WEBVTT 00:00:01.594 --> 00:00:05.255 The open plains of the asphalt jungle. 00:00:05.255 --> 00:00:08.625 Home to many creatures, great and small. 00:00:08.625 --> 00:00:13.263 And the pupping ground for one the most clever and illustrious creatures, 00:00:13.263 --> 00:00:16.300 the Plastic Bag. 00:00:16.300 --> 00:00:21.104 Today we explore the cycle of life for this curious creature, the plastic bag 00:00:21.104 --> 00:00:26.652 on its migration to its home, the Pacific ocean. 00:00:26.652 --> 00:00:31.370 Once released into the wild, the plastic bag is unsure of itself. 00:00:31.370 --> 00:00:36.954 It falters at first, but soon, with some help from the wind, 00:00:36.954 --> 00:00:39.703 the bag will be airborne! 00:00:39.780 --> 00:00:45.388 This flight will be the first in its long journey towards it's final destination: 00:00:45.450 --> 00:00:50.774 the Garbage Patch in heart of the Pacific Ocean. 00:00:50.871 --> 00:00:53.250 Using the wind to guide it, 00:00:53.290 --> 00:00:56.557 the plastic bag moves across the city, through the air. 00:00:57.657 --> 00:00:59.571 A city park. 00:00:59.663 --> 00:01:04.061 This park may, at first, seem like an idyllic place for the plastic bag, 00:01:04.153 --> 00:01:07.568 but danger lurks around every corner. 00:01:07.568 --> 00:01:10.070 Here it will encounter many enemies, 00:01:10.070 --> 00:01:11.887 including one of the MOST dangerous... 00:01:12.041 --> 00:01:14.596 Park Services! 00:01:18.750 --> 00:01:24.219 Poor little fellow. Looks like HIS journey ends here. 00:01:25.508 --> 00:01:30.465 Meanwhile, our little bag has encountered one of nature's most deadly killers... 00:01:30.465 --> 00:01:32.472 the Teacup Yorkie. 00:01:32.472 --> 00:01:37.286 Once the Yorkie has locked onto his victim, there is very little hope of survival. 00:01:37.286 --> 00:01:40.300 But using it's superior size and deft manouvering, 00:01:40.300 --> 00:01:47.721 our bag manages to escape the Yorkie's talons and flee for its life. 00:01:50.490 --> 00:01:53.762 Over the course of its miraculous migration, 00:01:53.872 --> 00:01:56.784 the plastic bag will cover VAST distances, 00:01:56.784 --> 00:02:02.001 through neighborhoods, across parks, and down city streets. 00:02:02.581 --> 00:02:06.293 It is now nightfall and our highly advanced Night Vision Cameras 00:02:06.293 --> 00:02:10.297 have managed to capture, for the FIRST TIME in history, 00:02:10.297 --> 00:02:12.841 a plastic bag in pitch black. 00:02:13.241 --> 00:02:16.495 PHENOMENAL! 00:02:16.495 --> 00:02:23.602 The vast cement rivers of California, home to literally dozens of animals. 00:02:24.467 --> 00:02:27.981 Many plastic bags will not make it out of here, 00:02:27.981 --> 00:02:30.901 the reeds and branches will see to that. 00:02:33.132 --> 00:02:37.247 As at home in water as it is on land or in the air, 00:02:37.416 --> 00:02:43.246 the bag's natural buoyancy makes it an excellent swimmer. 00:02:48.031 --> 00:02:49.195 It's close now... 00:02:49.287 --> 00:02:51.864 and it can feel it! 00:02:53.387 --> 00:02:59.361 At last the bag has reached the gateway to the open sea. 00:03:00.823 --> 00:03:04.838 Careful to avoid the mouths of hungry sea-life that feed on the helpless plastic, 00:03:04.858 --> 00:03:12.462 the bag will travel 100s of miles, to join the thriving community of plastic known as 00:03:12.462 --> 00:03:15.863 the GREAT PACIFIC GARBAGE PATCH. 00:03:15.863 --> 00:03:18.895 The Garbage Patch is a veritable plastic oasis, 00:03:18.956 --> 00:03:23.291 where millions of tons of plastic garbage remain entrapped by the currents. 00:03:23.557 --> 00:03:25.411 It is said to be twice the size of Texas, 00:03:25.711 --> 00:03:28.489 never actually biodegrading, 00:03:28.489 --> 00:03:33.226 Here the plastic bag can live indefinitely, peacefully, coexisting with 00:03:33.411 --> 00:03:36.343 billions of other petroleum species, 00:03:36.524 --> 00:03:39.643 before breaking into ever tinier plastic pieces, 00:03:39.643 --> 00:03:45.214 thus completing the plastic cycle of life.