Does any of you want to ever take a drink of anything out of a plastic container again? Ever accept another plastic grocery bag? I've been taking my own bags to the stores off and on for years, and have recently gotten back into the habit because it is difficult to recycle that plastic, but to watch this program about everything from faded coral off of the Yucatan to the Pacific trash Gyre and other linkages around the planet was amazing. It comes down to plastic, on many levels. The thing about this program that I like is that they are tapping into popular culture much more than previous scientific-based programs. They're picking up the stylistic format of the popular detective programs all over television now, and they're giving a broad enough answer to make the answer applicable to any viewer. This is more of the charisma of the Jacques Cousteau programs of decades ago.
This is what I've been waiting to see. I had completed all of the course work on a masters in Environmental Ethics except to write the thesis when a health problem caused me to stop my work for a while. I never went back. But I'd been asking myself for many months before the health problem "where is this going to lead?" I was mastering some important critical thinking skills, but I was doing it in an academic vacuum where academics talk to other academics, but rarely get outside that closed domain. A friend who is a scientist for the National Park Service burst that bubble for a lot of that year's students by addressing this very topic--what are you going to do to make a difference? Writing scholarly papers ISN'T the answer. So while I never went back, I have had my eye open for the kinds of programs and opportunities that make a difference.
I tend to dismiss Earth Day is an annual event for people who aren't already doing these things every day. It does allow those who want people to change to try to get the word out, but for all of the hype, people do as they want, not as we say they should. What is it going to take to get them to plant their own gardens, to use the organic techniques we've been discussing here, to cut back on so many destructive little practices that lead up to big problems? How about a lot of information and a good old-fashioned horror story. Scare people away from the plastic, eyes wide open. That's what this program can do, whatever it's topic.
I saw an interview online with Edward Norton. He was on the Today Show on Tuesday and an acquaintance (in Greece--long story!) who is a fan of his asked if I could tape it for her. I knew he had good environmental credentials in his own right, but I was quite impressed at his roots--it's a family thing, to be taken very seriously. He is a good choice for the host of this National Geographic program on many levels. He'll bring in his younger and not as young fans, and he'll convince the more serious science-oriented viewers. The best of both worlds.