A PLASTIC CIVILIZATION.

Is plastic our material border as a modus vivendi? What shall we see if we cross it? Will we be extinct, buried in a hip of plastic waste?   The image is not consoling at all and  is bringing up stories   of a dying civilization.


It seems as if plastic has been labeling our life for at least two generations. Now it has reached its peak, our peak.

 How about taking steps into a new way of containing ourselves? How can we do it?

Have you heard of the term carbon print?  Could we extend it to talk of your plastic print?



Have a look at the following which includes pictures of families around the world and their use of plastic. 




1- What are these families doing to reduce plastic use? Could you add some more ideas?

2. Think about how much plastic you use or dispose of every day. Could you do without it?


PROJECT

Collect all the plastic you and your family use in a week, put it in a bag and bring it to the school.

Make an artistic collage in which you introduce your family and the way you relate with plastic. Include your thoughts and ideas or other's thoughts and ideas regarding plastic waste and how it affects us.



LISTENING. VIDEO 1.

Pre-watching activities.

Vocabulary.

to get rid of / to dispose of

swallow

The tide

plastic straws

 damp yard

garbage bin

trash

litter     ( marine litter ) 

action on the ground

to mobilise

to give support

to tackle a problem / to deal with a problem

hot spot areas

ANSWER

1. What are the advantages of using plastic? What are the disadvantages? 

2. Where does the plastic you use end up?

3. What is microplastic?

 

When you finish watching it discuss it in class and collect those sentences which summarise it the best. 


VIDEO 2. PLASTIC PLANET. 


2nd video. Watch it. It has  neither written nor spoken words. Put words to the images. Make your text last the same as the video.

WHEN DID PLASTIC BEGIN TO BE AN ESSENTIAL PART OF OUR LIVES?

VIDEO 3. 

PLASTIC PLANET.  The Story of plastic. 

 

 

 VIDEO 4. The story of bottled water. 

 The Story of Bottled Water, released on March 22, 2010 (World Water Day) employs the Story of Stuff style to tell the story of manufactured demand—how you get Americans to buy more than half a billion bottles of water every week when it already flows from the tap. Over five minutes, the film explores the bottled water industrys attacks on tap water and its use of seductive, environmental-themed advertising to cover up the mountains of plastic waste it produces. The film concludes with a call to take back the tap, not only by making a personal commitment to avoid bottled water, but by supporting investments in clean, available tap water for all.

 Some of these videos have been taken from The story of stuff web page.

 

Take the QUIZZ. What kind of changemaker you are. 

 

A visit to the Pottery Museum in Agost shows us that plastic is a new fenomenon. If we ask our grandparents they will tell us about the beginnings of plastic as an everyday essential .

Now pottery is something that attracts tourists and collectors to this off-the-track village very close to the Alacant coast.

https://www.spain-holiday.com/Alicante-province/articles/potter-ing-about-in-agost-alicantehttps://www.spain-holiday.com/Alicante-province/articles/potter-ing-about-in-agost-alicante