David Katz
David Katz – TED Talk TRANSCRIPT
We’ve had it all wrong. Everybody.
We’ve had it all wrong. The very last thing we need to do is clean the ocean.
Very last. Yeah, there is a garbage truck of plastic entering the ocean every minute of every hour of every day. And countless birds and animals are dying just from encountering plastic.
We are experiencing the fastest rate of extinction ever, and plastic is in the food chain. And I’m still here, standing in front of you, telling you the very last thing we need to do is clean the ocean. Very last.
If you were to walk into a kitchen, sink overflowing, water spilling all over the floor, soaking into the walls, you had to think fast, you’re going to panic; you’ve got a bucket, a mop or a plunger. What do you do first? Why don’t we turn off the tap? It would be pointless to mop or plunge or scoop up the water if we don’t turn off the tap first.
Why aren’t we doing the same for the ocean? Even if the Ocean Cleanup project, beach plastic recycling programs or any well-meaning ocean plastic company was a hundred percent successful, it would still be too little, too late.
We’re trending to produce over 300 million ton of plastic this year. Roughly eight million ton are racing to flow into the ocean to join the estimated 150 million ton already there. Reportedly, 80 percent of ocean plastic is coming from those countries that have extreme poverty.
And if you live in the grips of poverty concerned, always, about food or shelter or a sense of security, recycling — it’s beyond your realm of imagination. And that is exactly why I created the Plastic Bank. We are the world’s largest chain of stores for the ultra-poor, where everything in the store is available to be purchased using plastic garbage. Everything School tuition, Medical insurance, Wi-Fi, cell phone minutes, power, sustainable cooking fuel, high-efficiency stoves.
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