where it's feasible and the awareness about how harmful they are keeps getting bigger and bigger. Things like single use plastic cups and cutlery really became a rare sight here.
Not in my country unfortunately
I'm not sure what country you are from, but any supermarket I've been to in Europe is a testament of how the problem is still alive and kicking. I've seen a supermarket chain that's actually doing something really cool - all supermarket-brand liquid products can be refilled in a machine inside one of their stores. But it's 1 store against millions. They could be putting that in place across all of them, but they are not.
@@OldLantean That's why I used the word feasible. Packaging is still mostly plastic. But you can't change that over night.
I'm also glad more and more people are getting louder about uncut food being wrapped in plastic. Supermarkets are starting to pick up on it, so maybe we will see an end to that soon.
Not over here in the US, full steam ahead on the plastic train
Thank you for the video! Hope this will get recommended to many others!
Love this Channel ❤️
Important video! Examines a well known topic from a new perspective. I learned a lot, thanks for making this!
Thank you for another well made video!
Great video
Fantastic video. Thank you
very nice videos, i m fascinating by your video editing skills.
I research enzymes involved in breaking down and metabolizing PET plastic. I worked at a national laboratory for two years where we had visitors from all sectors, including representatives from the packaging industry. From the talks they gave, it's clear that the companies actually making the plastic products are well aware of the pressure to make changes, and within the industry it is all anyone can talk about. It's a race to market for them, although it may not look that way from the outside. While the fossil fuel companies are still forging ahead, it's only a matter of time before they're backed into a corner by the loss of patronage from their main supporters in the plastics industry - the packaging companies. When consumers become more aware, and using less plastic becomes associated with social capital/clout, the private companies want to take advantage of it and are setting their sights on doing so.
There is a lot that goes into making the switch behind the scene that a lot of people aren't aware of, including, but not limited to, consideration of the barrier properties of a polymer (Will my soda stay bubbly? Will my chocolate go stale?), and how compatible the tooling for making the old plastic packaging is with the new polymer (Can I use the same molds and expect the same behavior from this new polymer during the production process?). These two things alone account for a huge reason why there hasn't been a more rapid movement away from petroleum-based plastics - the companies still need to consider the financial consequences of this and do right by their stakeholders. Thankfully, there is also a TON of innovation going on in the polymer science field, as well as the biotechnology field - a lot of the work I am involved with is focused on designing new biodegradable and bioderived polymers that better meet the aforementioned demands of the production process, and that also have monomers that can be produced without the input of fossil fuels (i.e. biologically). You can check out bottle.org for info. It's also worth noting that this is all funded by the DOE. Even during the last administration, there was a huge spike in government funding (US DOE, NSF, DOD, etc.) for research aimed at tackling the issues surrounding plastic. The most difficult step will be translating the work from research to industry, but from my perspective, the future still looks pretty bright!
great video!
Once again, beautiful video. Well executed and thoughtful analysis.
Can you share references to arrivals in the text block on future videos?
Dear Charlie...
I loved your video about planned obsolescence, It would be great if you could share a community post on Linus Tech Tips current Right to Repair video!
I hope I'm not asking for too much...
Wow, I see you everywhere :O
@@dand.4245 Just wanna spread this important message! :)
Love your videos!
Awesome video, thank you
This video is very interesting. Gives a lot of insight on the plastic pollution problem. I'm just sad to know every time I search about this, it seems like an even more difficult issue to tackle.
This is so important and should have more views
Great video!
great video
Fantastic work... Sending this to senior managers at my company. I've researched the various effects of plastics for at least six years. Scientific research papers considering effects on our various biomes are sobering, if not terrifying. And... sometimes force me to learn new vocabulary - LOL!!
Great video. Really well done.
Would like a special video on Microplastic, I believe that is the real danger with plastics
This needs more views
I heard somewhere that you need at least like 5 words for effective video interaction
So then here are more than five words as a reply to your insightful comment 😏
9:25 "you cant even buy lettuce without buying plastic"
I can lettuce from a farmers market and big my own cloth produce bags. Way more expensive than the store bought of course. The store also has loose lettuce bunches, but it still usually has a plastic twist tie around it.
The best solution is to grow lettuce at home. 1 or 2 small pots, a little bit of soil, and then just water and sun. Seeds are very very cheap and its a super easy crop to grow. Plus it tastes even better when picked fresh and you dont have to worry about it going bad in the fridge when you always pick it fresh.
I wish more and people were aware of "Our Changing Climate"
Glad they aren't.
As always 👏 amazing 👏
I never knew that, thanks!
Good job 👍
Strange that I failed to realize it until now. The problem isn't that we're unable to reuse plastic. Petrol industry chooses to make plastics that are unrecycable in order to keep drilling.
I didn't realize it was that bad, until I (and many others) saw the garbage man throw the contents of the recycle bin in with the garbage. (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA)
I saw the same thing in Poland! Some say they sort it after arriving at the landfill and I hope it's true...
Guys, recycling hasn’t been recycled since 2018 sadly. There’s a great video about it from PBS Terra that they recently put out
The multi billion dollar retail company I work for switched from handing out plastic bags to thicker bags you have to 15 cents for about a year ago and unfortunately I find it's only had a fairly minimal change in the amount of plastic bags we use. Most people have just got used to buying them since convenience culture has made most people feel no need to carry their own bags. There needs to be such a massive culture change around shopping habits in general but no one really wants to have it. It's going to be such a fight to end plastic pollution but I guess we have no choice but to keep going.
That fight is already lost my friend....
thank you for this video
Seriously everyone needs to see this.
Great content! thanks for making me smarter :) More people should know this.
Thanks for reporting on this again. I remembered flying over this part of louisiana when flying from houston airport to arrive in alabama. I looked down and was horrified at how...grey-brown the water looks. I know much of it is just mississippi river sediment, but the land and water looks scarred by fossil fuel drilling and refining.
Thank you