The Elements: An Environmental Film Series presents ‘A Plastic Ocean’

The proliferation of plastic products in the last 70 years or so has been extraordinary; quite simply we cannot now live without them. We are now producing nearly 300 million tons of plastic every year, half of which is for single use. More than 8 million tons of plastic is dumped into our oceans every year.

Plastic is cheap and incredibly versatile with properties that make it ideal for many applications. However, these qualities have also resulted in it becoming an environmental issue. We have developed a “disposable” lifestyle and estimates are that around 50% of plastic is used just once and thrown away.

Plastic is a valuable resource and plastic pollution is an unnecessary and unsustainable waste of that resource.

A Plastic Ocean documents the newest science, proving how plastics, once they enter the oceans, break up into small particulates that enter the food chain where they attract toxins like a magnet. These toxins are stored in seafood’s fatty tissues, and eventually consumed by us.

Rethink plastic. Learn more at Plastic Ocean Foundation.

The Elements: An Annual Environmental Film Series is presented by the Connecticut River Coastal Conservation District, Middlesex Community College Environmental Science Program, The Rockfall Foundation, and Wesleyan University’s Center for the Arts and College of the Environment. Four screenings take place throughout the year, alternating locations between Chapman Hall at Middlesex Community College and the Center for Film Studies at Wesleyan University. Events are always open to the public and free of charge.