A Plastic Ocean: a film review
Do the preparation task first. Then read the text and do the exercises.
Preparation
A Plastic Ocean
A Plastic Ocean is a film to make you think. Think, and then act. We need to take action on our dependence on plastic. We've been producing plastic in huge quantities since the 1940s. Drink bottles, shopping bags, toiletries and even clothes are made with plastic. 1) _____. What happens to all the rest? This is the question the film A Plastic Ocean answers. It is a documentary that looks at the impact that plastic waste has on the environment. Spoiler alert: the impact is devastating.
The film begins as a journey to film the largest animal on the planet, the blue whale. But during the journey the filmmakers (journalist Craig Leeson and environmental activist Tanya Streeter) make the shocking discovery of a huge, thick layer of plastic floating in the middle of the Indian Ocean. 2) _____. In total, they visited 20 locations around the world during the four years it took them to make the film. The documentary premiered in 2016, and is now on streaming services such as Netflix.
It's very clear that a lot of research went into the film. There are beautiful shots of the seas and marine life. 3) _____. We see how marine species are being killed by all the plastic we are dumping in the ocean. The message about our use of plastic is painfully obvious.
4) _____. In the second half, the filmmakers look at what we can do to reverse the tide of plastic flowing around the world. They present short-term and long-term solutions. These include avoiding plastic containers and 'single-use' plastic products as much as possible. Reuse your plastic bags and recycle as much as you can. The filmmakers also stress the need for governments to work more on recycling programmes, and look at how technology is developing that can convert plastic into fuel.
We make a staggering amount of plastic. In terms of plastic bags alone, we use five hundred billion worldwide annually. Over 300 million tons of plastic are produced every year, and at least 8 million of those are dumped into the oceans. 5) _____. Once you've seen A Plastic Ocean, you'll realise the time is now and we all have a role to play.
This issue happens in all of the country in the world. I once saw a mount of plastic waste in the sea near my house even though we lived in a small region. Most of them are the household rubbish. So, it is really true that we all have a role to decrease the level of plastic waste in the ocean. The stakeholder is the one who have to think fast about the solution of the amount of plastic waste that have already polluted the sea. However, I think we have the most important role to prevent this issue happening in the future. The perspective of reuse and recycle should be build among us because it is the only preventive solution. We shouldn't be ignorant of the environmental issues because it will affect our life now or in the future. So, stop being careless because any thing we do now even a small one can create a big impact on the this issue.
In the fact, I’m not good at English at all (about vocabulary, listening). Wwhen I was i child, i could hear English no need passage, but nowadays i need passage to follow content wwhat they said, what character said. Besides my writing is same too-). But, when i found British Council, my vocabulary level up a little 💖. That why I write this comment :). However, my skill listening still unchanged. Could you share some method for my problem please💔🥹. I’ll be thankful you!!!😭💖
Hello Heinien,
Have you looked at our tips and help section? You can find some good advice there:
https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/english-levels/improve-your-english-level/five-tips-busy-learners-listening-speaking
https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/level/improve-your-english-level?page=0
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
From this paragraph, I could rethink about the plastic solution. Nowadays we don’t think abou that so much because it doesn’t cause something to us, but if we see it in the long term, it is pretty dangerous in the future. We need to get the knowledge what it causes in the future and we must realize we need to fix it as soon as possible.
Unfortunately, recently I haven’t watched any documentary films because I simply don’t have time. However, when I was a child, I really liked watching documentaries about animals. Every Sunday afternoon, a documentary narrated by the legendary Sir David Attenborough was broadcast on TV. Of course, I watched it with a Polish voice-over, but I still remember his voice even though I didn’t understand English at that time.
That's a very good topic, all of us should take it seriously.
I agree that plastic pollution is a serious global problem, especially because it causes long-term damage to marine life. However, I believe it is not too late to change if both individuals and governments take responsibility and reduce single-use plastic.
There's one in Netflix called The Social Network. It made me think a lot of how much time a spend on social media and I'm trying to reduce it.
Thank you for the material.
i recommend the documentary buy now! the shopping conspiracy (2024). it’s available on netflix.
after all, it’s a sad fact that we consume much more than we really need.