Drowning in Plastic, review: a valuable, harrowing survey on the problem with plastic
Like Yellow Pages in reverse, presenter Liz Bonnin isn’t just here for the fun things in life, such as baby elephants in Animals Behaving Badly, or comparing pets in Cats vs Dogs: Which is Best? Drowning in Plastic (BBC One) revealed her facility with the nasty things as well – and they didn’t come much more harrowing than watching a seal pup gasp for breath, its neck sliced open by a plastic fishing net.
Plastic pollution was not an issue to tread lightly around. As seabird chicks – key indicators for the overall health of the planet – vomited up chunks of plastic, the prognosis looked bleak. The impact on human life was equally arresting. A grotesque mile-long raft of plastics, clogging up Indonesia’s Citarum River, had reduced fishermen to scavengers and riverbanks to rubbish dumps, potentially upending the ecosystem for generations.
The 90-minute runtime both underlined the issue’s importance and allowed the documentary to transcend mere polemic to offer a balanced, pragmatic survey. Traversing the globe from Tasmania to the Arctic, Bonnin found evidence of the Earth’s capacity to fight back through the filtering sea grass and resilient coral reefs. There were heartening examples of human ingenuity addressing both source (rustling up alternatives to plastic) and symptoms (the 600 m-long Ocean Cleanup campaign tackling the depressingly named Great Pacific Garbage Patch).
Equally, Bonnin acknowledged that these isolated efforts – or even the most basic recycling initiatives – needed state support which simply wasn’t forthcoming in either developing nations like Indonesia or much of Trump’s USA, where profit beats environmental concerns.
She also noted that jobs were on the line, not least in the multi-billion-dollar fishing industry, and that such behemoths won’t be turned around easily: “I’m not sure I’m thrilled with being the pioneer on this,” lamented Massachusetts lobsterman Dave Casoni, coaxed into testing a sustainable if time-consuming new fishing technique. “My saying that I endorse ropeless fishing will vilify me with the industry, because the industry is so opposed.”
Dispiriting without being defeatist, Drowning in Plastic made valuable contributions to an urgent debate, assessing cause and effect, prescribing potential solutions and recognising likely obstacles. It was also a reminder to consider our own individual footprint. Ditching plastic straws, bags and cups is a start – what else can we do?