By Nadine Moedt (The Cascade) – Email
Print Edition: October 31, 2012
An involved discussion Thursday night on the future of plastic in our society followed Cinema Politica’s second film night at UFV’s AfterMath. The Biology and Chemistry Student Association (BCSA) co-hosted the showing of Addicted to Plastic. Andrew Alexander, director of research/development and division liaison of the BCSA gave the audience an inside view on the chemistry of plastic. Local MLA John van Dongen was also present to give his take on the film.
A local branch of Cinema Politica, a non-profit network bringing political films to communities and campuses across Canada, has partnered with SUS to bring these independent films to UFV.
Addicted to Plastic is a documentary about plastic pollution. The documentary represents three years of filming in 12 countries on five continents, including two trips to the middle of the Pacific Ocean where plastic debris accumulates.
A major concern noted in the film was the accumulation of plastic in the oceans; the UN estimates that there are 46,000 pieces of plastic debris per square kilometer of ocean. The film pointed out that while chemicals are in the ocean, they remain diluted, but as soon as they come in contact with plastic, they are absorbed. As a result, the concentration of chemicals in the ocean’s plastic is 1,000,000 more than in the ocean water. The plastic then breaks into smaller pieces and is mistaken for food by the fish. Thus the toxins move up the food chain, quickly becoming a human health hazard. These plastic pieces never completely break down. Of this waste, 80 per cent originates from land.
The film explored various solutions to the plastic conundrum; reusing, rather than simply recycling, was a big one. It was interesting to note that recycling isn’t quite as widespread as we’d like to think: only five per cent of plastics are recycled in the United States.
Alexander of the BCSA took on the task of hosting the event in part to give science a face at UFV. “Being science students we tend to sort of stay in A and B Building,” Alexander quipped. “We’ve got our science centre in there, we come to D Building and think, what’s this?” Alexander finds the contrast between arts students and science students interesting. “Arts majors have such a different view on things,” he said. According to Alexander, science majors have an “analytical, scientific way of looking at things and then you get other views, sometimes the more human side of it, of individual impacts.”
“This was a great opportunity to bring our knowledge and ideas into something that’s such a huge issue,” Alexander explained.
After the discussion, I spoke briefly with van Dongen about the film. The film, he told me, was a real “eye opener.”
“I found the film very impressive in terms of detail,” said van Dongen. “[The filmmakers] looked at not only the problem in terms of how much plastic we use but . . . [also] went into various different efforts to reuse the material.”
Van Dongen has been representing Abbotsford voters since 1995. He has held a numerous other positions, including Solicitor General and Minister of Public Safety, Minister of State for Intergovernmental Relations, and Minister of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries. Van Dongen considers himself a “grounded environmentalist.”
His thoughts on a solution? Take matters into our own hands. “I think we all are looking for the government or someone else to do something for us, but I think part of the solution is to just do it ourselves, for ourselves.”
“I do think of myself as an environmentalist, but I think it’s how you define it.” He wouldn’t call himself a “tree hugging type,” but van Dongen firmly believes in the agricultural land reserve, in expanding the transit system, in recycling and in having a “responsibly managed” renewable forest industry.
The next film, A Crude Awakening, will be shown mid-November, co-hosted by Students for Sustainability. The film addresses the question of what will happen when we run out of cheap oil. A heated debate on BC’s current pipeline issue will most certainly follow.
Alexander’s opinion on the matter of the pipelines as a chemistry student is firm: “I think . . . we need to be moving away from using fossil fuels. While an oil spill is a horrific thing, it’s nothing compared to the potential [damage] that global warming has on the environment.”
Alexander cites other scientists to support his position. “An influential climatologist in the U.S., Dr. Hanson, said that while Saudi Arabia has the oil stores that could push us up to this certain level, Canada has enough oil in its reserves to push us up over the tipping point. It’s not a good idea to be expanding those resources at this time.”
Van Dongen is uncertain of his position on the issue. “I’m going to reserve judgment on that,” he said with a smile. “I want to hear both sides of the argument. I have some views on how they might be regulated that might surprise some people, but I’m going to save that for another day and another discussion.”
