Internet Debut of Alphabet Soup
That's right Cryptic Moth fans (especially Lee), please click on the link at the bottom of the post to see the short movie that started it all.
For the uninitiated, this 13-minute film was shot last summer in the middle of the North Pacific Ocean, in an area called the Eastern Garbage Patch. Due to currents and air pressure, most of the ocean debris coming from Asia accumulate in this endlessly circulating vortex. I had been invited along by Captain Charles Moore of the Algalita Marine Research Foundation (www.algalita.org) who has been quantifying the amount of pelagic plastic and its levels of toxicity.
It was not a pretty sight and this is not a happy story.
I had to find out what was being done to stop the deluge. This is our mission.
A special thanks go to Aveda for sponsoring the journey, to Gad for the kick-ass editing and to the Captain and crew of the Alguita for giving sea legs to a land-locked Canuck.
Finally, Alphabet Soup will debut on the big screen at this year's Planet In Focus - Toronto's International Enviro Film Fest.
Expect posts from the USA in the next few days.
Out.
I
Please consider that this file is 15mb and should be viewed using a high speed internet connection. Otherwise click the link below and enjoy!!!
Alphabet_Soup.wmv
For the uninitiated, this 13-minute film was shot last summer in the middle of the North Pacific Ocean, in an area called the Eastern Garbage Patch. Due to currents and air pressure, most of the ocean debris coming from Asia accumulate in this endlessly circulating vortex. I had been invited along by Captain Charles Moore of the Algalita Marine Research Foundation (www.algalita.org) who has been quantifying the amount of pelagic plastic and its levels of toxicity.
It was not a pretty sight and this is not a happy story.
I had to find out what was being done to stop the deluge. This is our mission.
A special thanks go to Aveda for sponsoring the journey, to Gad for the kick-ass editing and to the Captain and crew of the Alguita for giving sea legs to a land-locked Canuck.
Finally, Alphabet Soup will debut on the big screen at this year's Planet In Focus - Toronto's International Enviro Film Fest.
Expect posts from the USA in the next few days.
Out.
I
Please consider that this file is 15mb and should be viewed using a high speed internet connection. Otherwise click the link below and enjoy!!!
Alphabet_Soup.wmv
posted by Cryptic Moth at 2:45 PM
10 Comments:
Wow ! Thanks a lot for this documentary !!! Everybody should see this movie, I hope you will get a lot of visibility.
(I'm the previous anonymous poster)
Btw, if you need help for diffusing this video on Google video and other video sites or transforming it in Flash video format, I would be glad to help. It's VJ Lee who sent me here via hugg.com.
Great video! - for an even more indepth explaination about the gyre in the pacific - and the sheer amount of plastic out there, check out this link to a feature the LATimes is running right now.
And here's another link to a 17 min. video that the Northern California Recycling Association put out to help lawmakers understand the issues involved and the necessity of local materials recovery models, that currently do not exist. If we don't have local reuse options for plastic (and all other materials) then they end up shipped back to Asia... or worse in the Oceans. Time for some real solutions to this major problem in our socitey!
great video sirs! i look forward to the extended play version! (btw take alain up on his offer, hes a web genius and a very committed guycnacnlzc)
i mean guy. its that silly web verification.... but you might want to know that alain is the guy who posted your previous property online at googlevideo...
this is really awesome necessary stuff! i liked your approach, raises a lot of questions. will there be a part 2?
Absolutely fantastic video. Very inspiring. Thanks for raising awareness about this extremely important issue!
Although I applaud the impulse of the filmmakers to raise awareness about this issue, the levels of information and even demonstration in this documentary were, ah, watery. The odd bobbing debris in the film seem in marked contrast to recent media reports of a "garbage island twice the size of Texas." And as a viewer, I couldn't help but feel that a team of five picking up 100 large pieces of debris over three days was 1) something of an underachievement and 2) merely a token effort, given the size of the problem. Finally, the platitudes of the volunteers (e.g., "Just stop") were simply phatic. Stop how? Shall we return the plastic-shelled computers with which we watch this video? Hang up our plastic phones? Abandon our plastic-based chairs? Lobby for paper fast-food containers, despite the river pollution generated by many paper manufacturers? And, finally, the stated goal to "find out what was being done to stop the deluge"...well, it wasn't really covered (assuming it is more than five guys on a boat).
So, bravo for sorta pointing out the problem. I do hope you'll continue to pursue this important issue. I also hope you'll aim for more impactful and concretely demonstrative content in the future.
I have to say that I'm in agreement with Bounce. Your intentions are good, but this film doesn't really say much. You set up a bunch of topics you want to cover, but the film ends abruptly without getting into the majority of them. And really - "Just stop"? If that was even possible, I think we would have stopped a long time ago. How about providing some real solutions, or at least a way to get started on reducing plastic usage?
Anyway, keep up the good work and I hope you can shine more light on this issue in the future.
I only found out about this problem in the pacific a few days ago, although I'd heard some disturbing reports coming in about the toxic plastic garbage from the Inuits a year or so ago, and how all this plastic is littering the Northern realms as well.
You guys did a great job with your movie, however watching the content made me ill, so kudos to you. Obviously the problem is still there, so I will do what I can on my part to help spread word about this apocalyptic problem of plastics.
Prairy
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