Midas was delighted. Trees, rocks, buildings all gold.

米達斯王非常的高興樹木, 石頭, 房屋都變成了黃金

But soon he found in horror that his food turned into gold as well.

很快的他驚覺到他的食物也變成了黃金

When he hugged his daughter to soothe his pain, he realized his mistake too late.

當他去擁抱自己的女兒並尋求一點慰藉時, 他發現一切都太晚了

The richest man in existence was starving, heartbroken and alone.

這個全世界最有錢的男人只能挨餓, 心碎而且孤獨

Humanity got a similar wish granted when we learned how to turn brown stinky goo into magic - plastic.

人類學會把這些棕色臭臭的黏液變成神奇的塑膠時也實現了類似這樣的願望

Cheap, sterile and convenient it changed our lives

便宜, 無菌又方便塑膠製品完全的改變了我們的生活

But this wonder of technology got a little out of hand.

但是這個科技的結晶有一點不受控制了

Plastic has saturated our environment.

塑膠完完全全的佔據了我們的生活環境

It has invaded the animals we eat and now it's finding its way into our bodies.

進入了我們食用的動物裡, 也因此攝入了你我的身體裡面

What is plastic?

塑膠到底是什麼?

For most of our history humans used stuff we found in nature to build the things we needed.

在有歷史紀載以來人類大多都用採集而來的材料加工做成我們需要的東西

But the invention of plastic roughly 100 years ago completely changed our world.

但是大約一百年前左右塑膠的發明顛覆了我們的世界

Plastic is made from polymers - long repeating chains of molecule groups.

這些塑膠是由聚合物所構成, 由重複的小分子聚合而成的分子鏈

In nature, polymers exist everywhere : the walls of cells, silk, hair, insect carapaces, DNA.

這些聚合物存充斥大自然的每個角落, 細胞壁, 蠶絲, 毛髮, 昆蟲的殼, DNA

But it's also possible to create them.

"創造"聚合物也是可能的

By breaking down crude oil into its components and Rearranging them, we can form new synthetic polymers.

我們藉由把原油分解之後重新排列組合這些分子創造出新的人工聚合物

Synthetic polymers have extraordinary traits.

這些人工聚合物擁有非凡的特質

They are lightweight, durable and can be molded into almost any shape.

它們輕便, 強韌而且幾乎可以被塑造成各種形狀

Not requiring time-consuming manual work, plastic can be easily mass-produced

一點都不需要耗時費力, 塑膠可以輕易地大量生產

and its raw materials are a vailable in vast amounts

而生產需要的原物料也可以輕鬆地獲得

And incredibly cheaply, and so the golden era of plastics began

並且超級便宜, 因此塑膠的黃金時代開始了

Bakelite was used for mechanical parts, PVC for plumbing electric gears and cases,

酚醛樹脂用於機械元件, 聚氯乙烯可以做水管, 電子元件和包裝材

Acrylic is a shatter resistant alternative to glass and nylon for stockings and war equipment

壓克力不易碎可以替代玻璃, 而尼龍可以做長襪和軍用裝備

Today almost everything is at least partly made from plastic.

時至今日幾乎所有東西都有塑膠在裡面

Our clothes, phones, computers, furniture, appliances, houses and cars.

我們的衣服, 電話, 電腦, 傢俱, 家電, 住宅和車子

Plastic has long ceased to be a revolutionary material instead it became trash.

塑膠已經不再是新創的材料反而變成了垃圾

Coffee cups, plastic bags, or stuff to wrap a banana. We don't think about this fact a lot.

咖啡杯, 塑膠袋, 或是包香蕉我們常常忽略了這些小東西

Plastic just appears and goes away.

塑膠就在日常生活中來來去去

Unfortunately, it doesn't

不幸的是, 它們沒有消失

Since synthetic polymers are so durable, plastic takes between 500 and 1,000 years to break down.

因為人工聚合物堅韌耐用的特性塑膠一般需要500到1000年才能自然分解

But somehow we collectively decided to use this super tough material for things meant to be thrown away.

而不知為何我們卻都把這個頑強的材料用在用完就丟的消耗品上

40% of plastics are used for packaging.

有40%的塑膠用在包裝上

In the United States, packaging makes up 1/3 of all the waste that is generated annually.

在美國, 包裝材佔了整整1/3的年度垃圾量

Since its invention, we have produced about 8.3 billion metric tons of plastic.

自從被發明之後, 我們總共生產了83億公噸的塑膠

335 million tons in 2016 alone.

光是2016年就佔了3.35億公噸

More than 6.3 billion metric tons of plastic have become waste since 1907.

從1907年開始有超過63億公噸的塑膠被當作垃圾

Piled up in one place, that makes a cube with a side length of 1.9 kilometers.

若把他們堆在一起, 會變成一個邊長1.9公里的立方體

So what did we do with all this waste?

所以我們到底怎麼處理這些廢棄物呢?

9% was recycled, 12% burnt.

只有9%被回收再利用, 12%焚化

But

但是

79% of it is sticking around still.

79%還留在我們的身邊

A lot ends up in the ocean. Around 8 million tons a year.

每年有大約800萬公噸的數量流入了海裡

That's so much plastic that it will outweigh all the fish in the ocean by 2050.

這些塑膠太多了, 多到大約2050年它們的總重會超過海裡面所有的魚

Because it's everywhere, marine animals keep getting trapped in plastic and swallowing it.

因為它們到處都是, 海洋生物常常會被困住或著誤食

In 2015 already 90% of seabirds had eaten plastic.

2015年有90%的海鳥吃過塑膠

Many animals starve with stomachs full of indigestible trash. In 2018 a dead sperm whale washed up in Spain.

很多動物因為胃裡滿滿的裝了無法消化的垃圾而餓肚子2018年有一頭抹香鯨在西班牙擱淺

He had eaten 32 kilos of plastic bags, nets and a drum

他吃了32公斤的塑膠袋, 漁網和一個鼓

While this is tragic and makes for great magazine covers, there's an even more widespread,

當這個悲劇被變成了火紅的雜誌封面時, 還有更糟糕的事情正在延燒

invisible form of plastic.

一種"看不見"的塑膠

Microplastics

塑膠微粒

Microplastics are pieces smaller than 5 millimeters

塑膠微粒是直徑小於5公厘的碎屑

Some of them are used in cosmetics or toothpaste,

有些在美妝用品或牙膏裡

but most result from floating waste that is constantly exposed to UV radiation

但多半的來源是紫外線持續照射水中的塑膠

And crumbles into smaller and smaller pieces

使他裂解成碎片, 越變越小

51 trillion such particles float in the ocean,

有51兆個這樣子的碎屑在海中浮沉

Where they are even more easily swallowed by all kinds of marine life.

這些東西很容易就被海洋生物吞下肚

This has raised concerns among scientists,

這引起了科學界的關注

especially about health risks from the chemicals that are added to plastic.

特別是這些塑膠製品所用的添加劑可能造成的健康問題

BPA for example makes plastic bottles transparent

舉例來說酚甲烷讓塑膠瓶澄澈透明

But there's also evidence that it interferes with our hormonal system. DEHP makes plastics more flexible,

但也有證據顯示它會干涉我們的賀爾蒙系統塑化劑讓塑膠更有延展性

But may cause cancer.

但是可能致癌

It would be pretty bad if micro plastics are toxic, because they travel up the food chain.

因為會沿著食物鍊向上傳遞, 塑膠微粒有毒會是很糟糕的事情

Zooplankton eat micro plastic. Small fish eat zooplankton.

浮游動物吃了這些塑膠微粒魚再吃掉它們

So do oysters, crabs and predatory fish and they all land on our plate.

牡蠣也吃它們, 螃蟹和大魚然後它們都被端上我們的桌子

Micro plastics have been found in honey, in sea salt, in beer, in tap water and in the household dust around us.

有人在蜂蜜裡面找到塑膠微粒海鹽, 啤酒, 自來水和家裡的灰塵無一倖免

8 out of 10 babies and nearly all adults

每10個嬰兒中有8個還有幾乎所有的成人

have measurable amounts of phthalates, a common plastic additive in their bodies.

都可以檢測出身體裡有一種很常見的塑膠添加物塑化劑

And 93% of people have BPA in their urine

93%的人尿液裡面有酚甲烷

There is little science about this so far and right now it's inconclusive.

目前還沒有足夠多的科學研究而且也還沒有結論

We need a lot more research before panic is justified.

在開始恐慌之前我們需要夠多的研究

But it is safe to say that a lot of stuff happened that we didn't plan for. And we have lost control

但是可以肯定的是發生了很多我們沒有計畫的事而且我們失去控制

Over plastic to a certain extent which is kind of scary.

到了某種令人害怕的地步

But just to make sure we should simply ban plastics, right?

所以我們應該直接禁止所有塑膠物對吧?

Unfortunately, it's a bit more complicated than that.

很可惜, 事情比較複雜一些

Plastic pollution is not the only environmental challenge we face.

塑膠汙染不只是唯一的環境問題

Some of the substitutes we'd use for plastic have a higher environmental impact in other ways.

在某方面來說有些塑膠的替代用品對環境造成的衝擊更大

For example :

舉例來說:

according to a recent study by the Danish government,

根據近來丹麥政府的研究指出

making a single-use plastic bag requires so little energy and produces far lower carbon dioxide emissions

製造出一個用完即丟的塑膠袋需要的能源和製程中的碳排放極低

compared to a reusable cotton bag, that you need to use your cotton bag 7 thousand 100 times

一個可以重複使用的棉質袋子需要使用超過7100次

before it would have a lower impact on the environment than the plastic bag.

平均下來才會低於一個塑膠袋對於環境的衝擊

We're left with a complex process of trade-offs. Everything has an impact somehow,

我們面對的抉擇與代價非常複雜, 所有選擇都有重大影響

and it's hard to find the right balance between them.

況且也很難找到一個平衡點

Plastic also helps solve problems that we don't have very good answers for at the moment.

塑膠暫時幫我們解決了這些無解的問題

Globally, one-third of all food that's produced is never eaten and ends up rotting away on landfills where it produces methane.

全球有三分之一的食物沒有被碰過就直接進了掩埋場在地底腐爛分解出沼氣

And the best way of preventing food from spoiling and avoiding unnecessary waste is still plastic packaging.

塑膠包裝還是目前避免食物壞掉和浪費的最佳辦法

It's also important to note where the vast majority of the world's plastic pollution is coming from right now.

還有另一件重要的事是知道目前全世界的主要塑膠汙染來源

90% of all plastic waste entering the ocean through rivers comes from just ten rivers in Asia and Africa.

90%從河川流入海洋的塑膠垃圾來自亞洲和非洲的十條河

The Yangtze in China alone flushes 1.5 million tons of plastic into the ocean each year.

中國的揚子江每年有150萬公噸的塑膠垃圾流入海裡

Countries like China, India

像是中國, 印度

Algeria or Indonesia

阿爾及利亞和印尼

industrialized at an impressive pace in the last few decades,

這些國家在過去幾十年內以驚人的速度工業化

transforming the lives of billions of people

改變了幾十億人的生活

This development was so fast,

這樣的發展太快

that the garbage disposal infrastructure couldn't keep up with collecting and recycling all the new waste this brought

而垃圾處理與回收再利用的設施建設無法跟上國家的發展速度

If politicians in Europe and the US want to address this issue,

如果歐洲和美國的政客想要解決這個問題

investing in infrastructure in developing countries is just as important

投資這些發展中國家的基礎設施的重要性

as fighting plastic pollution at home with campaigns and redesigning products to minimize unnecessary

就如同在國內發起活動打擊塑膠汙染, 重新設計產品來減少塑膠生產

plastic production.

是一樣重要的

The bottom line is, as long as we don't address plastic pollution from a global perspective, we will not solve it.

結論是, 如果我們不從全球整體的角度來切入塑膠汙染的問題是無法根絕的

Plastic pollution is a complicated problem.

塑膠汙染是一件棘手的問題

We found a magic material and we had a really good time with it,

我們找到了這個神奇的材料並且開心的用了一陣子

But we need to be careful or just like Midas, we'll end up in a world that we didn't wish for.

但是我們必須要小心謹慎避免步上米達斯王的後塵而陷入窘境

Your individual daily actions still have a huge impact. What you do matters!

你的日常行為依然會造成很大的影響千里之行, 始於足下

Refuse disposable plastics. Convince your friends and family to do the same.

拒用拋棄式塑膠製品說服你的朋友和家人跟進

Pressure companies and politicians to take the necessary steps to keep our oceans clean and our food safe.

對財團和政客表態施壓要求他們採取必要的措施來保持海洋的清潔和食安

Together we can beat plastic pollution!

我們團結一氣就可以打敗塑膠汙染

This video was a collaboration with UN Environment and their clean seas campaign.

本短片是與聯合國環境署以及其旗下之清潔海洋運動(cleanseas.org)協同製作

If you want to take action to turn the tide on plastics, go to cleanseas.org and make your pledge.

若您有意宣示加入打擊塑膠汙染的一方請上www.cleanseas.org/take-action