The world is suffocating in plastics – film “Plastic Fantastic” opens nature film festival

Thanks to speaker Michael Braungart, the opening of the third Lüneburg Heath Nature Film Festival provided creative ideas to combat the flood of plastic in the sea. “There are between 1400 and 40000 pieces of micro- and nanoplastics in an oyster. If we eat enough oysters, the oceans will be cleaner,” he recommended at the gala in Bendestorf – and earned laughter. Ultimately, however, he and environmental journalist Florian Schwinn seriously discussed the problem of plastic, and the opening film “Plastic Fantastic” also provided a differentiated view of the topic.

THANKS TO THE VOLONTEERS

It was a pleasure to host the opening of the film festival. The whole festival is a great project. Cinema in rural areas – with so many valuable documentaries and feature films (but on current issues), with speakers and discussions – is such an important cultural offering! The fact that five cinemas have joined forces this time to show the festival films is exemplary. And right at the beginning, a sponsor said that he would continue to support the Nature Film Festival in the future. The foundations have therefore already been laid for a fourth edition, which will hopefully take place in 2027. It should not be forgotten that everything at this film festival was managed entirely on a voluntary basis for the first time: coordinating five cinemas, organizing 21 films, finding 25 talk guests and putting together a school programme with 1,000 pupils. Hats off!

MICROPLASTICS FROM THE AIR OFTEN REMAIN IN THE BODY

The film “Plastic Fantastic” was preceded by an interesting panel discussion, which was broadcast from Bendestorf to the other cinemas. Michael Braungart and Florian Schwinn talked about plastic in the soil, plastic in the sea and plastic in the air – and in people. Because: We breathe in microplastics – it comes from tire abrasion and road markings, worn shoe soles or as toner dust from laser printers. “That worries me even more than anything else, because what we breathe in stays in our bodies to a large extent,” said Michael Braungart. This also became clear in the film “Dark Waters” about the 20-year battle between environmental lawyer Robert Billott and the local population against the production and waste of Teflon by the chemical giant Dupont. Here, BUND chairwoman Elisabeth Bischoff collected signatures for better regulation and control of so-called PFAS, the non-degradable chemical substances that we now find in every living creature, human or animal, from the poles to us. Teflon can be found in frying pans, Goretex, rain jackets and many other everyday products, as well as in movie theater chairs.

“NOT THOUGHT TO THE END”

On the opening evening, Florian Schwinn, who deals a lot with agriculture and soil in his books, also warned: “Plastic is everywhere. We have invented something that we haven’t thought through to the end, like nuclear power.” There is still 29 percent plastic in the organic waste garbage cans in the Heidekreis – mostly from supposedly decomposable compost bags. It has to be sorted out manually, and this is only partially successful.

TYPE OF USE IS CRUCIAL

Michael Braungart did not want to demonize plastic in its entirety – the material is light and poses less of a risk of injury than glass. It is only a problem in the way it is currently used and disposed of. What is important is which plastic is produced and for what – and that it can be used again and again in technical cycles. Everything that ends up in the environment must be biodegradable, he said, roughly outlining the main features of the Cradle to Cradle design concept he developed.

However, neither speaker wanted to stop at lamenting the current situation. While Braungart presented various ideas on how companies can reinvent things and are already doing so, Schwinn expressed his hopes for politics. The non-removable lids, for example, have been introduced as an EU requirement, as has the fact that there are no more plastic straws.

The film “Plastic Fantastic” showed images that take your breath away – plastic pollution is an issue all over the world. Monkeys eating plastic lying around, plastic particles on a sandy beach, full bin bags simply being dumped into a river from a truck.

It became clear that things can’t stay like this. And hopefully that there are solutions.

The Nature Film Festival helps to tackle the issues that we still have to solve, but that we can also solve. I hope for many multipliers!