Plastic Pollution in the Ocean: Why It’s Time to Ban Styrofoam for Good

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Let's say you ordered takeout last night.

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Nothing fancy just noodles.

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In one of those foam containers.

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You toss it in the trash after you're
done with your food, without even

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thinking anything of it like you've done
a hundred times before, because that's

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what happens when you order takeout.

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But the container could break into
microplastics, wash into a river, and

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end up inside a sea turtle, a marine
mammal, a seabird, any kind of animal.

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It's not gonna decompose
because that's not what it does.

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It won't be recycled, and it may harm
ocean life for decades, oftentimes,

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leaching chemicals into the body,
including not only just regular animals

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that you see, like seals of sea birds
and sea turtles, but also humans.

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In this episode, we're gonna talk
about the journey of foam, those

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styrofoam containers that we get from
takeout places and other places, and

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why it's time to stop using them.

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Al. We're gonna be talking to Oceana's
Christie Levitt, who is the campaign

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manager for Oceana on Plastics,
especially talking about plastic foam.

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And there's a new report that Oceana
produced called Plastic Foam Needs to Go.

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We're gonna talk about that
report and why it should concern

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you today and your health.

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Let's start the show.

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Hey everybody.

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Welcome back to another exciting episode
of the How to Protect the Ocean Podcast.

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I'm your host, Andrew Lewin, and
this is a podcast where you find

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out what's happening with the ocean,
how you can speak up for the ocean,

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and what you can do to live for
a better ocean by taking action.

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And on today's episode, we're gonna
be talking about how campaigns work

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to get certain things passed in
legislation, whether it's on the

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federal, the state, or local levels.

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There are people out there working
for organizations who are working

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very, very hard to ensure that they're
protecting not only the health of

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the planet, but also your health.

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Especially in this case.

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We have Kristi Levitt from Oceana
who's a campaigner that works on

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foam styrofoam containers and why
they need to go, why there needs to

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be a ban on this type of plastic.

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And we talk about the effects on
the health of animals, the health

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of the environment, as well as.

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Our own health.

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So lots of things to do and at
the end there's a great call to

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action where you can help out.

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And if you wanna help out more and learn
more about how you can be guided to help

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the ocean and live for a better ocean, I
would love for you to join the undertow.

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It's an ocean community
that we are creating online.

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Myself and two of my amazing co-founders,
and we are building this community.

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With Wave Makers, individuals who are
driving for ocean change, and we are

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gonna help you better protect the ocean.

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All you have to do is go to speak up
for blue.com/join the undertow to join.

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That's speak up for
blue.com/join the undertow.

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It's on a wait list right now.

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We're building the app out.

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It should come very, very soon.

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Within the next month or so, I'm
very excited to release this.

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You'll get access to me.

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You'll get access to my co-founder,
Serena and Amanda, and a

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bunch of Wave makers as well.

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It's gonna be a lot of fun.

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I can't wait for you to do that.

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No algorithms, no regular
social media sites.

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This is just a community app
for Ocean Lovers like yourself.

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Speak up for blue.com/join the undertow.

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Let's get into the episode.

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Here's my interview with
Kristi Levitt from Oceana.

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Talking about the campaign to ban
plastic foam so that we don't have

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to deal with the consequences in
our environment and in our bodies.

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Enjoy the interview and
I'll talk to you after.

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Hey Christie, welcome to the How
to Protect the Ocean Podcast.

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Are you ready to talk about
styrofoam in the ocean?

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I am.

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And it's a pleasure to be here.

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Oh, it's so, I'm so happy to
have you on, uh, Christie.

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I know this is the first time we've
actually met, but to have someone from

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Oceania on the podcast is such a delight.

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We've had people on from
Oceania Canada before.

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Uh, I've had people on from
Oceana, but it's been a while and

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there's just so much fun to have.

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'cause I know the amazing work
that you guys do, and you guys do

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such a, a plethora of work, such a
wide variety of work, not only in

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fisheries, but in plastic pollution.

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And it's so important to discuss.

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And I'm, I'm really delighted
that you're here to, that we're

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gonna be able to discuss that.

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We're gonna be focusing on plastic
foam today, like styrofoam and really

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focusing in on those styrofoam containers
that take out containers and stuff that

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we get, that we don't even realize.

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And I think a lot of us in, in, when
we go through our everyday life, we

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don't question it because just, you
know, we take takeout everybody.

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Mm-hmm.

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We're all on the, on the move and
we're going quickly and we get

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these, this takeout and we get,
it's the container that it comes in.

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And, you know, you try and tell people,
Hey, why are you using plastic foam?

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But sometimes they're like,
that's what we can afford.

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That's the way we do things.

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Um, and so that happens.

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And so it, it, it's, it's tough
to like really think about what

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we can do to make it better.

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So we're gonna talk about the new
report that Oceania released called

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Plastic Foam, how it needs to Go.

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And, uh, I want to get into sort
of the nitty gritty about it all.

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But before we do Christy, I wanna get
to know you a little bit and my audience

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to get to know you a little bit.

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So why don't you let us know
who you are and what you do.

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Great.

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Well, it is such a pleasure to be here.

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Um, so I'm Christy Levitt.

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I, um, work with Oceania in the us.

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I am our US Plastics campaign director.

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And so what that means is I run
our campaigns here in the US

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to stop the production use of
unnecessary single use plastics.

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And my background is that I've
been working on environmental

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issues for a couple of decades now.

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Mm-hmm.

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Working on a whole variety
of issues, including.

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Oceans protections, but also clean
air, clean water, protecting open

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spaces, working on climate issues,
and all of that focused on either

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state or national level policies.

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Mm-hmm.

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And had lots of good
wins, um, along the way.

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And, you know, some, some losses too as
it as it happens, but overall, you know,

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working to make progress so that our air
is cleaner, our waters are cleaner, and

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our, you know, we're everything's better
for our health and the environment.

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And started at Oceana about six
years ago, um, when we launched the

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plastics campaign here in the us.

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So have been here almost from the
beginning and a few staff working on it.

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When we, um, first started working on
plastics, but launched the campaign,

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uh, in the US and we've worked not
only on national level policy, which

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is really oceania's focus, but also
state and local policies to reduce the

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production use of single use plastics.

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Wow, awesome.

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I mean, it's such a big undertaking
when you think about it.

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Uh, you know, it doesn't matter who
the government is, obviously sometimes

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it's a little harder than others, uh,
depending on the government, of course.

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Uh, but in your background, in terms
of like getting here, working on

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campaigns, when you first started in
the field of of Oceans, did you ever

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think that this is what you were gonna
be doing is working on campaigns?

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'cause like when I first started,
I didn't even know this was a job.

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You know, when I first started,
like was like a campaign director

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or you know, someone who works on
campaigns, it's obviously a very

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important aspect of it, but did you
expect to work in this line of work?

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Well, actually I came about at
the other way where really when I

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graduated from college, what I wanted
to do was to work on campaigns.

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Oh, interesting.

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I didn't know how to do that.

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Yeah.

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Uh, so, um, and I was really, look, I was
really, I was into environmental issues.

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Mm-hmm.

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I was, I went to college in Los Angeles.

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I was into impacts on the, um, you know,
pollution impacts on the, on people

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and the environment and the coast.

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And so I was most interested
in continuing to live in Los

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Angeles and make change there.

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But I knew I needed to learn
how to, how to do that.

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So, um, right.

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I worked for.

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An organization called the Student
Pergs for a good number of years.

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I learned those skills about doing
organizing work and learning how

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to, um, make change on policy.

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And that was state level policy
and national level policy.

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So really what I, you know, I wanted
to learn how to do was to make,

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make, make that change that makes a
big impact in organizing the public.

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So not only getting the policy right and
the facts right, but organizing the public

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to get them engaged in the process too.

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And so I was pretty open about
environmental issues that I worked

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on, and as I was saying, you know,
over the years worked on everything

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from climate to protecting forest
to ocean issues and still really

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excited about all of those issues.

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Mm-hmm.

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Um, and have always come at it
from a organizing and public

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policy change end of it.

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And then there was a. Opportunity with
Oceania to work on plastics and oceans.

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And you know, the same question
of did I ever think I'd

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work on plastics and oceans?

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No.

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No.

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I think, you know, 20 years ago
we didn't really know the extent

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of the problem of plastics.

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Mm-hmm.

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And it's, we've been learning a lot.

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Um, and it, you know, it includes so many
different things from oceans to protecting

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the animals and the oceans and the harm
that, that caused, the impacts on people

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to, the impacts on our, on climate.

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Yeah.

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So all of that comes
together with plastics.

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But I definitely did not think,
you know, a couple decades ago that

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I would be work working on this.

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But I'm really excited
to be here doing it.

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Yeah.

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And, and to be honest, I
see a lot more, uh, posts.

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I've actually curated my LinkedIn
page to be all job posts.

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'cause I shared job posts for
like, the careers for people and.

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I noticed there's a lot of jobs,
especially with Oceania, but, but even

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just with a lot of, uh, uh, organizations
similar to Oceania, whether it's

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in forestry or whether it's in, in
agriculture or it doesn't matter, right?

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There's a lot of campaign directors or
somebody like a marine campaign or, or,

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uh, plastics campaign or things like that.

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I see those jobs come up quite a bit,
you know, as someone like, I went to

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school for science, a lot of people that
I, that listen to this podcast go to

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school for science or marine science.

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Marine biology, like what suited
you for this job and what skills

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really suit people for this
type of, of campaigns type job?

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Like leading campaigns or,
or taking part in campaigns?

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Yeah, that's a really good question.

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I think one of the great things about
doing campaign work is that people

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come from all different backgrounds.

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So whether you, you went through.

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Not only college, but then got a mm-hmm.

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Advanced degree in a particular science.

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Mm-hmm.

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You, you didn't, or even if you went
to, to law school or you know, some

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you have a degree in something else.

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All of that ultimately can lead you to
doing this type of type of campaign work.

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And you'll do it in slightly
different ways based on your.

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Expertise and experience.

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Mm-hmm.

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But it's definitely, you know, a
set of skills that you can learn

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and I learned it by doing it.

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So I learned how to do things like
read policy, to run a press conference,

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to organize a coalition of, or other
organizations to go and meet with your

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local elected officials or your, here in
the US members of Congress or, mm-hmm.

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You know, your state legislators, all
of that are ultimately quite learnable

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skills regardless of your background.

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It's, I think the biggest thing
is an interest in doing that and

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in making change through policy.

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And one of the great things about
Oceania is that we have people who

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have all of those different expertise.

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So my expertise might be in, in
running the campaign, but I work

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with a whole bunch of staff with
a variety of different skills.

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So we start, you know, as with many
PE organizations, what we definitely

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00:11:21,695 --> 00:11:23,885
really focus on starting with the facts.

230
00:11:24,005 --> 00:11:26,765
So we wanna make sure we've
got the science on our side.

231
00:11:26,945 --> 00:11:30,815
So we've got a scientist who
works, um, specifically on plastic.

232
00:11:31,335 --> 00:11:31,905
Issues.

233
00:11:32,085 --> 00:11:37,215
We've got policy staff who spend their
days up talking to members of Congress

234
00:11:37,245 --> 00:11:39,345
and their staff and the administration.

235
00:11:39,555 --> 00:11:41,325
We've got lawyers on staff.

236
00:11:41,325 --> 00:11:45,855
We also have our field representatives
who are based in states around

237
00:11:45,855 --> 00:11:49,095
the us, particularly coastal
states, who are building up that

238
00:11:49,095 --> 00:11:50,715
political support on the ground.

239
00:11:50,715 --> 00:11:50,775
Hmm.

240
00:11:50,775 --> 00:11:54,765
Just getting regular ordinary people
engaged in our campaign efforts.

241
00:11:54,795 --> 00:11:58,035
Plus then people who have some
power locally who might be able to

242
00:11:58,035 --> 00:12:00,315
influence what, what Congress is doing.

243
00:12:00,315 --> 00:12:00,405
Right.

244
00:12:00,465 --> 00:12:04,695
And it's really that for Oceania,
that mix of the science, the policy,

245
00:12:04,755 --> 00:12:08,745
the legal aspects, the grassroots
support, and then being able to

246
00:12:08,745 --> 00:12:10,515
communicate that to the public.

247
00:12:10,905 --> 00:12:15,105
So, uh, I think one of the really most
important skills to learn along the

248
00:12:15,105 --> 00:12:19,245
way and to be able to do this type of
work effectively is to take what are

249
00:12:19,245 --> 00:12:21,825
sometimes really complicated scientific.

250
00:12:22,410 --> 00:12:25,650
Issues and problems or even
solutions and be able to Right.

251
00:12:25,770 --> 00:12:30,420
Explain that to regular people who are
not spending their days looking at what's

252
00:12:30,420 --> 00:12:34,560
happening on to the oceans or what's,
what's happening to the air or what's

253
00:12:34,560 --> 00:12:36,390
happening to the animals and wildlife.

254
00:12:36,390 --> 00:12:36,450
Yeah.

255
00:12:36,510 --> 00:12:42,330
So being able to really break that down
to people and I'm sure in your role Sure.

256
00:12:42,330 --> 00:12:42,885
You, you do that a lot.

257
00:12:43,350 --> 00:12:43,890
Yeah.

258
00:12:43,890 --> 00:12:44,400
Yeah.

259
00:12:44,580 --> 00:12:47,190
Well, it, it is so funny too,
'cause sometimes, uh, when

260
00:12:47,190 --> 00:12:47,805
you don't think of a job.

261
00:12:48,555 --> 00:12:49,365
Like a particular job.

262
00:12:49,365 --> 00:12:52,365
Say you go through school and you're
not thinking about working on campaigns.

263
00:12:52,365 --> 00:12:55,005
Of course, as we mentioned before,
it's difficult to figure out

264
00:12:55,005 --> 00:12:56,115
like, what do I need to do this?

265
00:12:56,115 --> 00:12:59,625
This sounds like a really good
opportunity and a really good way to get

266
00:12:59,625 --> 00:13:03,345
into conservation is to work on these
campaigns and really make a change and

267
00:13:03,345 --> 00:13:05,055
really make a difference on policy.

268
00:13:05,385 --> 00:13:08,835
You know, building up those relationships
with, with government representatives

269
00:13:08,835 --> 00:13:10,635
at different levels and and so forth.

270
00:13:10,755 --> 00:13:13,935
And there's so many, even within
like the campaign sort of.

271
00:13:14,325 --> 00:13:18,015
Avenue, uh, and, and,
and career sort of path.

272
00:13:18,015 --> 00:13:21,255
There are different levels within
it from interns and all the way to

273
00:13:21,255 --> 00:13:25,365
like, sort of like a junior campaigner
and then a senior, and then you said

274
00:13:25,365 --> 00:13:27,195
the field representatives as well.

275
00:13:27,465 --> 00:13:29,595
Um, and everybody seems
to enjoy their jobs.

276
00:13:29,595 --> 00:13:33,285
Like, you know, I've, I know people
who have worked in the field in, in

277
00:13:33,285 --> 00:13:36,855
campaigning at, for Oceania in particular,
and they've been in doing it for like

278
00:13:36,855 --> 00:13:40,065
nine or 10 years, and they absolutely
love it, you know, and they get out into

279
00:13:40,065 --> 00:13:43,365
the field and they're talking to people
and they're going out on boats and like

280
00:13:43,365 --> 00:13:44,745
doing all these photo ops and stuff.

281
00:13:44,775 --> 00:13:45,735
And I think it's really great.

282
00:13:45,915 --> 00:13:49,005
You know, Greenpeace is also, you know,
an organization that's known to do

283
00:13:49,005 --> 00:13:53,385
campaigning and, and they're a little bit
more, uh, activism and, and, and stuff.

284
00:13:53,385 --> 00:13:56,595
But it's, it's just a different way of,
of looking at it that you've mentioned

285
00:13:56,595 --> 00:14:01,095
you've worked in a lot of different,
um, almost realms, let's just say.

286
00:14:01,095 --> 00:14:05,145
So the marine, the forestry,
uh, what drives you.

287
00:14:05,550 --> 00:14:10,350
To choose, uh, the, the path that
you've taken, like to choose the

288
00:14:10,350 --> 00:14:12,180
type of campaigns that you work on.

289
00:14:12,480 --> 00:14:14,640
What has been that driving factor for you?

290
00:14:14,640 --> 00:14:17,250
Because I've talked to scientists
where they're just like, they,

291
00:14:17,250 --> 00:14:18,420
like they're the researchers.

292
00:14:18,420 --> 00:14:20,100
They're driven by specific questions.

293
00:14:20,100 --> 00:14:23,820
So it doesn't necessarily have to be
that the topic is a certain animal.

294
00:14:24,180 --> 00:14:28,410
It's more of like, what is that
ecological function that drives this

295
00:14:28,410 --> 00:14:33,660
animal to do a particular behavior or
particular ecological, um, motion or

296
00:14:33,660 --> 00:14:36,780
function compared to another animal
that does the same thing for you?

297
00:14:36,780 --> 00:14:40,350
What is that driver to choose the
campaigns that you wanna work on or

298
00:14:40,350 --> 00:14:43,200
to apply for a job to work on the
campaigns that you want to work on?

299
00:14:43,980 --> 00:14:44,400
Right.

300
00:14:44,610 --> 00:14:47,250
I'm sure that has changed over, over time.

301
00:14:47,250 --> 00:14:47,790
So I, right.

302
00:14:48,210 --> 00:14:51,750
You know, when I'm first
starting, I grew up in California.

303
00:14:51,750 --> 00:14:52,170
I right.

304
00:14:52,950 --> 00:14:55,470
Didn't live on the coast,
but live near the coast.

305
00:14:55,470 --> 00:14:57,660
I, the mountains are amazing.

306
00:14:57,665 --> 00:14:57,765
Mm-hmm.

307
00:14:57,850 --> 00:14:58,800
The parks are amazing.

308
00:14:58,800 --> 00:15:02,670
So there's definitely, you know,
a connection to, to nature and

309
00:15:02,670 --> 00:15:04,230
a variety of types of nature.

310
00:15:04,620 --> 00:15:06,810
That was a, a strong interest.

311
00:15:06,810 --> 00:15:09,360
And I think, you know, I
still definitely have that.

312
00:15:09,360 --> 00:15:13,620
I live in a city, but I love going
out to explore our national parks.

313
00:15:13,620 --> 00:15:14,760
I love going to the coast.

314
00:15:14,760 --> 00:15:19,050
I love looking, you know, um, going
to all sorts of, all sorts of places.

315
00:15:19,140 --> 00:15:19,290
Yeah.

316
00:15:19,290 --> 00:15:22,560
So I think, you know that,
so connection to nature.

317
00:15:22,565 --> 00:15:22,965
Mm-hmm.

318
00:15:23,050 --> 00:15:31,350
I also think, um, over time we've found
more and more problems, so that's true.

319
00:15:31,350 --> 00:15:35,400
When I was in school, climate
change was not a huge problem.

320
00:15:35,985 --> 00:15:37,230
That we talked about a lot.

321
00:15:37,230 --> 00:15:37,590
Mm-hmm.

322
00:15:37,675 --> 00:15:38,655
But it is now.

323
00:15:38,655 --> 00:15:43,935
And so I think, but so climate
is a big driver for me overall.

324
00:15:43,935 --> 00:15:46,485
We, and plastics
definitely plays into that.

325
00:15:46,485 --> 00:15:49,070
The oceans are being impacted by that.

326
00:15:49,070 --> 00:15:49,470
Mm-hmm.

327
00:15:49,550 --> 00:15:51,165
So that is one of the big things.

328
00:15:51,525 --> 00:15:56,235
But I think sort of at the, at the
core of it, I've got two kids who

329
00:15:56,235 --> 00:15:57,735
are, they're no longer little kids.

330
00:15:57,735 --> 00:16:02,235
They're, they're medium sized
kids now, but they, um, you know,

331
00:16:02,235 --> 00:16:04,485
I want them to live in a, yeah.

332
00:16:04,485 --> 00:16:07,515
In a world that there is clean
air, clean water, that there are

333
00:16:07,515 --> 00:16:12,135
the oceans, that the oceans are
filled with all sorts of wildlife.

334
00:16:12,135 --> 00:16:15,585
That there's people who can sustain their.

335
00:16:15,630 --> 00:16:20,370
Um, their livelihoods by relying on
the oceans that all of that exists,

336
00:16:20,400 --> 00:16:24,030
not just for the next five to 10
years, but it is for decades and

337
00:16:24,030 --> 00:16:25,800
decades from now, if not centuries.

338
00:16:25,800 --> 00:16:30,390
I want, you know, I want my kids to
grow up in a, and have a world where

339
00:16:30,390 --> 00:16:33,330
there is clean air, clean water, oceans.

340
00:16:33,330 --> 00:16:35,910
I want their kids to
be able to do that, so.

341
00:16:35,915 --> 00:16:36,075
Mm-hmm.

342
00:16:36,300 --> 00:16:40,920
I think, you know, as a parent, that's
a big driver, but I also, also, beyond

343
00:16:40,920 --> 00:16:44,820
me, I wanna make sure that other
people's kids can do that, that too.

344
00:16:44,820 --> 00:16:49,950
So that it's, you know, I, I look at my
kids and what I want them to be able to

345
00:16:49,950 --> 00:16:53,790
do, but I also want people around the,
around the country, around the world to be

346
00:16:53,790 --> 00:16:56,370
able to have that, those same things too.

347
00:16:56,370 --> 00:16:57,569
Clean air, clean water.

348
00:16:57,630 --> 00:16:57,780
Yeah.

349
00:16:57,780 --> 00:16:58,860
Open spaces.

350
00:16:59,250 --> 00:16:59,460
Yeah.

351
00:16:59,460 --> 00:17:01,350
Oceans, all of that.

352
00:17:01,830 --> 00:17:05,760
Well, and we know how much it plays a
role in our health, overall health, not

353
00:17:05,760 --> 00:17:08,010
only physical, but mental health as well.

354
00:17:08,310 --> 00:17:11,490
I mean, Jane Nichols, I always mention him
and probably every episode that I can with

355
00:17:11,490 --> 00:17:15,359
his Blue Mind book, uh, you know, and,
and, and the fact that it's just, it's.

356
00:17:15,359 --> 00:17:18,540
It helps us to have the
ocean in, in good health.

357
00:17:18,569 --> 00:17:22,020
You know, just in general, just if we
can keep that in good health, keep our

358
00:17:22,020 --> 00:17:23,490
planet in good shape, then we can do it.

359
00:17:23,490 --> 00:17:26,909
And, and, you know, some of the stuff
that you campaign for to unite like

360
00:17:26,909 --> 00:17:30,870
basic needs, it's just like we're just
asking for, you know, pretty much like,

361
00:17:30,870 --> 00:17:35,250
let's just keep the, the environment as
healthy as possible and, and let's like

362
00:17:35,250 --> 00:17:39,840
not have as much negative influence on
it to, but it's such a big thing to do.

363
00:17:40,020 --> 00:17:43,949
You know, the campaigns, there's reason
why there are campaigns that we do,

364
00:17:44,129 --> 00:17:48,719
uh, that you participate in to get,
you know, these PLAs like foam, uh, and

365
00:17:48,719 --> 00:17:53,010
styrofoam out of circulation because
they could be bad for our, our plan

366
00:17:53,010 --> 00:17:54,090
and they can be bad for our health.

367
00:17:54,090 --> 00:17:55,649
So I think it's, I think
it's really interesting.

368
00:17:55,649 --> 00:17:57,149
I, I love the, the driver for that.

369
00:17:57,149 --> 00:18:00,149
I think it's, I think it's really cool
to know, obviously it, it evolves, right?

370
00:18:00,155 --> 00:18:03,030
I was, I was, I was kind of, I
was expecting that it evolves

371
00:18:03,030 --> 00:18:06,389
as you go through and certain
things interest you and as.

372
00:18:06,395 --> 00:18:09,455
Your kids grow up and you
start to see the effect.

373
00:18:09,455 --> 00:18:11,885
You know, like I have, I have
teenage, two teenage daughters,

374
00:18:11,885 --> 00:18:15,575
one going into university next
year for wildlife and conservation.

375
00:18:15,575 --> 00:18:17,345
So I'm like very excited about that.

376
00:18:17,345 --> 00:18:17,615
Very cool.

377
00:18:17,615 --> 00:18:19,775
Not marine biology, but nobody's perfect.

378
00:18:19,775 --> 00:18:20,495
It's, it's fine.

379
00:18:20,525 --> 00:18:20,945
It's fine.

380
00:18:21,635 --> 00:18:24,575
But it's, it's, it's kind of cool
to see and you know, we, we discuss

381
00:18:24,575 --> 00:18:25,715
a lot of the, some of the issues.

382
00:18:25,715 --> 00:18:27,305
It's just like, I don't
understand why this is an issue.

383
00:18:27,305 --> 00:18:30,215
Like, this seems to be just basic,
but it is, you know, and then we have

384
00:18:30,215 --> 00:18:33,965
to, we have to make a case for it and
we have to campaign on these things.

385
00:18:34,264 --> 00:18:36,365
Um, so I, I think that's,
that's really cool.

386
00:18:36,845 --> 00:18:38,375
Let's get into the plastics.

387
00:18:38,375 --> 00:18:40,325
'cause this is what we're
here for in the styrofoam.

388
00:18:40,535 --> 00:18:43,745
There is a report, uh, that,
that Oceania put out, uh,

389
00:18:43,775 --> 00:18:45,455
called plastic foam needs to go.

390
00:18:45,695 --> 00:18:49,415
Uh, it's a really well written
report, very easy to read for, for

391
00:18:49,415 --> 00:18:50,675
anybody who wants to pick it up.

392
00:18:50,675 --> 00:18:53,645
And I'll put the link in, uh,
in the show notes so that people

393
00:18:53,645 --> 00:18:55,295
can, can get access to it.

394
00:18:55,655 --> 00:18:59,555
What, speaking of drivers, what was
the driver to write this report?

395
00:19:00,935 --> 00:19:01,025
Well.

396
00:19:01,680 --> 00:19:07,230
So as overall Ocean is working to reduce
the production in use of single use

397
00:19:07,230 --> 00:19:11,790
plastics and we're taking a step back,
we're doing that because single use

398
00:19:11,790 --> 00:19:16,920
plastics and packaging makes up about
40% of all the plastic made each year.

399
00:19:17,100 --> 00:19:18,180
So that's, that's a lot.

400
00:19:18,180 --> 00:19:21,570
And a lot of that 40% is unnecessary.

401
00:19:21,660 --> 00:19:21,750
Mm-hmm.

402
00:19:21,990 --> 00:19:25,620
And so if we can make an impact
on that, it's gonna protect our,

403
00:19:25,860 --> 00:19:27,090
ultimately protect our oceans.

404
00:19:27,090 --> 00:19:29,730
'cause we're making less of it
and less of it's gonna end up at

405
00:19:29,730 --> 00:19:32,550
the ocean, but it's also gonna
have lots of other benefits too.

406
00:19:32,550 --> 00:19:32,640
Mm-hmm.

407
00:19:32,880 --> 00:19:38,100
In terms of climate issues, in terms of
other clean air and clean water issues.

408
00:19:38,100 --> 00:19:42,510
So that's our starting point is taking,
taking that piece of the pie, I guess

409
00:19:42,510 --> 00:19:43,980
it'd be this piece of the pie that way.

410
00:19:44,370 --> 00:19:49,440
Um, so dealing with that, that
part of it, there are some really

411
00:19:49,440 --> 00:19:53,940
problematic single use plastics and
um, plastic foam is one of those.

412
00:19:53,940 --> 00:19:58,200
So plastic foam, it's formally
called expanded fall, sorry, it's

413
00:19:58,275 --> 00:20:00,360
former called Expanded Polystyrene.

414
00:20:00,690 --> 00:20:01,110
And it's.

415
00:20:01,575 --> 00:20:04,305
As you started the show, it's
often referred to as styrofoam.

416
00:20:04,545 --> 00:20:04,635
Right.

417
00:20:04,665 --> 00:20:08,955
And it is something that there
are good alternatives to.

418
00:20:09,015 --> 00:20:09,555
Now.

419
00:20:09,585 --> 00:20:13,335
There is no reason why we should
be relying on this product.

420
00:20:13,335 --> 00:20:15,855
That is, it pollutes our environment.

421
00:20:16,245 --> 00:20:20,085
It creates problems for the ocean,
it creates problems for people.

422
00:20:20,175 --> 00:20:22,515
And we can get into all of that,
but it's really one of the most

423
00:20:22,515 --> 00:20:26,445
problematic plastics, but there
simply is not a need for it.

424
00:20:26,445 --> 00:20:26,535
Right.

425
00:20:26,835 --> 00:20:33,075
Um, and so we wanted to do this report
to help educate people and show people

426
00:20:33,075 --> 00:20:37,515
that plastic foam is hazardous to,
hazardous to our oceans and our health.

427
00:20:37,515 --> 00:20:38,445
Mm-hmm.

428
00:20:38,535 --> 00:20:41,325
So it, it's really, it's always
interesting when we find out that

429
00:20:41,325 --> 00:20:45,555
something that we've been using in
general supply, you know, and in

430
00:20:45,555 --> 00:20:49,125
like everyday life, like I mentioned
at the beginning of the show, is

431
00:20:49,125 --> 00:20:50,865
bad for us and bad for the planet.

432
00:20:51,630 --> 00:20:53,010
Yet we never questioned it.

433
00:20:53,160 --> 00:20:56,430
We just said, this is, you know,
I'm gonna order my food, or I'm at a

434
00:20:56,430 --> 00:21:01,620
restaurant and I want to take it home,
so I want to, you know, go home with it.

435
00:21:01,770 --> 00:21:03,750
Oh, here, here's a,
here's a container for it.

436
00:21:03,810 --> 00:21:04,410
Okay, cool.

437
00:21:04,410 --> 00:21:07,140
I'm not gonna, you know,
even question it, put it in a

438
00:21:07,140 --> 00:21:08,430
container and I'm gonna go home.

439
00:21:10,140 --> 00:21:15,450
Why is it that styrofoam was
the choice that was made in the

440
00:21:15,450 --> 00:21:18,480
first place To be that material?

441
00:21:18,540 --> 00:21:22,740
To go into this mass production
and be used by, you know, millions

442
00:21:22,740 --> 00:21:23,970
of people around the world?

443
00:21:24,300 --> 00:21:24,750
Billions.

444
00:21:24,750 --> 00:21:25,080
Really?

445
00:21:26,280 --> 00:21:26,550
Yeah.

446
00:21:26,550 --> 00:21:28,500
I don't know if it was.

447
00:21:29,115 --> 00:21:33,825
A conscious or purposeful choice for
particularly this type of plastic.

448
00:21:33,825 --> 00:21:37,995
There are a couple of things
for why plastic, foam and

449
00:21:37,995 --> 00:21:39,435
other single use plastics.

450
00:21:39,525 --> 00:21:43,485
They, they, they have increased
the use exponentially of this.

451
00:21:43,515 --> 00:21:45,525
These products have,
let me say that again.

452
00:21:45,765 --> 00:21:46,560
These products Yeah.

453
00:21:46,965 --> 00:21:50,115
Have increased exponentially
over the last 20 years.

454
00:21:50,115 --> 00:21:50,205
Right.

455
00:21:50,415 --> 00:21:55,215
So over half of the plastic
made has been since 2004.

456
00:21:55,515 --> 00:22:00,495
So there's been this huge growth and a
lot of that is about moving from reusable

457
00:22:00,495 --> 00:22:02,745
products to a lot of single use products.

458
00:22:03,075 --> 00:22:04,665
And plastic foam is.

459
00:22:05,115 --> 00:22:05,805
Pretty cheap.

460
00:22:05,955 --> 00:22:06,670
Um mm-hmm.

461
00:22:06,754 --> 00:22:11,475
It's pretty cheap to make and it
is, that clearly does not include

462
00:22:11,475 --> 00:22:14,955
all of the environmental and health
impacts built into that cost.

463
00:22:15,315 --> 00:22:18,670
And it's, um, it's
lightweight, so easy to ship.

464
00:22:18,670 --> 00:22:18,870
Mm-hmm.

465
00:22:18,955 --> 00:22:22,125
So I think those are the sum of
things, but make it, have made

466
00:22:22,125 --> 00:22:24,615
it part of just common usage.

467
00:22:24,885 --> 00:22:25,095
Mm-hmm.

468
00:22:25,335 --> 00:22:28,425
Uh, and it is used as you're
saying, for everything from takeout

469
00:22:28,425 --> 00:22:31,575
containers to taco cups, to soda cups.

470
00:22:31,905 --> 00:22:34,395
Um, foam coolers is one of the other uses.

471
00:22:34,425 --> 00:22:34,965
And yeah.

472
00:22:34,965 --> 00:22:37,845
Pack what we in the US call
packing peanuts, but other Yes.

473
00:22:38,205 --> 00:22:42,254
Packaging, um, or pack
packing peanuts in Canada too.

474
00:22:42,260 --> 00:22:43,455
Um, it's pretty much the same.

475
00:22:43,455 --> 00:22:43,605
Yeah.

476
00:22:44,774 --> 00:22:45,645
So it is.

477
00:22:45,645 --> 00:22:47,595
So, you know, it does.

478
00:22:47,940 --> 00:22:51,060
Have its uses, but all
the problems with it.

479
00:22:51,060 --> 00:22:51,150
Mm-hmm.

480
00:22:51,390 --> 00:22:55,170
Both on the production side and the
toxic chemicals that come out of our

481
00:22:55,230 --> 00:22:57,240
use of it that then is an impact on us.

482
00:22:57,240 --> 00:23:00,390
And then its disposal are
all totally problematic.

483
00:23:00,390 --> 00:23:05,850
And one of those, some of those things
that might make it useful for somebody,

484
00:23:05,850 --> 00:23:09,750
um, you know, to sell the product
are some of the problems with it.

485
00:23:09,750 --> 00:23:10,890
So it's really lightweight.

486
00:23:10,920 --> 00:23:11,010
Mm-hmm.

487
00:23:11,520 --> 00:23:16,080
It also is brittle, so when it
is breaks apart, it makes it, you

488
00:23:16,080 --> 00:23:17,700
know, breaks up into tiny pieces.

489
00:23:17,700 --> 00:23:17,760
Yeah.

490
00:23:18,000 --> 00:23:22,260
That can be carried really far
in both the wind and the water.

491
00:23:22,260 --> 00:23:25,350
So it, it has become one of
the most common forms of marine

492
00:23:25,350 --> 00:23:29,190
plastic pollution as well as
pollution in lakes and rivers too.

493
00:23:29,700 --> 00:23:34,680
And so that big expansion of its use
has created lots of problems too.

494
00:23:35,175 --> 00:23:38,834
Well, and if, and if you've ever
handled anything that's styrofoam

495
00:23:38,834 --> 00:23:45,014
related, God forbid it breaks or you
try and like break it down, it, it

496
00:23:45,014 --> 00:23:49,635
seems like it's a product just made of
these tiny, tiny balls of styrofoam.

497
00:23:49,635 --> 00:23:52,935
And so when it breaks, these
things go everywhere and

498
00:23:52,935 --> 00:23:54,375
they're very difficult to clean.

499
00:23:54,860 --> 00:23:55,905
If you think about it, right?

500
00:23:55,905 --> 00:23:58,095
Like, I'm thinking of like, in
my mind right now, I'm thinking

501
00:23:58,095 --> 00:23:59,085
of like a styrofoam cooler.

502
00:23:59,085 --> 00:24:02,480
If that breaks or gets
crushed by something, uh, it

503
00:24:02,485 --> 00:24:04,005
it, it just goes everywhere.

504
00:24:04,155 --> 00:24:06,885
And it's really difficult to
take up every little piece.

505
00:24:06,885 --> 00:24:08,895
It's not like big chunks
or, or things like that.

506
00:24:09,015 --> 00:24:12,855
So think of like, when I think about that,
I think about that happening at a beach.

507
00:24:12,855 --> 00:24:16,485
If somebody takes a cooler to a
beach, you know, it say, even if it

508
00:24:16,755 --> 00:24:19,725
a piece like chips off, you know,
and they're like, oh, no big deal.

509
00:24:19,725 --> 00:24:23,055
You try and pick up as much as possible,
but you still get these little beads that

510
00:24:23,055 --> 00:24:24,885
are in the sand that eventually travels.

511
00:24:24,885 --> 00:24:25,605
They're lightweight.

512
00:24:25,755 --> 00:24:28,695
If they're not buried in the sand,
they can go into the ocean or they can

513
00:24:28,695 --> 00:24:32,595
go into the dunes if you're through
dunes in the back, and animals will

514
00:24:32,595 --> 00:24:33,825
eventually try and pick 'em up.

515
00:24:33,855 --> 00:24:35,895
You know, it's, they think,
oh, maybe it's a bird.

516
00:24:36,195 --> 00:24:38,355
Maybe it's a sea turtle, you
know, as they're trying to get

517
00:24:38,355 --> 00:24:39,345
some food or something like that.

518
00:24:39,345 --> 00:24:40,875
If it's floating, they might just.

519
00:24:41,475 --> 00:24:43,155
Experiment and try and get it in there.

520
00:24:43,155 --> 00:24:46,935
And we don't think about that when
it happens because I'll have it

521
00:24:46,935 --> 00:24:49,995
in my driveway and it'll break,
and I'm like, oh, like I gotta

522
00:24:49,995 --> 00:24:51,405
go and pick it all up and stuff.

523
00:24:51,405 --> 00:24:52,695
And who's gonna take it?

524
00:24:52,695 --> 00:24:54,315
Like, what's gonna be affected by this?

525
00:24:54,315 --> 00:24:55,395
It's on my own property.

526
00:24:55,395 --> 00:24:57,795
It's not gonna affect anything
but it birds pick it up.

527
00:24:57,795 --> 00:24:58,815
I've seen birds pick it up.

528
00:24:58,815 --> 00:25:02,745
I've seen squirrels pick it up, you
know, animals pick this, this stuff up.

529
00:25:02,745 --> 00:25:04,065
It's harmful for these animals.

530
00:25:04,065 --> 00:25:06,795
It'll eventually kill them
or, or harm their health.

531
00:25:06,795 --> 00:25:08,865
And, and, and I think we
don't think about that.

532
00:25:08,865 --> 00:25:10,275
We just think, oh, it's a cooler.

533
00:25:10,635 --> 00:25:13,635
I can grab it, bring it to the
beach, or bring it to wherever on a

534
00:25:13,635 --> 00:25:16,305
picnic, and then I'll just throw it
out because I don't want to keep it.

535
00:25:16,965 --> 00:25:20,715
It's, it's very much in our
convenience, you know, for this type

536
00:25:20,715 --> 00:25:23,865
of, of work, even though there are
so many other products available now.

537
00:25:23,865 --> 00:25:27,764
I think it, I feel like it's almost,
you know, sometimes I, I, I still, I

538
00:25:27,764 --> 00:25:30,885
still wonder why we have this problem
because there are so many alternatives

539
00:25:30,885 --> 00:25:35,475
available for restaurants as well as
for consumers, individual consumers.

540
00:25:35,895 --> 00:25:36,254
So.

541
00:25:37,485 --> 00:25:41,385
And, and this is this in your
report, it's like, why is it so

542
00:25:41,385 --> 00:25:44,805
hard to get it out of production?

543
00:25:45,885 --> 00:25:47,025
Why is it so difficult?

544
00:25:48,045 --> 00:25:54,540
It is primarily, it's a plastic producer,
so there is a. They make this product,

545
00:25:54,540 --> 00:25:56,399
they wanna keep selling the product.

546
00:25:56,429 --> 00:25:59,700
Um, and it is, for all the
reasons you said, totally

547
00:25:59,700 --> 00:26:01,740
problematic and harmful to animals.

548
00:26:01,740 --> 00:26:04,350
We can could talk about some
specific am uh, examples, if

549
00:26:04,350 --> 00:26:06,030
that's, that's helpful too.

550
00:26:06,030 --> 00:26:09,870
But the main reason we still have
it is that the companies that

551
00:26:09,870 --> 00:26:11,909
produce it wanna keep producing it.

552
00:26:12,125 --> 00:26:12,205
Hmm.

553
00:26:12,210 --> 00:26:14,790
And they wanna keep it,
keep it on the market.

554
00:26:15,090 --> 00:26:19,500
Um, there's countries around the world
and I think Canada too has mm-hmm.

555
00:26:19,590 --> 00:26:21,300
A plan and a law Yes.

556
00:26:21,300 --> 00:26:23,790
To phase out single use plastic foam.

557
00:26:24,060 --> 00:26:28,620
In the US we don't have a law like that
on the national level yet, but we do

558
00:26:28,620 --> 00:26:33,840
have state, state laws and cities and
counties are, are working to phase it out.

559
00:26:33,840 --> 00:26:37,590
It really should be that the companies
that use and sell and distribute

560
00:26:37,590 --> 00:26:40,020
this, that they're doing it there
on their own and they're, yeah.

561
00:26:40,320 --> 00:26:44,310
Stop using it and using it as
the, the coffee cup or the takeout

562
00:26:44,310 --> 00:26:48,000
container or the packing peanuts, but
they're not doing that in all cases.

563
00:26:48,000 --> 00:26:50,790
And so these government
policies are really important.

564
00:26:51,405 --> 00:26:55,455
To make, make change on the
issue and to, to move it on out.

565
00:26:55,485 --> 00:26:58,905
Um, so that's what, if the companies
aren't doing themselves, governments

566
00:26:58,905 --> 00:27:02,627
really need to, to step in and
make a difference, to force it.

567
00:27:02,632 --> 00:27:06,375
'cause it is such a problem for the,
whether it's the, you know, sea turtles

568
00:27:06,375 --> 00:27:10,245
who are eating it, or birds that are
picking it up like you are describing,

569
00:27:10,245 --> 00:27:13,275
or they're see it floating on the
ocean and they think it looks like,

570
00:27:13,695 --> 00:27:15,825
um, little fish eggs, they eat it.

571
00:27:15,825 --> 00:27:15,915
Mm-hmm.

572
00:27:16,155 --> 00:27:16,665
That way too.

573
00:27:16,725 --> 00:27:20,265
So it's, it's really problematic
for ocean, ocean animals.

574
00:27:20,835 --> 00:27:23,745
I never thought of the fish
egg scenario, but yeah.

575
00:27:23,745 --> 00:27:25,455
That, that, that makes complete sense.

576
00:27:25,875 --> 00:27:30,435
Um, obviously there's an environmental
impact to it with, with birds, with

577
00:27:30,435 --> 00:27:34,815
fish, with sea turtles, uh, like
any animal really that wants to

578
00:27:34,815 --> 00:27:36,465
pick this up wherever it can find.

579
00:27:36,915 --> 00:27:40,905
Um, but it also affects humans as well.

580
00:27:40,905 --> 00:27:43,245
Like these, these things
get into our system.

581
00:27:43,695 --> 00:27:44,115
Um.

582
00:27:44,955 --> 00:27:46,185
How does it get into ours?

583
00:27:46,185 --> 00:27:47,655
Like, how does it affect us?

584
00:27:47,715 --> 00:27:49,274
Because some people are
like, I'm not gonna eat it.

585
00:27:49,274 --> 00:27:50,595
Like, why would I?

586
00:27:50,595 --> 00:27:50,596
Mm-hmm.

587
00:27:50,597 --> 00:27:51,855
Why would I get it into my system?

588
00:27:52,155 --> 00:27:57,945
Like what I, what, what contributes to
like the, the, the, the, um, I guess bad

589
00:27:57,945 --> 00:28:00,435
health, for lack of better terminology.

590
00:28:01,034 --> 00:28:01,185
Yeah.

591
00:28:01,185 --> 00:28:06,465
Well, it is, I, I remember as a kid
having like a foam cup and you Yeah.

592
00:28:06,465 --> 00:28:08,235
You start playing with it
and you break it apart.

593
00:28:08,235 --> 00:28:08,294
Yeah.

594
00:28:08,294 --> 00:28:10,396
And I'm sure there's kids around the.

595
00:28:11,475 --> 00:28:14,955
Around me and around the world who
are, you know, have eaten foam.

596
00:28:14,955 --> 00:28:17,805
But even, even if you're at the point
in your life where you're not gonna eat

597
00:28:17,805 --> 00:28:23,145
that, yeah, that foam cup, plastic foam
is made from a product called styrene.

598
00:28:23,504 --> 00:28:27,465
Um, and styrene is toxic to
the human nervous system.

599
00:28:27,705 --> 00:28:31,245
It's also a probable carcinogen,
which, what that means is it probably

600
00:28:31,245 --> 00:28:36,675
causes cancer in people and it easily
leeches into food and beverages.

601
00:28:36,885 --> 00:28:41,625
So it comes outta that plastic
foam cup or your, um, clamshell

602
00:28:41,625 --> 00:28:43,365
container that's holding your takeout.

603
00:28:43,845 --> 00:28:49,395
That chemical can leach out
and, um, into, into you.

604
00:28:49,395 --> 00:28:53,535
And one of the things about
styrene is that it leeches out at.

605
00:28:54,105 --> 00:28:56,025
Even more at high temperatures.

606
00:28:56,265 --> 00:28:59,955
So to think of that hot cup
of coffee in a foam cup, yeah.

607
00:28:59,985 --> 00:29:01,515
That's even more problematic.

608
00:29:01,545 --> 00:29:05,265
'cause that heat is leading to
more of that sty chemical being

609
00:29:05,265 --> 00:29:07,545
leached into the, into the coffee.

610
00:29:07,725 --> 00:29:12,255
So it is quite ridiculous that when
we, you know, are drinking a drink

611
00:29:12,285 --> 00:29:15,435
from a foam cup or we're eating
something from a takeout container,

612
00:29:15,435 --> 00:29:17,295
we could be risking our health.

613
00:29:17,775 --> 00:29:22,845
And in the US, the American
Academy of Pediatrics recommends

614
00:29:22,845 --> 00:29:27,225
parents avoid polystyrene
plastic, which is a plastic foam.

615
00:29:27,225 --> 00:29:28,665
It's a type of polystyrene.

616
00:29:28,815 --> 00:29:28,935
Mm-hmm.

617
00:29:29,175 --> 00:29:32,175
So we've got, you know,
it's a probable carcinogen.

618
00:29:32,175 --> 00:29:35,655
It's leeches into our food and drink.

619
00:29:35,745 --> 00:29:39,885
And it also, p pediatricians
are saying, don't, don't give

620
00:29:39,885 --> 00:29:41,145
this product to your children.

621
00:29:41,145 --> 00:29:41,235
Right.

622
00:29:41,625 --> 00:29:45,615
And all of that together seems
like just something that we should.

623
00:29:45,975 --> 00:29:46,695
Say no.

624
00:29:46,695 --> 00:29:48,014
Yeah, we don't want this.

625
00:29:48,105 --> 00:29:52,305
And then the other way that it can
get into our body too, is we were

626
00:29:52,305 --> 00:29:55,905
talking about it breaks up, um, into
those smaller and smaller pieces.

627
00:29:55,935 --> 00:29:58,215
Ultimately they become microplastics.

628
00:29:58,215 --> 00:29:58,305
Mm-hmm.

629
00:29:58,575 --> 00:30:00,375
Um, or nanoplastics.

630
00:30:00,435 --> 00:30:04,995
And they, they, and other types of
polystyrene particles, they've been

631
00:30:04,995 --> 00:30:10,095
found in many parts of the human
body, including in our brains, lungs,

632
00:30:10,305 --> 00:30:13,185
kidneys, blood and reproductive systems.

633
00:30:13,395 --> 00:30:17,504
So it is being found in
all parts of the, the body.

634
00:30:17,504 --> 00:30:21,465
Now we know a lot about
the chemicals like styrene.

635
00:30:21,580 --> 00:30:22,000
Mm-hmm.

636
00:30:22,080 --> 00:30:24,764
You know, there are a lot of
chemicals in plastic that.

637
00:30:25,379 --> 00:30:27,870
The producers haven't shared
what those chemicals are.

638
00:30:27,870 --> 00:30:31,500
So there's the chemicals are one
part of the problem and we have

639
00:30:31,500 --> 00:30:34,740
some more information about that
and we know it's problematic.

640
00:30:34,800 --> 00:30:40,080
And then the other part are the tiny
bits of plastic are ending up in people.

641
00:30:40,440 --> 00:30:42,960
And we don't know all the impacts of that.

642
00:30:42,960 --> 00:30:47,550
It's a newer area where science is
really digging in there, but it seems

643
00:30:47,550 --> 00:30:52,170
problematic to have little particles of
plastic throughout our bodies, whether

644
00:30:52,170 --> 00:30:56,550
that's in our brains or reproductive
systems or, uh, in our hearts.

645
00:30:57,300 --> 00:31:02,160
And if you think about going back to
chemicals, leaching out into coffee

646
00:31:02,160 --> 00:31:05,879
cup, if it's heated or, or warmed in
any kind of way, you think about those

647
00:31:05,879 --> 00:31:09,960
particles, those plastic particles
that are binding to molecules in our

648
00:31:09,960 --> 00:31:14,850
body, whether they be air molecules,
whether they be blood molecules,

649
00:31:15,000 --> 00:31:16,379
those are leaching into our body.

650
00:31:16,740 --> 00:31:21,750
And if you, if you extrapolate and you,
we look at marine mammals who have had.

651
00:31:22,530 --> 00:31:27,149
Arsenic and other types of, of harmful
metals in their, in their lipid, in their

652
00:31:27,149 --> 00:31:33,000
fats because of ingestion of plastics, a
variety of plastics, not just styrofoam.

653
00:31:33,450 --> 00:31:36,000
And we see the effect that
it has on their health.

654
00:31:36,360 --> 00:31:39,450
I think we can, because we
are, you know, fairly closely

655
00:31:39,450 --> 00:31:40,679
related, we're both mammals.

656
00:31:40,740 --> 00:31:43,830
We can almost extrapolate and say,
Hey, that this could happen to us.

657
00:31:43,830 --> 00:31:48,540
It could, it could degrade our system,
our, our health, like our body as

658
00:31:48,540 --> 00:31:50,040
we go through and as we get older.

659
00:31:50,040 --> 00:31:53,280
And if we're certain of us, some of us
are more vulnerable than others, depending

660
00:31:53,280 --> 00:31:55,320
on what other conditions that we have.

661
00:31:55,320 --> 00:31:58,379
And it's just, it'd be easy if it
just didn't get into our system, if

662
00:31:58,379 --> 00:32:02,129
it wasn't in our supply chain and,
and it, and it wasn't anything.

663
00:32:02,700 --> 00:32:03,270
So That's great.

664
00:32:03,270 --> 00:32:04,560
And you did, you did mention that.

665
00:32:04,560 --> 00:32:05,010
That's exactly right.

666
00:32:05,280 --> 00:32:05,550
Yeah.

667
00:32:05,610 --> 00:32:09,090
You did mention in Canada, we
do have a, a policy, I believe.

668
00:32:09,090 --> 00:32:10,889
I'm not sure where it's at right now.

669
00:32:10,889 --> 00:32:12,510
I have to, uh, I have to, uh.

670
00:32:12,945 --> 00:32:16,365
Touch base with Anthony right now, because
last time I spoke, um, there were a

671
00:32:16,365 --> 00:32:19,935
number of, of chemical companies as well
as fossil fuel companies who were suing

672
00:32:19,935 --> 00:32:26,175
the government, uh, for aspects of, uh,
the, the, the aspect of, um, why this

673
00:32:26,175 --> 00:32:30,165
legislation went in, which is basically
that that plastic is toxic to people,

674
00:32:30,165 --> 00:32:31,785
is what they put in the legislation.

675
00:32:32,055 --> 00:32:34,905
And so all, there's a number of
different actions that came out.

676
00:32:34,905 --> 00:32:39,195
One of those was to ban, I think it
was six specific single use plastics.

677
00:32:39,195 --> 00:32:41,955
Styrofoam was one of those, um, plastics.

678
00:32:42,015 --> 00:32:46,905
And, and then there's, there's stuff to
come, a register, a registry of plastics,

679
00:32:47,115 --> 00:32:49,335
a tracking of plastics and, and so forth.

680
00:32:49,335 --> 00:32:53,445
And I think they were, even though they,
they didn't mind certain of those, those

681
00:32:53,445 --> 00:32:56,925
single use plastics being done, as Anthony
mentioned from, from Ocean, ocean Canada.

682
00:32:56,925 --> 00:32:57,825
That's why I mentioning him.

683
00:32:58,035 --> 00:32:59,775
He said that, you know,
they just don't want.

684
00:33:00,090 --> 00:33:03,899
Have to worry about anything in the future
that could impede on their business.

685
00:33:03,899 --> 00:33:08,490
So it's a business decision, a lot of
this stuff of why it's being kept in.

686
00:33:08,850 --> 00:33:12,330
Now, the interesting thing that, that
gets me, and, and obviously I know like

687
00:33:12,330 --> 00:33:16,200
if you go to the government and you
say, let's put in legislation to ban

688
00:33:16,200 --> 00:33:19,230
these products so that they can't put
'em into the system, which, like in

689
00:33:19,230 --> 00:33:23,340
Canada, I've seen firsthand, like it's
been in, it's, I think it's been in

690
00:33:23,340 --> 00:33:27,659
since like 2022 or 2023, and it's phased
in for certain, for certain products.

691
00:33:27,720 --> 00:33:27,780
Yeah.

692
00:33:27,870 --> 00:33:32,730
But I've anecdotally, I've seen it
in our restaurants, especially where

693
00:33:32,730 --> 00:33:37,889
the takeout containers are now more
like this, this corrugated, um, uh,

694
00:33:37,950 --> 00:33:41,040
like, like, um, paper basically.

695
00:33:41,280 --> 00:33:44,730
It's like, it's, it's almost like, um,
like what boxes are made of essentially

696
00:33:44,730 --> 00:33:49,260
is, is what it is, but lighter, supposed
to be better recycled, like better

697
00:33:49,260 --> 00:33:51,450
compostable and stuff, and which is nice.

698
00:33:51,480 --> 00:33:55,530
Which is nice to see like that, that we
see that I, I actually will only go to.

699
00:33:56,145 --> 00:33:58,245
To take out places that
actually have that.

700
00:33:58,304 --> 00:34:00,645
So I won't go anywhere else
because that's my choice.

701
00:34:00,645 --> 00:34:01,995
Like I'm, that's how I'm gonna choose.

702
00:34:02,625 --> 00:34:05,115
So I understand that going for
government, it probably works

703
00:34:05,115 --> 00:34:06,645
it faster into the system.

704
00:34:07,125 --> 00:34:10,335
Um, but going to businesses and
saying, Hey, look, here are some of

705
00:34:10,335 --> 00:34:12,645
the alternatives, here are the prices.

706
00:34:12,645 --> 00:34:16,395
If like, if somebody went into like,
like a business, like a restaurant,

707
00:34:16,395 --> 00:34:19,304
say a takeout restaurant, say, here
are some of the alternatives, like

708
00:34:19,304 --> 00:34:20,715
what would it take for you to switch?

709
00:34:20,715 --> 00:34:24,225
Like, has, has O Ocean Nna done any
of those surveys with businesses and

710
00:34:24,225 --> 00:34:27,645
said, what would it take for you to
switch over to something that's better

711
00:34:28,065 --> 00:34:31,784
for the health of your customers, but
also same, same price point or similar

712
00:34:31,784 --> 00:34:35,295
price point and you know it's gonna be
better for you and, and your customers.

713
00:34:35,295 --> 00:34:39,824
Have you ever, has Oceania ever worked
at that level with businesses or had

714
00:34:39,824 --> 00:34:41,025
partners that did the same thing?

715
00:34:41,775 --> 00:34:45,344
Yeah, we, at Oceania,
we haven't done that.

716
00:34:45,344 --> 00:34:47,819
We, okay, so going business
to business, a couple.

717
00:34:48,825 --> 00:34:52,755
Some coalition partners have been
more engaged in that and some

718
00:34:52,755 --> 00:34:54,405
of the things that we do know.

719
00:34:54,405 --> 00:34:58,965
So ultimately the best solution
is moving to a reusable or

720
00:34:58,965 --> 00:35:00,495
refillable product, right?

721
00:35:00,495 --> 00:35:06,015
So there are some companies in the
US and if not yet soon, in Canada

722
00:35:06,015 --> 00:35:09,405
hopefully, that are doing reusable
takeout containers, correct.

723
00:35:09,615 --> 00:35:13,275
Where you can order your takeout,
whether it gets delivered to you or

724
00:35:13,275 --> 00:35:17,535
you're picking it up and it's gonna
come in at a container that then you

725
00:35:17,535 --> 00:35:21,375
either give back to that delivery
person or you can drop it off back

726
00:35:21,375 --> 00:35:22,725
at the restaurant where you got it.

727
00:35:22,725 --> 00:35:27,345
Or some places have other drop off
locations, it then gets washed and

728
00:35:27,345 --> 00:35:31,215
cleaned and returned for the, to
a restaurant for, for use again.

729
00:35:31,215 --> 00:35:33,975
So yeah, systems like that are the best.

730
00:35:33,975 --> 00:35:34,065
Yes.

731
00:35:34,305 --> 00:35:38,925
Um, and then it, where that's not
possible or doesn't exist yet.

732
00:35:38,985 --> 00:35:41,235
Something with that is a non-toxic.

733
00:35:41,970 --> 00:35:43,770
Uh, alternative is even better.

734
00:35:43,770 --> 00:35:45,750
Which it sounds like
you found some places.

735
00:35:45,870 --> 00:35:46,174
Yeah, yeah.

736
00:35:46,229 --> 00:35:47,279
Places like that.

737
00:35:47,640 --> 00:35:53,129
And there are, um, some coalition
partners in the US who have looked, or

738
00:35:53,129 --> 00:35:58,020
some other entities in the US who have
looked into it and found that switching

739
00:35:58,020 --> 00:36:03,214
to reuse does ultimately you'll make
your money back in the long term.

740
00:36:03,359 --> 00:36:07,140
So there's some upfront investments
for things like if you, your business

741
00:36:07,140 --> 00:36:10,439
doesn't have a dishwasher, yeah,
you'll need to invest in that, but

742
00:36:10,439 --> 00:36:15,600
over several years you can, um,
break even and even go beyond that.

743
00:36:15,600 --> 00:36:18,180
So there are some folks
who are working on that.

744
00:36:18,180 --> 00:36:22,319
It's not something that we're working
on, on the business to business level.

745
00:36:22,319 --> 00:36:25,350
We're really focused on
that, that government policy.

746
00:36:25,740 --> 00:36:31,859
But the, um, some policies that could
help in that would be having some grants

747
00:36:31,890 --> 00:36:36,959
that could then go to support this
change over to, to reuse is another.

748
00:36:36,959 --> 00:36:37,379
I love that.

749
00:36:37,384 --> 00:36:39,509
That another thing that could help out.

750
00:36:39,945 --> 00:36:43,185
Yeah, that's a perfect, perfect
answer because that's, I mean, it,

751
00:36:43,185 --> 00:36:45,915
it would take a lot of building
relationships with businesses and

752
00:36:45,915 --> 00:36:47,325
obviously that takes a long time.

753
00:36:47,685 --> 00:36:50,865
Uh, plus there's so many businesses out
there that use these types of containers,

754
00:36:50,955 --> 00:36:55,245
uh, that it would be difficult to go
to each and every one and say, Hey,

755
00:36:55,305 --> 00:36:56,925
like, this is what we need to do.

756
00:36:57,285 --> 00:37:02,595
Um, so now, you know, we, we,
this, this type of knowledge is not

757
00:37:02,595 --> 00:37:04,695
necessarily new to a lot of people.

758
00:37:04,695 --> 00:37:08,685
Like to some, uh, businesses, some
manufacturers, even governments have

759
00:37:08,685 --> 00:37:12,825
known that, you know, styrofoam has
been a problem for, for quite some time.

760
00:37:13,305 --> 00:37:18,885
Are there any efforts, like policy
efforts currently underway to, to

761
00:37:18,885 --> 00:37:24,615
change the law e either at local,
state, or, or federal levels In the US.

762
00:37:26,009 --> 00:37:26,430
Yes.

763
00:37:26,460 --> 00:37:30,270
At all of those, at all of those
levels, there are policies.

764
00:37:30,270 --> 00:37:34,740
So the, in the US states and cities
are doing a lot more than we've

765
00:37:34,740 --> 00:37:36,299
done on the national level, right?

766
00:37:36,330 --> 00:37:40,589
There's 12 states that have passed laws
that are statewide laws that reduce

767
00:37:40,919 --> 00:37:42,690
single use plastic foam products.

768
00:37:42,690 --> 00:37:46,980
Some of those are food wear specific,
some cover food wear and packing

769
00:37:46,980 --> 00:37:49,620
peanuts and the disposable foam coolers.

770
00:37:50,009 --> 00:37:53,279
Uh, we saw more that were introduced
on the state level this year

771
00:37:53,279 --> 00:37:54,870
during legislative sessions.

772
00:37:54,870 --> 00:37:57,839
Some of those legislative
sessions are still still going on.

773
00:37:58,259 --> 00:38:02,790
And we also got a bill that's
been introduced in Congress

774
00:38:02,794 --> 00:38:04,589
called the Farewell to Foam Act.

775
00:38:04,680 --> 00:38:07,890
And what it would do would be
to phase out plastic foam food

776
00:38:07,890 --> 00:38:09,390
ware, packing peanuts, and.

777
00:38:09,779 --> 00:38:13,410
Disposable cooler foam coolers
around the, around the country.

778
00:38:13,500 --> 00:38:18,720
And so that's been introduced in
Congress, um, and it's gaining support

779
00:38:18,839 --> 00:38:23,430
and we're, we are spending time working
on that as well as supporting state

780
00:38:23,430 --> 00:38:25,980
laws, um, and local policies too.

781
00:38:25,980 --> 00:38:32,040
So just last week, um, the city
of Boston talked about inter uh,

782
00:38:32,220 --> 00:38:36,509
passing a bill that would phase out
plastic foam there too in food wear.

783
00:38:36,720 --> 00:38:36,990
That's awesome.

784
00:38:37,020 --> 00:38:41,399
So we're, we're seeing all of this, a
national law would be best 'cause it would

785
00:38:41,399 --> 00:38:46,770
cover, cover the whole country, but all of
these pieces definitely, definitely help.

786
00:38:48,285 --> 00:38:48,575
Yeah.

787
00:38:48,645 --> 00:38:51,480
Well, and, and that's, that's always
great and, and like obviously state

788
00:38:51,480 --> 00:38:56,700
and local levels are probably better to
target these days than, than any other.

789
00:38:57,029 --> 00:39:01,710
Um, but even before this new
administration came in, were there

790
00:39:01,710 --> 00:39:07,890
any, uh, leaps in strides with the last
administration that was in, in the US on.

791
00:39:08,535 --> 00:39:12,404
Because they seem to have obviously
more of climate friendly policies and

792
00:39:12,404 --> 00:39:18,825
so forth, was was styrofoam part of
their agenda to clean up or to address?

793
00:39:20,279 --> 00:39:20,609
It.

794
00:39:20,700 --> 00:39:23,970
Uh, so this bill had been introduced
in the previous session of Congress.

795
00:39:24,000 --> 00:39:27,270
It didn't, it didn't pass, but
there's Congress is on one side and

796
00:39:27,270 --> 00:39:28,710
then there's the administration.

797
00:39:28,710 --> 00:39:33,839
The right Biden administration did
several policies that were, were good

798
00:39:33,839 --> 00:39:38,370
policies to phase out, not only plastic
foam, but other single use plastics.

799
00:39:38,370 --> 00:39:44,970
And one of the first ones that they did
was in 2022, where the, um, secretary

800
00:39:44,970 --> 00:39:49,859
of the interior put in place a policy
to phase out single use plastics in our

801
00:39:49,859 --> 00:39:54,720
national parks and other public lands that
are overseen by the Interior department.

802
00:39:54,990 --> 00:39:58,109
It was on a pretty long timeline,
so it was a 10 year timeline.

803
00:39:58,440 --> 00:40:02,520
Um, unfortunately that has now been
overturned by the current Secretary

804
00:40:02,520 --> 00:40:04,500
of the Chin area interior, but that.

805
00:40:04,910 --> 00:40:09,320
Covered the previous policy, covered
plastic foam, um, as well as other

806
00:40:09,320 --> 00:40:10,850
single use plastics and parks.

807
00:40:10,850 --> 00:40:12,830
Were starting to work, work on that.

808
00:40:12,830 --> 00:40:17,090
Now, that's a, a small but very
visible part of the federal government.

809
00:40:17,150 --> 00:40:20,810
People in the US as I know this
is true in Canada to Canada

810
00:40:20,810 --> 00:40:22,700
too, love our national parks.

811
00:40:22,820 --> 00:40:22,880
Yeah.

812
00:40:23,060 --> 00:40:25,700
Um, and we have visitors
from, from around the world.

813
00:40:25,700 --> 00:40:30,620
So phasing out single use plastic
in such iconic places makes a, makes

814
00:40:30,620 --> 00:40:31,730
a big impact and people mm-hmm.

815
00:40:32,300 --> 00:40:36,830
See that the other thing that the
Biden administration did was put in

816
00:40:36,830 --> 00:40:41,720
place a policy to phase out single use
plastics across the federal government.

817
00:40:42,110 --> 00:40:46,550
Um, and that was also had a, you know,
multi-year timeline, but a set of things

818
00:40:46,550 --> 00:40:49,220
that they wanted to do by, by 2027.

819
00:40:49,700 --> 00:40:49,730
Okay.

820
00:40:49,730 --> 00:40:52,220
They just put that policy
in place last summer.

821
00:40:52,430 --> 00:40:55,940
So there wasn't significant
progress made on it by the time

822
00:40:55,940 --> 00:40:57,500
that their administration ended.

823
00:40:57,500 --> 00:40:57,590
Mm-hmm.

824
00:40:57,950 --> 00:40:59,510
But it was, um.

825
00:41:00,045 --> 00:41:02,295
You think of like, oh, the federal
government doing something that might

826
00:41:02,295 --> 00:41:06,645
not be big, but the US government
is the largest purchaser of goods

827
00:41:06,645 --> 00:41:08,505
and services in the entire world.

828
00:41:08,775 --> 00:41:13,275
So if they make a change on their
purchasing and stop purchasing

829
00:41:13,515 --> 00:41:17,265
single use plastics and move to other
reusable and refillable products

830
00:41:17,265 --> 00:41:21,285
or other non-toxic products, that's
gonna make a big, a big impact.

831
00:41:21,645 --> 00:41:24,105
So we were really excited
about that policy.

832
00:41:24,675 --> 00:41:26,445
That has been put in place.

833
00:41:26,475 --> 00:41:29,925
Um, it is not moving forward
at this point in time.

834
00:41:29,930 --> 00:41:29,940
Right.

835
00:41:29,940 --> 00:41:34,095
But we're hopeful to see things
like that again down the road.

836
00:41:34,395 --> 00:41:39,525
Um, but in the meantime, building
support in Congress and also working on

837
00:41:39,525 --> 00:41:41,955
the, on state and local policies too.

838
00:41:42,015 --> 00:41:46,935
Because one of the cool things about
this all is that we know even from some

839
00:41:46,935 --> 00:41:52,575
examples in the US when a city or a
state puts in place a policy to phase out

840
00:41:52,575 --> 00:41:55,605
plastic foam, it has, it makes an impact.

841
00:41:55,635 --> 00:41:59,690
Um, and this is not all places
have data that shows mm-hmm.

842
00:41:59,770 --> 00:42:02,745
What the pollution was like
in a river or in a bay mm-hmm.

843
00:42:02,751 --> 00:42:03,225
Ahead of time.

844
00:42:03,225 --> 00:42:07,095
But for example, up in Maryland,
which is, I'm in Washington,

845
00:42:07,095 --> 00:42:08,715
DC it's just north in DC Yeah.

846
00:42:09,045 --> 00:42:11,205
They, um, saw in Maryland's.

847
00:42:11,549 --> 00:42:16,500
In our harbor in Baltimore, they sent
80% reduction in the plastic foam

848
00:42:16,500 --> 00:42:20,970
that was collected by a big trash
interceptor called Mr. Trash Wheel.

849
00:42:21,240 --> 00:42:26,220
After their statewide food ban went into
foam food wear, ban went into effect.

850
00:42:26,220 --> 00:42:28,169
I love Mr. Trash Wheel, by the way.

851
00:42:28,169 --> 00:42:28,944
You Oh, Mr. Trash.

852
00:42:29,084 --> 00:42:29,384
Oh, good.

853
00:42:29,415 --> 00:42:33,240
Yeah, I, I'm a fan of
Mr. Trash Wheel as well.

854
00:42:33,240 --> 00:42:35,669
Anything with googly eyes is fun.

855
00:42:36,629 --> 00:42:36,990
Exactly.

856
00:42:36,990 --> 00:42:42,089
We, we don't have that in, we don't have
Mr. Trash Wheel in dc but we, um, here

857
00:42:42,089 --> 00:42:47,310
in DC the city put in place a single
use plastic foam ban about 10 years

858
00:42:47,310 --> 00:42:52,290
ago, and in the first year, there are
trash traps along the, the Anacostia

859
00:42:52,290 --> 00:42:54,120
River, which runs through the city.

860
00:42:54,450 --> 00:42:58,770
There was a 50% reduction in plastic foam
at the end of the first year, and then

861
00:42:58,770 --> 00:43:02,370
after five years, that pollution fell 88%.

862
00:43:02,370 --> 00:43:07,649
So it's here when a, like a city or a
state puts in place these policies, you

863
00:43:07,649 --> 00:43:09,424
can see big reductions in the amount of.

864
00:43:10,005 --> 00:43:14,085
Foam that is collected by these,
you know, these trash collectors.

865
00:43:14,085 --> 00:43:14,175
Yep.

866
00:43:14,475 --> 00:43:18,405
Um, and it's not just because people
are being more careful with it.

867
00:43:18,405 --> 00:43:20,145
They're just not using as much of it.

868
00:43:20,175 --> 00:43:22,125
'cause there's been, it's been phased out.

869
00:43:22,125 --> 00:43:26,655
So if we can get that across the
country, it can make a, a big impact.

870
00:43:26,655 --> 00:43:30,285
And as your law gets implemented
in Canada, that also mm-hmm.

871
00:43:30,285 --> 00:43:31,845
Can make an a big impact.

872
00:43:32,709 --> 00:43:34,509
Um, good news from Canada.

873
00:43:34,509 --> 00:43:37,180
You know, not only is it about
the plastic foam, but it deals

874
00:43:37,180 --> 00:43:38,890
with other single use plastics.

875
00:43:38,895 --> 00:43:38,995
Yeah.

876
00:43:38,995 --> 00:43:40,355
For plastics too, for sure.

877
00:43:40,509 --> 00:43:42,580
Um, and Anthony can
definitely give you an update.

878
00:43:42,580 --> 00:43:45,595
I think it's still, it's still,
I think there's still court cases

879
00:43:45,600 --> 00:43:47,950
still moves forward and then
there's still court cases too.

880
00:43:47,980 --> 00:43:48,555
Yeah, I think now.

881
00:43:48,674 --> 00:43:51,910
I think, I think they, I think the
government won the appeal, I think.

882
00:43:51,995 --> 00:43:53,589
'cause now it's going,
still going back to court.

883
00:43:53,770 --> 00:43:55,870
Last time I checked I
think is, is what it was.

884
00:43:56,049 --> 00:43:58,089
So, but it is, the law is still in place.

885
00:43:58,089 --> 00:44:00,430
That's what, that's what the,
the, the beautiful part is.

886
00:44:00,430 --> 00:44:00,490
Yeah.

887
00:44:00,850 --> 00:44:03,640
Um, now let's talk about campaigns.

888
00:44:03,730 --> 00:44:07,180
Um, you know, during like at,
especially at the federal level these

889
00:44:07,180 --> 00:44:08,980
days, uh, it's obviously harder.

890
00:44:09,100 --> 00:44:11,410
You know, we're not, we won't
go into detail about that 'cause

891
00:44:11,410 --> 00:44:12,819
we don't need to go into detail.

892
00:44:13,120 --> 00:44:18,490
Um, from, from the point of view of
someone who campaigns and, and you

893
00:44:18,490 --> 00:44:23,290
know, from Oceana who has, well,
I would say a lot of, of, of, uh.

894
00:44:23,985 --> 00:44:27,705
Clout, you know, in terms of bringing
factual information, bringing concerns

895
00:44:27,705 --> 00:44:31,245
that people have, like their, your
constituents have on, you know,

896
00:44:31,245 --> 00:44:33,075
plastic pollution and styrofoam.

897
00:44:33,555 --> 00:44:38,025
When you go up against, uh, an
administration like this, and not just

898
00:44:38,025 --> 00:44:42,225
the actual president administration, but
when you have, you know, congress of,

899
00:44:42,225 --> 00:44:48,915
of one party, that may not make a lot,
uh, or may not be known these days as

900
00:44:48,975 --> 00:44:52,125
environmental policy makers, even though
back in the seventies they were the ones

901
00:44:52,125 --> 00:44:57,345
who put in like some of the most, you
know, wonderful, uh, policies, you know,

902
00:44:57,345 --> 00:45:00,645
like the Magnuson Stevens Act, the Marine
Mammal Protection Act, and so forth.

903
00:45:01,065 --> 00:45:07,995
Um, from your perspective, how do
you approach the change of, of, of

904
00:45:07,995 --> 00:45:14,190
a, a. Of an administration from the
different executive levels, you know,

905
00:45:14,190 --> 00:45:18,720
from, from the, the congress, from
senate to, to, to the, the president,

906
00:45:19,259 --> 00:45:22,860
uh, even, even the Supreme Court
where, where court cases sometimes

907
00:45:23,279 --> 00:45:25,860
are used to, to get things changed.

908
00:45:26,400 --> 00:45:28,620
How does Oceano approach this?

909
00:45:28,620 --> 00:45:31,920
And you've specifically approach
an, uh, a, an administration that

910
00:45:31,920 --> 00:45:36,480
may not be as, as responsive to
these types of, of campaigns?

911
00:45:37,799 --> 00:45:39,720
Yeah, that's a good, a good question.

912
00:45:39,720 --> 00:45:44,819
The, the starting point for me
is that in the good news, within.

913
00:45:45,420 --> 00:45:48,270
Things that are more, more
challenging is that the public

914
00:45:48,270 --> 00:45:49,800
really cares about this issue.

915
00:45:50,220 --> 00:45:50,310
Mm-hmm.

916
00:45:50,310 --> 00:45:53,520
And that's for plastic and that's
also for other, other ocean issues.

917
00:45:53,550 --> 00:45:57,240
I obviously know more on the, on
the plastic sides, but as we've done

918
00:45:57,600 --> 00:46:02,820
pooling year after year, there's strong
support across the political spectrum.

919
00:46:03,420 --> 00:46:03,510
Mm-hmm.

920
00:46:03,510 --> 00:46:07,350
And on plastics in particular, just
taking the foam piece of that, we did a.

921
00:46:07,390 --> 00:46:14,500
We released a poll, um, that earlier
this year that found 78% of registered US

922
00:46:14,500 --> 00:46:19,509
voters support policies on the national
level to reduce single use plastic foam.

923
00:46:19,600 --> 00:46:24,310
And so that's not only democratic
support, it's also Republican support,

924
00:46:24,310 --> 00:46:26,170
it's also independent support.

925
00:46:26,230 --> 00:46:29,115
And that's pretty consistent
with the That's awesome.

926
00:46:29,134 --> 00:46:32,620
The polling that we've done, and
that is getting 78% of Americans

927
00:46:32,620 --> 00:46:34,450
to agree on anything Yeah.

928
00:46:34,450 --> 00:46:35,529
Is quite remarkable.

929
00:46:35,529 --> 00:46:39,700
And so that, that's a clear sign
that they care about this issue.

930
00:46:39,700 --> 00:46:44,470
They're concerned about the plastic foam
that harms the health of ocean animals.

931
00:46:44,500 --> 00:46:47,410
And that polling, we asked a
question about that on just concern

932
00:46:47,410 --> 00:46:51,759
and found 88% of US voters were
concerned about the plastic foam

933
00:46:52,000 --> 00:46:54,220
and the harms to, to ocean wildlife.

934
00:46:54,490 --> 00:46:57,250
So there's strong public support for this.

935
00:46:57,549 --> 00:47:01,330
And then the challenge there is
making sure that that message

936
00:47:01,330 --> 00:47:03,670
gets to the, the decision makers.

937
00:47:04,000 --> 00:47:04,660
I think.

938
00:47:05,055 --> 00:47:06,525
Across party lines.

939
00:47:06,765 --> 00:47:09,615
There is concern about
the, about plastics.

940
00:47:09,710 --> 00:47:10,130
Mm-hmm.

941
00:47:10,245 --> 00:47:13,395
There's concern about the
impacts of plastics on the ocean.

942
00:47:13,634 --> 00:47:17,835
There's, as we learn more about
microplastics and the impacts on human

943
00:47:17,835 --> 00:47:19,815
health, there's concern about that too.

944
00:47:19,904 --> 00:47:25,815
And then the challenge there is getting
that concern from members of Congress,

945
00:47:25,815 --> 00:47:28,095
in this case, to change to action.

946
00:47:28,545 --> 00:47:29,145
And yeah.

947
00:47:29,295 --> 00:47:33,435
Unfortunately, one of the things
that happens is that sometimes people

948
00:47:33,435 --> 00:47:35,625
default to the solution is recycling.

949
00:47:35,625 --> 00:47:36,525
'cause that's what we've heard.

950
00:47:36,525 --> 00:47:36,615
Yes.

951
00:47:36,615 --> 00:47:37,575
For Yes.

952
00:47:37,605 --> 00:47:39,165
30, 50, 60 years.

953
00:47:39,165 --> 00:47:42,345
That if we just recycled more plastic,
that's gonna solve the problem.

954
00:47:42,735 --> 00:47:44,174
That's not gonna solve the problem.

955
00:47:44,444 --> 00:47:47,475
It's not gonna solve it
for plastics overall.

956
00:47:47,475 --> 00:47:49,515
It's not gonna solve it for plastic foam.

957
00:47:49,515 --> 00:47:55,605
So of all the plastic waste
created, only 9% has been recycled.

958
00:47:55,605 --> 00:47:55,694
Mm-hmm.

959
00:47:55,904 --> 00:47:56,565
The rest mm-hmm.

960
00:47:56,565 --> 00:48:00,345
Ends up in landfills, burned in
incinerator, or ends up in the

961
00:48:00,345 --> 00:48:01,845
environment, including the ocean.

962
00:48:02,355 --> 00:48:03,285
Plastic foam.

963
00:48:03,345 --> 00:48:07,815
Even, even worse, the current
recycling rates for that in the US

964
00:48:07,815 --> 00:48:10,035
are less than 1% of plastic foam.

965
00:48:10,035 --> 00:48:10,095
Yeah.

966
00:48:10,125 --> 00:48:11,145
Is recycled.

967
00:48:11,145 --> 00:48:11,205
Yeah.

968
00:48:11,535 --> 00:48:16,275
So there's, the good part of that,
as I was saying, is that people are

969
00:48:16,275 --> 00:48:19,875
concerned about this issue that's
the public at large, um, as well

970
00:48:19,875 --> 00:48:22,425
as our decision makers in Congress.

971
00:48:22,635 --> 00:48:27,165
Um, but we need to push on the,
on the solutions and we know

972
00:48:27,165 --> 00:48:29,115
it's gonna take, take time.

973
00:48:29,115 --> 00:48:29,205
Mm-hmm.

974
00:48:29,745 --> 00:48:34,545
Um, for an administration that's not
pushing strong environmental policies,

975
00:48:34,545 --> 00:48:38,205
it means we spend more time defending
the policies that are on the books.

976
00:48:38,205 --> 00:48:39,375
So some of the Gotcha.

977
00:48:39,975 --> 00:48:44,025
The laws that you were just mentioning,
where going back to protect the Marine

978
00:48:44,025 --> 00:48:45,285
Mammal Protection Act, were Yeah.

979
00:48:45,795 --> 00:48:50,150
Protect, working to protect Noah,
which oversees a lot of the mm-hmm.

980
00:48:50,230 --> 00:48:52,125
The oceans and the protections.

981
00:48:52,155 --> 00:48:53,550
Um, and that is.

982
00:48:54,465 --> 00:48:57,615
It would be much better if we were
pushing, being able, it would be much

983
00:48:57,615 --> 00:49:01,815
better if we were able to push forward
strong policies that did even more.

984
00:49:02,115 --> 00:49:04,965
But right now we're at the point
where it's on the national level.

985
00:49:04,965 --> 00:49:08,745
It's about a lot about defending
the laws that are on the book and

986
00:49:08,745 --> 00:49:12,615
finding champions and supporters
in Congress from both political

987
00:49:12,615 --> 00:49:15,255
parties who are gonna gonna do that.

988
00:49:15,440 --> 00:49:18,585
And where there are even more
opportunities in the short term

989
00:49:18,585 --> 00:49:20,265
is on the, on the state level.

990
00:49:20,805 --> 00:49:21,315
Wonderful.

991
00:49:22,035 --> 00:49:24,825
And let's be honest too, like some
of these policies don't just get

992
00:49:24,825 --> 00:49:27,735
written up in one day and then put it
through Congress, and then they're,

993
00:49:28,035 --> 00:49:30,855
they're voted on and they go through
and they're done like the next day.

994
00:49:30,855 --> 00:49:33,165
This, sometimes these take
years to put together.

995
00:49:33,495 --> 00:49:36,315
Uh, you know, unfortunately, sometimes
it takes years for people to gain

996
00:49:36,315 --> 00:49:39,495
the support like within, within
Congress or on a federal level, even

997
00:49:39,495 --> 00:49:40,905
state level and even local level.

998
00:49:41,235 --> 00:49:46,725
Uh, and so there's, so like what I, I
guess my question is, is there's no need

999
00:49:46,725 --> 00:49:50,805
to stop because of specific administration
may not want to put it through.

1000
00:49:51,165 --> 00:49:52,695
You continue to.

1001
00:49:53,040 --> 00:49:56,940
Bring it forward, but also knowing
that at some point there's gonna be

1002
00:49:56,940 --> 00:50:00,420
somebody who's interested in this
and will, will be the champion or

1003
00:50:00,420 --> 00:50:02,130
champions to, to push it through.

1004
00:50:02,130 --> 00:50:02,550
Correct.

1005
00:50:03,120 --> 00:50:03,690
Definitely.

1006
00:50:03,690 --> 00:50:09,600
So yeah, it is, um, we'll make as much
progress as we can right now and defend

1007
00:50:09,900 --> 00:50:13,680
all the laws that we can right now, and
we need, you know, the public needs to

1008
00:50:13,680 --> 00:50:15,390
get engaged with that and support that.

1009
00:50:15,720 --> 00:50:18,540
But it is also, this will be long term.

1010
00:50:18,540 --> 00:50:23,460
So if we can't pass a bill to phase
out plastic foam across the country

1011
00:50:23,460 --> 00:50:26,820
this year, they, we'll keep building
towards next year and the year after.

1012
00:50:26,820 --> 00:50:30,330
They'll ultimately, we've built up
enough support to do it and that's why

1013
00:50:30,330 --> 00:50:35,280
that public concern, getting people to
talk to their local elected officials,

1014
00:50:35,280 --> 00:50:38,880
whether that's their mayor or their city
counselor or their member of Congress,

1015
00:50:38,880 --> 00:50:43,500
it's so important for that concern
then to change that into, into action.

1016
00:50:44,025 --> 00:50:44,295
Yeah.

1017
00:50:44,325 --> 00:50:48,555
And, and let's be honest, if you put it
through local and state levels and you see

1018
00:50:48,615 --> 00:50:53,055
progress in there, that might, you know,
trigger somebody at the federal level

1019
00:50:53,055 --> 00:50:54,255
to be like, oh, this actually worked.

1020
00:50:54,285 --> 00:50:54,945
How did it work?

1021
00:50:54,975 --> 00:50:58,785
Okay, let's put, let's use this aspect
in this state and let's use this aspect

1022
00:50:58,785 --> 00:51:00,015
in this state and let's put it together.

1023
00:51:00,195 --> 00:51:02,145
So there's, there's a lot of
benefit in doing it at the

1024
00:51:02,145 --> 00:51:03,465
different, at the different levels.

1025
00:51:03,795 --> 00:51:06,375
Let me ask you this, this is something
that I've been curious about and I haven't

1026
00:51:06,375 --> 00:51:10,875
seen any data on it, but, and it's more
anecdotal from responses that I have.

1027
00:51:10,875 --> 00:51:14,685
Anytime I post up anything plastic
related or plastic pollution related,

1028
00:51:14,685 --> 00:51:18,195
we, we've covered it a a number of
times over the 10 years of this podcast.

1029
00:51:18,525 --> 00:51:21,855
I get, you know, people over those,
those 10 years have been like, oh,

1030
00:51:21,855 --> 00:51:25,395
well, you know, the plastic straw thing,
it's, it's, it's ruined everything.

1031
00:51:25,395 --> 00:51:27,225
And why are we protecting plastic straws?

1032
00:51:27,225 --> 00:51:29,625
I've even heard some people like,
who cares about sea turtles?

1033
00:51:29,625 --> 00:51:33,165
Which by the way, they're no longer
on my friend list and follow the list.

1034
00:51:33,165 --> 00:51:35,925
I mean, sea turtles are
need to be protected.

1035
00:51:35,925 --> 00:51:38,325
They are angels in
their own little, right.

1036
00:51:38,325 --> 00:51:41,175
But I, I, I digress.

1037
00:51:41,415 --> 00:51:41,865
Um.

1038
00:51:42,735 --> 00:51:48,345
Has the, has the focus on plastic straws
since that, you know, that that video

1039
00:51:48,345 --> 00:51:51,975
that went viral where the plastic straw
was pulled outta that sea turtle has

1040
00:51:51,975 --> 00:51:58,575
it hindered the ability to put through
plastic, uh, uh, or anti plastic or

1041
00:51:58,575 --> 00:52:04,005
plastic, um, policies to handle not only,
you know, plastic straws, but others.

1042
00:52:04,005 --> 00:52:05,925
Have you found that to, to happen?

1043
00:52:05,925 --> 00:52:09,645
Has that been studied or looked at
in any kind of way that you know of?

1044
00:52:10,665 --> 00:52:13,755
I don't know if there's
been any, any studies.

1045
00:52:13,755 --> 00:52:16,785
I think like that particular
sea turtle that had that Yeah.

1046
00:52:16,785 --> 00:52:20,745
Straw and it's knows that, I'm sure
lots of your listeners have Oh, yeah.

1047
00:52:20,955 --> 00:52:21,585
Seen that.

1048
00:52:22,035 --> 00:52:22,185
Yeah.

1049
00:52:22,185 --> 00:52:22,815
Or people it now.

1050
00:52:22,815 --> 00:52:23,055
Right.

1051
00:52:23,055 --> 00:52:25,365
It had a, it had a big impact.

1052
00:52:25,365 --> 00:52:25,850
Right, right.

1053
00:52:25,875 --> 00:52:26,655
Nobody, equity.

1054
00:52:27,150 --> 00:52:33,240
Most people, um, unlike your ex-friend,
do care about sea turtles and do,

1055
00:52:33,270 --> 00:52:34,770
like, are concerned about that.

1056
00:52:34,770 --> 00:52:36,870
So I think that had a really big impact.

1057
00:52:37,380 --> 00:52:42,840
If we dealt with all the problems of
plastic straws and people we moved to

1058
00:52:42,840 --> 00:52:45,690
reusable straws, or people who don't
need a straw, didn't use a straw.

1059
00:52:45,690 --> 00:52:50,490
Like if we solve that problem, there's
still a lot more plastic in the, in the

1060
00:52:50,490 --> 00:52:53,040
world that we need to need to address.

1061
00:52:53,040 --> 00:52:53,130
Right.

1062
00:52:53,130 --> 00:52:57,180
So it's not the big focus
of our campaigns, right?

1063
00:52:57,210 --> 00:53:01,650
We're looking more at the single use
plastic packaging and the plastic bags.

1064
00:53:01,650 --> 00:53:05,760
And the plastic foam, um, as a,
you know, as this report mm-hmm.

1065
00:53:06,060 --> 00:53:06,690
Shares.

1066
00:53:06,690 --> 00:53:12,540
Um, so I think it has been really like
that sea turtle really good in educating

1067
00:53:12,540 --> 00:53:14,730
people about that a problem exists.

1068
00:53:15,150 --> 00:53:19,080
Um, it is, it's not just about
the straws, it's about so much.

1069
00:53:19,080 --> 00:53:19,145
Yeah, of course.

1070
00:53:19,230 --> 00:53:20,610
So much more so.

1071
00:53:21,360 --> 00:53:21,930
It is.

1072
00:53:21,930 --> 00:53:26,550
And I think that's important for people
to keep in mind and to, and to know.

1073
00:53:26,610 --> 00:53:30,360
And we've just gotta keep educating
people if they think it's been

1074
00:53:30,360 --> 00:53:33,390
solved 'cause we dealt with the
straws or they don't wanna Yeah.

1075
00:53:33,510 --> 00:53:34,710
Talk about straws anymore.

1076
00:53:34,710 --> 00:53:35,400
There's Right.

1077
00:53:35,400 --> 00:53:39,240
A whole lot of other single
use plastic that is having an

1078
00:53:39,240 --> 00:53:41,310
impact on the public's health.

1079
00:53:41,640 --> 00:53:44,370
It's on our oceans, on
the marine wildlife.

1080
00:53:44,460 --> 00:53:47,490
All of those are things
that we, we need to address.

1081
00:53:48,030 --> 00:53:48,780
Yeah, absolutely.

1082
00:53:48,780 --> 00:53:50,250
And, and I completely agree with you.

1083
00:53:50,250 --> 00:53:52,830
I just, I find it interesting that
if people keep bringing it up and I'm

1084
00:53:52,830 --> 00:53:56,580
like, we're still focused on this, I
could, I, I call it the gateway plastic,

1085
00:53:56,640 --> 00:53:57,840
you know, like the gateway drug.

1086
00:53:57,840 --> 00:54:01,380
Like it's a gateway plastic to really
understanding us how our use of single

1087
00:54:01,380 --> 00:54:03,060
use plastics can affect the environment.

1088
00:54:03,360 --> 00:54:07,770
Um, I do love how, you know,
the, the plastic foam was

1089
00:54:07,770 --> 00:54:09,300
the focus of this rapport.

1090
00:54:09,300 --> 00:54:12,720
I think breaking it down and really
putting into pieces that people can

1091
00:54:12,720 --> 00:54:16,470
really understand and saying, Hey,
look, if we take action on this and

1092
00:54:16,470 --> 00:54:18,360
we reduce this, this could have.

1093
00:54:18,915 --> 00:54:21,795
A really great benefit
for our ocean health.

1094
00:54:22,335 --> 00:54:28,005
With that said, if this does get
passed, what can, can people expect

1095
00:54:28,005 --> 00:54:32,235
to see with, with ocean health in
terms of like even our own health

1096
00:54:32,235 --> 00:54:34,125
if this gets out of production?

1097
00:54:35,955 --> 00:54:36,255
Yes.

1098
00:54:36,255 --> 00:54:38,445
Well, so as we were just talking
about with the straws, there'll still

1099
00:54:38,445 --> 00:54:39,765
be, there'll still be more to do.

1100
00:54:39,885 --> 00:54:43,635
It isn't the whole problem, but it
is an important piece of the problem

1101
00:54:43,635 --> 00:54:47,925
and it is one of the most problematic
ones that we should just move on for.

1102
00:54:48,195 --> 00:54:51,315
I think some of the things, we'll see
it, it's currently one of the most

1103
00:54:51,315 --> 00:54:55,725
common types of plastic found in beach
cleanups in the US and I believe that's

1104
00:54:55,725 --> 00:54:57,405
also true in other parts of the world.

1105
00:54:57,405 --> 00:54:59,505
So we should see a big decrease in that.

1106
00:54:59,835 --> 00:55:04,005
So that means there's less foam that's
ending up on our beaches and in our

1107
00:55:04,005 --> 00:55:06,675
oceans, there'll be hopefully less.

1108
00:55:07,230 --> 00:55:09,779
Plastic foam coffee cups that
people are drinking out of.

1109
00:55:09,779 --> 00:55:14,160
So it, it won't solve the whole problem,
but it will make it so that we are

1110
00:55:14,490 --> 00:55:19,259
using less of this problematic chemical
called styrene, that the little bits

1111
00:55:19,259 --> 00:55:25,080
and pieces of plastic foam are not
breaking up and ending up in our, on our

1112
00:55:25,140 --> 00:55:27,509
coast, on the beaches, in our waterways.

1113
00:55:27,509 --> 00:55:32,910
And that animals then are ingesting it and
either choking on it or just taking those

1114
00:55:32,910 --> 00:55:34,799
chemicals through their, their bodies.

1115
00:55:34,799 --> 00:55:40,919
So it will make a big impact and it should
be a good first important step for the

1116
00:55:40,919 --> 00:55:43,259
US to do in terms of national policy.

1117
00:55:43,500 --> 00:55:45,240
There definitely will be more to do.

1118
00:55:45,540 --> 00:55:49,589
Um, yeah, and we can, for us, we can look
to the states and to other countries to

1119
00:55:49,589 --> 00:55:54,480
see what else to do, but it is a good
important first step that will have an

1120
00:55:54,480 --> 00:55:59,399
impact on the amount of plastic going
into, into our oceans and that the

1121
00:55:59,399 --> 00:56:00,990
plastic that we're being exposed to.

1122
00:56:01,740 --> 00:56:02,160
Awesome.

1123
00:56:02,339 --> 00:56:02,640
Good.

1124
00:56:02,640 --> 00:56:03,209
Good to know.

1125
00:56:03,299 --> 00:56:05,490
Now if, you know, my audience is.

1126
00:56:06,030 --> 00:56:06,780
They're, they're ready.

1127
00:56:06,780 --> 00:56:07,410
They're hyped.

1128
00:56:07,440 --> 00:56:08,670
They're, they want to help.

1129
00:56:08,850 --> 00:56:10,530
They always ask Andrew, how can I help?

1130
00:56:10,530 --> 00:56:14,730
How can I help with this like, piece of
legislation or policy to get through?

1131
00:56:14,730 --> 00:56:16,440
Or how can I help with this campaign?

1132
00:56:16,440 --> 00:56:18,510
So, you know, this is your chance.

1133
00:56:18,510 --> 00:56:22,980
Talk to directly to the audience
and be like, how can they help with

1134
00:56:22,980 --> 00:56:24,870
this specific campaign for Oceania?

1135
00:56:26,175 --> 00:56:26,565
Great.

1136
00:56:26,565 --> 00:56:27,975
That is a, I love that question.

1137
00:56:28,095 --> 00:56:30,825
Um, because there's lots of
things that folks can do to help.

1138
00:56:31,245 --> 00:56:36,255
The, um, biggest thing for folks in the
US who are concerned about this issue, can

1139
00:56:36,255 --> 00:56:41,415
you, is talk to your members of Congress,
ask, tell them about the problem of

1140
00:56:41,415 --> 00:56:45,765
plastic foam, tell 'em about the impacts
on the oceans and the marine life and

1141
00:56:45,945 --> 00:56:50,625
human health, and ask them to support
the bill, which is called the farewell,

1142
00:56:50,625 --> 00:56:52,965
the Foam Act, really straightforward.

1143
00:56:52,965 --> 00:56:53,055
Mm-hmm.

1144
00:56:53,295 --> 00:56:55,935
Phases out the single use plastic foam.

1145
00:56:56,235 --> 00:57:00,825
And we need, we need more supporters
and we need more Democrats and more

1146
00:57:00,825 --> 00:57:02,745
Republicans to, to support the bill.

1147
00:57:02,745 --> 00:57:07,365
So that's a great thing that people
in the, the US could do if you're

1148
00:57:07,365 --> 00:57:10,875
a member of Congress is already on
board with that, talk to your, um,

1149
00:57:10,875 --> 00:57:14,835
state and local officials too about
how they can, they can get involved.

1150
00:57:15,195 --> 00:57:19,545
Um, and in Canada, it seems like
more work to do there too, but

1151
00:57:19,545 --> 00:57:20,836
you guys are on the, on the way.

1152
00:57:22,185 --> 00:57:22,754
Absolutely.

1153
00:57:22,754 --> 00:57:25,575
We have a, we have a little bit
of a, a pipeline problem these

1154
00:57:25,575 --> 00:57:28,154
days, but we, that's a different
issue and, and something that we

1155
00:57:28,154 --> 00:57:30,134
have to address in the long term.

1156
00:57:30,134 --> 00:57:33,645
But, uh, you know, our plastics, I'm
very pleased that we, that we were

1157
00:57:33,645 --> 00:57:36,495
able to come up with, uh, like our,
our government was able to come up with

1158
00:57:36,495 --> 00:57:39,345
that, um, in, uh, in a, in good time.

1159
00:57:39,375 --> 00:57:40,395
Like it was, it was really nice.

1160
00:57:40,395 --> 00:57:44,295
It was definitely needed and, and
hopefully we, that can be expanded

1161
00:57:44,295 --> 00:57:47,565
upon and, and, and made even more
prolific, uh, throughout the thing.

1162
00:57:47,565 --> 00:57:48,464
We see more changes.

1163
00:57:48,464 --> 00:57:49,875
So, I mean, it's, it's, once it's done.

1164
00:57:50,549 --> 00:57:52,140
And it's in, in effect.

1165
00:57:52,140 --> 00:57:55,500
It's, it's really nice to see, you know,
the alternatives start to come out and

1166
00:57:55,500 --> 00:57:57,450
businesses be happy about it and stuff.

1167
00:57:57,450 --> 00:58:00,210
And, and I, I really, uh, I really
look forward to seeing that in the

1168
00:58:00,210 --> 00:58:01,830
US as well when we, when we visit.

1169
00:58:01,830 --> 00:58:03,180
So, uh, Chrisy, thank you.

1170
00:58:03,180 --> 00:58:03,596
Me, me too.

1171
00:58:04,259 --> 00:58:05,670
Yeah, exactly right.

1172
00:58:05,880 --> 00:58:07,560
But I just wanna say I forced
to share that with you.

1173
00:58:07,895 --> 00:58:08,045
Yep.

1174
00:58:08,135 --> 00:58:08,705
Yes.

1175
00:58:08,705 --> 00:58:09,035
Yes.

1176
00:58:09,035 --> 00:58:12,275
We'll have you back on to, to kind
of give us an update on this, on

1177
00:58:12,275 --> 00:58:15,635
this policy and see where, where it
went and what, how we can help in,

1178
00:58:15,635 --> 00:58:17,135
in other ways and, and so forth.

1179
00:58:17,465 --> 00:58:20,345
Um, my audience is your audience,
so just let us know, you know,

1180
00:58:20,345 --> 00:58:21,365
what, what, what we can do.

1181
00:58:21,395 --> 00:58:22,265
'cause that's what we want to do.

1182
00:58:22,265 --> 00:58:22,835
We want help.

1183
00:58:22,835 --> 00:58:26,045
So, Christy, I wanna thank you so much,
uh, for, for coming on the podcast

1184
00:58:26,045 --> 00:58:29,255
and sharing this with us is something
that's extremely important to me.

1185
00:58:29,525 --> 00:58:32,285
I'm sure it's extremely important to the
people listening to this, this episode.

1186
00:58:32,285 --> 00:58:35,315
And, and we really appreciate the
help and the work that you and Oceania

1187
00:58:35,315 --> 00:58:38,765
have done over the years and continue
to do, uh, now and in the future.

1188
00:58:38,765 --> 00:58:39,455
So thank you so much.

1189
00:58:40,150 --> 00:58:40,600
Thank you.

1190
00:58:40,600 --> 00:58:41,620
It's been such a pleasure.

1191
00:58:41,680 --> 00:58:44,500
Thank you, Christy, for joining
us on today's episode of the How

1192
00:58:44,500 --> 00:58:45,940
to Protect the Ocean Podcast.

1193
00:58:46,090 --> 00:58:49,420
I am going to put the link for
everybody who listened to this, to

1194
00:58:49,420 --> 00:58:53,050
the report in the show notes, so you
can get access to that very quickly.

1195
00:58:53,230 --> 00:58:54,190
Highly recommend that you did.

1196
00:58:54,190 --> 00:58:58,900
It's very easy read, lots of pictures,
lots of cool writings, and just kind of

1197
00:58:58,900 --> 00:59:01,300
a call to action, quick facts, so forth.

1198
00:59:01,330 --> 00:59:02,410
It's really great.

1199
00:59:02,410 --> 00:59:06,490
I think everybody should be reading
something like this, even looking at these

1200
00:59:06,520 --> 00:59:10,900
little styrofoam pellets and how much they
look like eggs and how much they can be

1201
00:59:10,930 --> 00:59:15,370
eaten or look like food, and they can be
eaten by sea birds, sea turtles, marine

1202
00:59:15,370 --> 00:59:21,340
mammals such as seals and sea lions and
dolphins, and orcas of all different fish.

1203
00:59:21,550 --> 00:59:23,800
Just all different sharks,
all different types of animals

1204
00:59:23,800 --> 00:59:25,630
in the sea, but also on land.

1205
00:59:25,690 --> 00:59:27,460
So something that's very hazardous.

1206
00:59:27,460 --> 00:59:28,540
It's hazardous to us.

1207
00:59:28,540 --> 00:59:31,690
We know that for sure leeches
out chemicals and there's no need

1208
00:59:31,690 --> 00:59:33,880
for them anymore with all the
different types of alternatives.

1209
00:59:33,880 --> 00:59:35,380
So check out the call to action.

1210
00:59:35,770 --> 00:59:36,670
Do what you can.

1211
00:59:36,820 --> 00:59:40,120
Any kind of questions that
you have, you can contact me.

1212
00:59:40,210 --> 00:59:43,420
You can go to speak up for
blue.com/contact, and this goes

1213
00:59:43,420 --> 00:59:44,710
to Bright to my personal email.

1214
00:59:44,950 --> 00:59:49,990
You can also go to join the undertow
that's at Speak up for blue.com/join

1215
00:59:49,990 --> 00:59:54,220
the undertow to be guided to look at
how we can help more of these campaigns

1216
00:59:54,460 --> 00:59:58,060
in the future and help Oceania out and
help Christie out and her colleagues

1217
00:59:58,060 --> 00:59:59,320
and their partners, of course.

1218
00:59:59,320 --> 01:00:01,030
But this is not the last
you'll hear from Oceana.

1219
01:00:01,030 --> 01:00:04,780
We have a couple of other interviews
lined up with different aspects of their

1220
01:00:04,780 --> 01:00:09,220
responsibilities and of their programs,
and I can't wait to bring those to you

1221
01:00:09,430 --> 01:00:11,260
as well as updates to this campaign.

1222
01:00:11,290 --> 01:00:14,440
So I wanna thank you so much for
joining me on today's episode of the

1223
01:00:14,440 --> 01:00:15,730
How to Protect the Ocean Podcast.

1224
01:00:15,730 --> 01:00:18,250
I'm your host, Andrew Lone from
the True Nord strong and free.

1225
01:00:18,580 --> 01:00:21,430
Have a great day, we talk to you
next time and happy conservation.