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Transcript Provided by YouTube:
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[Music]
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paper or plastic a simple choice that
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has important environmental consequences
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can be hard to know for sure which one
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has a smaller impact because plastic
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bags are such a presence in everyday
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life can be easy to overlook the damage
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they caused today we’re going to look at
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the environmental impact of plastic bags
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as well as the alternatives in order to
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understand what kind of choices we have
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as consumers in an environmentally
00:37
unethical system the first plastic
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bakelite was originally invented in 1907
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but it wasn’t until the 1960s that
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plastics specifically polyethylene
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became cheap and efficient to make
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plastics soon after the 1960s plastic
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bags exploded in popularity because it
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was marketed and made as a single-use
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product they’re cheap manufacturing
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costs allowed them to become the default
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choice at supermarket checkout counters
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but the problem is the cheap price
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doesn’t account for the environmental
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costs of using plastic bags according to
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a study conducted by the English
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Environment Agency resource extraction
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and raw material production account for
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60% of the environmental footprint of
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plastic bags in other words 60% of the
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bags environmental impact happens before
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we even put our groceries in them and
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although post use impact accounts for
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less than half of a bags total
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environmental impact it is also the part
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of the bags life that consumers can most
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easily control it’s estimated that the
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US alone throws away 100 billion plastic
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bags annually only a fraction of which
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gets recycled in general most of these
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bags make their way into waterways and
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float along ocean currents until they
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make it to the five oceanic gyres that
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are created by circular currents and
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these plastic bags could take well over
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500 year
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to degrade the bags don’t maintain their
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original shape however instead they
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slowly break down via Sun water and
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microbial erosion to smaller bits called
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micro plastics which can be fatal to
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marine life considering the adverse
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effects of plastic bags it would make
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sense then to buy a cloth reusable bag
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or opt for the paper bag right well the
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answer isn’t so simple in the same study
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by the English Environment Agency they
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found that the real environmental cost
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of a bag whether plastic paper or cloth
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is heavily rooted in the production side
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of the product plastic actually has the
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smallest environmental impact out of
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those three materials so in order for
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the quote unquote longer life bags to
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have a smaller environmental impact they
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need to be used multiple times for paper
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the study claims that it needs to be
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used three times in order to equate a
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single use of a plastic bag and for
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cloth that number skyrockets to 131 uses
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this definitely shouldn’t be taken to
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mean that single-use plastic bags are
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the best option when possible we should
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avoid using them but for those of us who
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already have a drawer full of plastic
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bags in our home we’re using is key for
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mitigating the negative effects of that
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plastic there is no need to go out and
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buy a brand new reusable tote if you
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already have usable plastic bags at home
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buying new reusable bags every time you
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go out to the store just perpetuates the
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problem reducing the use of plastic bags
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has rightfully been a focus of
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environmental initiatives but if we zoom
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out they are a small part in a much
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larger environmental picture for example
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it takes 40 times more energy to make a
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hamburger than it does to make a plastic
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bag and even more frustrating only 100
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companies are responsible for 71 percent
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of all carbon emissions since 1988 our
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choices as consumers are important
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but we also face imperfect options based
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on production side decisions so reducing
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your plastic bags shouldn’t be viewed as
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your sole contribution to climate change
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mitigation it’s a small alteration that
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needs to go hand in hand with other
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actions like reexamining how much food
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you’re buying from that very same
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grocery store so you don’t end up
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throwing away five pounds of vegetables
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at the end of the week in short the bag
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you choose matters but not as much as
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how it came to be there what you put in
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it and how you use it thank you so much
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for watching if you’re interested in
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supporting this channel please consider
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heading over to my patreon page where
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you can pledge a small amount of money
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for every video I make or click the
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subscribe button below otherwise I will
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see you next time
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This post was previously published on YouTube.