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I should have been in the ocean surfing,

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but my passion for finding a solution
to the plastic-pollution issue

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had me in the lab.

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I was taking up where
my colleagues had left off,

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and the reason that I'm here today

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is to explain to you my research
over the last three years.

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Let's take it back from the start.

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Plastic showed up 70 years ago.

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It brought convenience to people.

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Plastic is very cheap,
so it has a very low cost;

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it has durability,
and it's very convenient.

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According to Times Magazine in 1955,

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plastic made people's life easier.

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They focus on the fact

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that disposable dishes and plastic

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would make the life of housewives
much more convenient

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because they will spend
less time washing the dishes,

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and gain time to go shopping.

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Overall, plastic had a big impact

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in different spheres of our everyday life,

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such as food,

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healthcare,

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transportation,

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plastic surgery

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and even clothing.

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Let's take a look at your clothes -

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or your neighbor's clothes
if you feel comfortable.

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Look at the tag

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and realize that most of our clothes

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are made out of polyester,
nylon and lycra.

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All these materials are plastic.

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And while doing yoga,

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you may only be covered in plastic.

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Namaste.

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Plastic has brought great convenience
to people around the world

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and is used on an everyday basis.

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We all touch plastic today.

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But the short term
convenience that it brings

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has a very long-term ecological cost.

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When you picture paradise,

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this is what you picture.

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This is Hawaii.

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But this is also Hawaii.

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This is also called away.

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When you take a plastic bottle
and you throw it away,

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this is where it may end up.

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Hawaii is known for its plastic pollution.

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On our beaches,

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more than 95% of the plastic

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comes from outside of Hawaii.

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Mostly from Asia

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because of the geographical
position of the Hawaiian islands.

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But overall,

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we are all responsible for this crisis

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because we all consume plastic.

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Out of 8,300 million
metric tons of plastic

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produced to date since the 1950s,

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about 30% is currently being used,

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and a small share, that is recycled.

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Then about 10%
of the plastic is incinerated.

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But 60% of all this plastic

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that's been made since the 1950s

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is currently in the environment
and in landfills.

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This is an enormous problem,

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and we are far away from fixing it.

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Plastic production in the next 32 years
is going to ramp up.

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The projections are

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that 12,000 million
metric tons of this plastic

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will end up in our environment
and landfills by 2050.

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This is double what we
have accumulated in 70 years.

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At the University of Hawaii,

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at the "Center for Microbial Oceanography:
Research and Education,"

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we study the degradation of plastic.

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The finding of our research
showed that the impact of plastic

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is even worse than what we thought.

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Let me share with you what we discovered.

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My colleagues Sara Ferron
and Samual Wilson

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were making measurements

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of the biological production
of methane in seawater,

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and the numbers they got

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were way higher than what they expected.

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They went back to
their experimental protocol,

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and they realized that most of the methane

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was coming from nonbiological sources;

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it was coming from the bottles
in which they were incubating seawater.

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The bottles were made out
of a specific plastic:

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high density polyethylene,

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also named HDPE.

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HDPE will react because of the sunlight,

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will degrade and emit methane.

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Plastic emits methane;

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methane is a greenhouse gas.

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Methane makes up
20% of all greenhouse gases.

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Methane is 21 times
more powerful than CO2.

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You take 21 molecule of CO2,

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and it corresponds
to one molecule of methane.

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This is also one of the reasons

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why so many scientists are focusing
on the the production of methane,

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from the permafrost
to agricultural practices.

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So this unexpected discovery

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was the start of my
two-year post doctorate

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at the University of Hawaii,

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where I focused mostly

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on the emissions of greenhouse gases
from plastic in the environment.

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After this mind-blowing finding,

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we expanded our research.

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We selected the seven most commonly
used types of plastic in the world.

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Low density polyethylene,

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LDPE,

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was the plastic type that will produce
the most greenhouse gases.

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Some examples of LPDE

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are plastic bags,

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shampoo bottles,

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containers for food and vegetables.

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A lot of the LDPE products
are single-use plastic:

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we buy it,

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we use it,

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and then we throw it away
in a few minutes.

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Unfortunately,

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polyethylene, or LDPE,

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is also the most produced,

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consumed

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and discarded type of plastic
in the environment.

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It also degrades quick,
because of its weak chemical structure,

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and eventually contributes
to the pool of micro plastic.

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As plastic degrades in the environment
because of the sunlight,

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the plastic will start having cracks,

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bits, micro fractures,

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the surface area of the plastic
will increase with time,

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and then,

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more greenhouse gases will be produced.

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Let's think about a bottle.

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The bottle of plastic
that you bought at a shop

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produces very little greenhouse gases,

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but with time,

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the same bottle of plastic will degrade,

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the surface area will increase,

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and eventually, it will
break down in small pieces,

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and with time,

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more and more gases will be produced.

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Let's put numbers here.

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For example,

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if we think of LDPE powder,
and LDPE pellets -

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pellets are basically nurdles;

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they are virgin plastic

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used by the plastic industry
to make other plastic items.

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For the LDPE powder,

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we will get 488 times
more methane produced

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than for the pellets.

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This means then,

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as plastic degrades in the environment,

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all this plastic
that we've been discarding

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is currently degrading,

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so more and more gases
will be produced with time.

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As an oceanographer,

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most of my work is in the ocean.

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Most of the experiments we did

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were to look at plastic
submerged in water.

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But as a comparison,

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we took plastic submerged in water,

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we compared it to plastic in air.

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This is when things got really scary.

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We basically saw

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that the plastic exposed to air

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will produce two times more methane

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than when it's submerged in water

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and 76 times more ethylene -

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which is another greenhouse gas -

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than when plastic is in water.

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This changed things.

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It means that not only
the plastic in the ocean

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but the plastic all around us
in the environment -

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in your back yard, your car,
toys at the beach -

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are currently emitting
greenhouse gases

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and contributing to climate change.

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Now we have to investigate more

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and see if it is
a significant contribution.

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These results only further the need

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to find broader solutions
to our overconsumption of plastic.

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I'm not here to vilify plastic;

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I'm here to understand the science

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behind the emissions
of greenhouse gases from plastic.

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Of course,

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there are places around the world
where plastic has saved life,

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but overall,

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the plastic we use is unnecessary
and is only used as a convenience.

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Plastic is designed to last a long time,

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yet we still use it
only for a few minutes.

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When we are done using plastic,

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it may end up in the environment,

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in Hawaii,

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and this for an
undetermined period of time.

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It can easily last longer
than your own lifetime

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or even your children's life.

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What to do next?

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I see this issue as a two-way approach.

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We have to think of the past,

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and we have to think of the future.

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So to deal with the past

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and all this plastic
that's been produced,

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we have to find reactive solutions.

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But then, to deal with the future,

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we need to find a proactive solution

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to prevent the creation
of the future plastic.

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For the past,

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we have all this plastic
in the environment,

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and we only need to remove it,

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as simple as that.

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We can remove plastic
through beach cleanups,

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ocean cleanup,

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drain river cleanup,

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even plogging,

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that I started in Barcelona in 2009,

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long before the word even existed.

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And also there is recycling
and waste-to-energy.

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More effective than reactive solutions
are proactive solutions

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and how to deal with the future plastic.

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We have to be proactive.

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This means dealing with the issue
from where it's coming from

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rather than where it ends up,

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like Hawaii.

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It means finding better material,
better technology

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and decrease the plastic
production from the source.

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So imagine yourself
after a long day at work,

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you go back home,
you're about to take your keys,

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and then you see some water
flowing from under your front door.

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You rush quickly into the house,
you walk to the bathroom,

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and you see that the water
is coming from there.

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You look and you see
the bathtub overflowing.

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So at this point, you have two solutions.

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You either run out of the house,
you take a bucket,

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you bail out the water
from the bathtub;

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or you have the second solution,

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that is drastically much more efficient:

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you look at the source of the problem,

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and you turn off the tap.

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So next time you throw plastic away,

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think about a way to avoid it

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and think of Hawaii.

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Thank you. Merci.

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(Applause)