Mission Blue Voyage
Dianna Cohen: Tough truths about plastic pollution
Filmed:
Readability: 4.5
896,666 views
Artist Dianna Cohen shares some tough truths about plastic pollution in the ocean and in our lives -- and some thoughts on how to free ourselves from the plastic gyre.
Dianna Cohen - Artist and activist
Dianna Cohen co-founded the Plastic Pollution Coalition, which is working to help end our cycle of plastics use. Full bio
Dianna Cohen co-founded the Plastic Pollution Coalition, which is working to help end our cycle of plastics use. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
00:15
I'm a visual artist,
0
0
2000
00:17
and I'm also one of the co-founders of the Plastic Pollution Coalition.
1
2000
3000
00:20
I've been working with plastic bags,
2
5000
3000
00:23
which I cut up and sew back together as my primary material for my artwork
3
8000
3000
00:26
for the last 20 years.
4
11000
2000
00:28
I turn them into two and three-dimensional pieces
5
13000
3000
00:31
and sculptures and installations.
6
16000
3000
00:34
Upon working with the plastic, after about the first eight years,
7
19000
3000
00:37
some of my work started to fissure
8
22000
2000
00:39
and break down into smaller little bits of plastic.
9
24000
3000
00:43
And I thought, "Great.
10
28000
2000
00:45
It's ephemeral just like us."
11
30000
3000
00:48
Upon educating myself a little further about plastics,
12
33000
3000
00:51
I actually realized this was a bad thing.
13
36000
3000
00:54
It's a bad thing that plastic breaks down into smaller little bits,
14
39000
3000
00:57
because it's always still plastic.
15
42000
2000
00:59
And what we're finding
16
44000
2000
01:01
is that a lot of it is in the marine environment.
17
46000
2000
01:03
I then, in the last few years,
18
48000
2000
01:05
learned about the Pacific garbage patch and the gyre.
19
50000
3000
01:08
And my initial reaction --
20
53000
2000
01:10
and I think this is a lot of people's first reaction
21
55000
2000
01:12
to learning about it --
22
57000
2000
01:14
is, "Oh my God!
23
59000
2000
01:16
We've got to go out there and clean this thing up."
24
61000
2000
01:18
So I actually developed a proposal
25
63000
2000
01:20
to go out with a cargo ship
26
65000
2000
01:22
and two decommissioned fishing trawlers,
27
67000
2000
01:24
a crane, a chipping machine
28
69000
3000
01:27
and a cold-molding machine.
29
72000
2000
01:29
And my intention was to go out to the gyre,
30
74000
2000
01:31
raise awareness about this issue
31
76000
2000
01:33
and begin to pick up the plastic,
32
78000
2000
01:35
chip it into little bits and cold mold it into bricks
33
80000
3000
01:38
that could potentially be used as building materials
34
83000
3000
01:41
in underdeveloped communities.
35
86000
3000
01:45
I began talking with people
36
90000
2000
01:47
who actually had been out to the gyre
37
92000
2000
01:49
and were studying the plastic problem in the marine environment
38
94000
3000
01:52
and upon doing so,
39
97000
3000
01:55
I realized actually that cleaning it up
40
100000
2000
01:57
would be a very small drop in the bucket
41
102000
3000
02:00
relative to how much is being generated
42
105000
2000
02:02
every day around the world,
43
107000
3000
02:05
and that actually I needed to back up and look at the bigger picture.
44
110000
2000
02:07
And the bigger picture is:
45
112000
2000
02:09
we need to find a way to turn off the faucet.
46
114000
3000
02:12
We need to cut the spigot
47
117000
2000
02:14
of single-use and disposable plastics,
48
119000
2000
02:16
which are entering the marine environment every day
49
121000
3000
02:19
on a global scale.
50
124000
2000
02:21
So in looking at that, I also realized that I was really angry.
51
126000
3000
02:24
I wasn't just concerned about plastic
52
129000
3000
02:27
that you're trying to imagine out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean --
53
132000
2000
02:29
of which I have learned there are now
54
134000
2000
02:31
11 gyres, potentially, of plastic
55
136000
2000
02:33
in five major oceans in the world.
56
138000
3000
02:36
It's not just that gyre of plastic that I'm concerned about --
57
141000
3000
02:39
it's the gyre of plastic in the supermarket.
58
144000
2000
02:41
I'd go to the supermarket and all of my food is packaged in plastic.
59
146000
3000
02:44
All of my beverages are packaged in plastic,
60
149000
2000
02:46
even at the health food market.
61
151000
3000
02:49
I'm also concerned about the plastic in the refrigerator,
62
154000
3000
02:52
and I'm concerned about the plastic and the toxins that leach from plastic
63
157000
3000
02:55
into us and into our bodies.
64
160000
3000
02:58
So I came together with a group of other people
65
163000
2000
03:00
who were all looking at this issue,
66
165000
2000
03:02
and we created the Plastic Pollution Coalition.
67
167000
3000
03:05
We have many initiatives that we're working on,
68
170000
2000
03:07
but some of them are very basic.
69
172000
2000
03:09
One is: if 80 to 90 percent
70
174000
3000
03:12
of what we're finding in the ocean --
71
177000
2000
03:14
of the marine debris that we're finding in the ocean -- is plastic,
72
179000
2000
03:16
then why don't we call it what it is.
73
181000
3000
03:19
It's plastic pollution.
74
184000
2000
03:21
Recycling -- everybody kind of ends their books
75
186000
3000
03:24
about being sustainable and greening with the idea of recycling.
76
189000
3000
03:27
You put something in a bin and you don't have to think about it again.
77
192000
3000
03:30
What is the reality of that?
78
195000
2000
03:32
In the United States, less than seven percent of our plastics are recycled.
79
197000
3000
03:35
And if you really look into it,
80
200000
2000
03:37
particularly when it comes to plastic bottles,
81
202000
2000
03:39
most of it is only down-cycled,
82
204000
2000
03:41
or incinerated, or shipped to China.
83
206000
3000
03:44
It is down-cycled and turned into lesser things,
84
209000
3000
03:47
while a glass bottle can be a glass bottle again
85
212000
3000
03:50
or can be used again --
86
215000
2000
03:52
a plastic bottle can never be a plastic bottle again.
87
217000
3000
03:55
So this is a big issue for us.
88
220000
2000
03:57
Another thing that we're looking at and asking people to think about
89
222000
3000
04:00
is we've added a fourth R
90
225000
3000
04:03
onto the front
91
228000
2000
04:05
of the "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle," three R's,
92
230000
2000
04:07
and that is refuse.
93
232000
2000
04:09
Whenever possible, refuse single-use and disposable plastics.
94
234000
3000
04:12
Alternatives exist;
95
237000
2000
04:14
some of them are very old-school.
96
239000
2000
04:16
I myself am now collecting these cool Pyrex containers
97
241000
3000
04:19
and using those instead of Glad and Tupperware containers
98
244000
2000
04:21
to store food in.
99
246000
2000
04:23
And I know that I am doing a service
100
248000
2000
04:25
to myself and my family.
101
250000
2000
04:27
It's very easy to pick up a stainless-steel bottle
102
252000
2000
04:29
or a glass bottle,
103
254000
2000
04:31
if you're traveling and you've forgotten to bring your stainless-steel bottle
104
256000
2000
04:33
and fill that up with water or filtered water,
105
258000
3000
04:36
versus purchasing plastic bottled water.
106
261000
3000
04:39
I guess what I want to say to everybody here --
107
264000
2000
04:41
and I know that you guys know a lot about this issue --
108
266000
3000
04:44
is that this is a huge problem in the oceans,
109
269000
2000
04:46
but this is a problem that we've created as consumers
110
271000
3000
04:49
and we can solve.
111
274000
2000
04:51
We can solve this by raising awareness of the issue
112
276000
3000
04:54
and teaching people to choose alternatives.
113
279000
3000
04:57
So whenever possible, to choose alternatives
114
282000
2000
04:59
to single-use plastics.
115
284000
2000
05:01
We can cut the stem -- tide the stem of this
116
286000
2000
05:03
into our oceans
117
288000
2000
05:05
and in doing so,
118
290000
2000
05:07
save our oceans, save our planet, save ourselves.
119
292000
3000
05:10
Thank you. (Applause)
120
295000
2000
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Dianna Cohen - Artist and activistDianna Cohen co-founded the Plastic Pollution Coalition, which is working to help end our cycle of plastics use.
Why you should listen
Dianna Cohen is the co-founder of the Plastic Pollution Coalition, a group that addresses the pervasive problem of plastic pollution. She was inspired to co-found the group by her work as an artist -- because her chosen material is the ubiquitous plastic bag. She writes: "Having worked with the plastic bag as my primary material for the past fifteen years, all of the obvious references to recycling, first-world culture, class, high and low art give way to an almost formal process which reflects the unique flexibility of the medium."
With the Plastic Pollution Coalition, she helps to raise awareness of ocean waste -- the majority of which is nondegradable plastic -- and everyday strategies to cut down the amount of plastic we use and throw away.
Dianna Cohen | Speaker | TED.com