Film: Straws
With colorful straw history animation and segments narrated by Oscar winner Tim Robbins, STRAWS (30 minutes)leaves audiences with a clear understanding of the problems caused by plastic pollution and empowers individuals to be part of the solution.
It's estimated that each day in the U.S., over 500,000,000 straws are used once and tossed. Ocean Conservancy ranks plastic straws as the number five most popular found item on beaches and the vast majority of them aren't recycled, so they wind up in landfills, litter streets and add to the estimated 8.5 million metric tons of plastic debris in oceans annually.
Director Linda Booker interviews Jackie Nunez, founder of The Last Plastic Straw, restaurant owners with "Straws by Request Only" policies, renown marine biologist and author Dr. Wallace J. Nichols, researcher Dr. Jenna Jambeck and Drifters Project artist Pam Longobardi. In Costa Rica we meet Turtle researchers Nathan Robinson and Christine Figgener, PhD student, Texas A&M University, who rescued and filmed the removal of a plastic straw in a sea turtle's nose that went viral in 2015. That story inspired middle school age student Max Machum to start #NoStrawChallenge #SinPajillaPorFav or and join a movement around the world that's making a sea of change, one plastic straw at a time.
Filmmaker Linda Booker will be on hand to discuss the film.
Contact Info: sustainability@appstate.edu
Sponsor: Office of Sustainability
