This interview features ocean conservationist and entrepreneur Andrew Forrest in conversation with the head of Ted Chris Anderson.

Recorded live at We the Future 2019, presented by Ted, the Skoll Foundation and the United Nations Foundation.

So you've been obsessed with this problem for the last few years.

What is the problem, in your own words?

Plastic.

Simple as that.

Our inability to use it for the tremendous energetic commodity that it is and just throw it away. And so we see waste

everywhere. At its extreme, it looks a bit like this. I mean, where was this picture taken?

That's in the Philippines and, you know, there's a lot of rivers, ladies and gentlemen,

which look exactly like that. That's the Philippines, so it's all

over Southeast Asia. So the plastic's thrown into the rivers, and from there, of course, it ends up

in the ocean. I mean, we obviously see it on the beaches, but that's not even your main concern.

It's what's actually happening to it in the oceans. Talk about that.

Yeah, okay. So look, thank you, Chris. About four years ago, I thought I'd do something really barking crazy, and I committed to do a PhD in marine ecology. And the scary part about

that was sure I learned a lot about marine life, but it taught me more about marine death. And the scary part about that was sure I learned a lot about marine life, but it taught me more about marine death.

And the extreme mass ecological fatality of fish, of marine life, marine mammals, very close biology to us,

which are dying in their millions, if not trillions, that we can't count

at the hands of plastic.

But people think of plastic as ugly, but stable, right?

You throw something in the ocean, hey, it'll just sit there forever.

Can't do any damage, right?

See, Chris, it's an incredible substance design for the economy. It is the worst substance

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