At first glance, "Bag It" seems anachronistic: Who doesn’t already know that we shouldn’t use plastic bags? Within minutes, however, we find ourselves falling down the rabbit hole into a world in which plastic is not only far more pervasive than previously suspected but is the number one consumer item in the world.
This documentary revolves around Jeb Berrier, a cheerful balding teddy bear of a man who, one day, buys a single container of peach yogurt and takes it home in a plastic bag. While Berrier claims that he’s not a tree-hugger, he does live in a town in Colorado which was challenged by a nearby town to reduce its plastic bag use. This brings up the question of how something made of an indestructible material can ever be disposable. Yes, you can throw that single-use plastic bag away but where, exactly, is away?
There is no away; plastic bag disposal is actually a question of storage – forever. Filling up landfills which are rapidly filling up the land with things that are not biodegradable in any form. That plastic bag billowing down the sidewalk will still be billowing down the sidewalk a thousand years from now if no one picks it up and throws it … away?
The statistics on plastic bag use are mind-boggling: 500 billion to 1 trillion annually, 390 billion in the US alone -- despite the fact that countries around the world have banned their use. In fact, it is with more than a little chagrin that a progressive American learns that parts of the rest of the world has taken firm action against the plastic menace that we barely acknowledge: Outright bans are in place in South Africa, Italy, Australia, India, Somalia, Botswana, the Philippines, Uganda, Kenya, Japan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, and Bhutan with partial bans in Germany, Japan, Turkey, Belgium, South Korea, Singapore, Sweden, Malta and China.
“Bag It” moves from charming to alarming to downright terrifying as it is reveals that the American Chemistry Council, whose members include the Progressive Bag Affiliates, is a powerful lobby with deep pockets dedicated to promoting the use of plastics and other chemicals without regard to the welfare of the nation as a whole and in a matter that blatantly threatens the health of future generations. As an example, a recent referendum in Seattle banning the use of plastic bags in supermarkets went down in defeat after the ACC spent $1.4 million to defeat it. Those on the grass roots pro side spent only $64,000.
It’s when the film gets into the other chemicals being promoted by the ACC that horror sets in. The film claims that there are two chemicals in almost every plastic we use – BPA and Phthalates – which pose a particular threat to hearth, health and happiness. Real troupers, Berrier and his partner become pregnant with their first child in the course of the film. This provides a nice counterpoint to Berrier’s research into chemicals and plastics and reveals the pervasiveness of both in the life of the average consumer. Did you know that the average can of vegetables contains a plastic lining? Or that plastic baby bottles contain both BPA and Phthalates? How about that there seems to be a link between the chemicals in both the containers of baby food and the many lotions, shampoos and other baby products and autism?
Berrier takes a two-day vacation from his fairly healthy lifestyle to test the effects of these baby foods and products on his substantial adult frame. By testing the levels of chemicals in his body both before and after using these products aimed at infants, he found that two days of use – two days! – caused the chemicals to multiply an average of 11 times in his own body. Two days. Just imagine what they do to an infant.
The viewer walks away from this film with the conviction that the American people – particularly future generations – are being held hostage to corporate profit. This is not a new idea in this day and age but the ruthlessness of these particular corporations is beyond belief.
Watch this movie on the on-line virtual theater at www.constellation.tv and you will find your life changed. It’s that simple. You owe it to yourself and your children.
DIRECTOR: Suzan Beraza SCREENWRITER: Michelle Curry Wright PRODUCERS: Judith Kohin, Michelle Hill RUN TIME: 74 minutes MPAA RATING: Unrated
