TED Climate: What happens to the plastic you throw away?
How to Be a Better Human
TED
4.1 • 1.4K Ratings
🗓️ 23 August 2021
⏱️ 13 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Plastic is everywhere. We know we should cut down on it where we can, but is plastic ever the answer? In this episode, a whole world of plastic you never knew about. Starting with: which bag is best: paper, plastic, or cotton? The answer might surprise you. Dan breaks down the pros and cons of each bag, and which you should carry on your next shopping trip. Then we follow the journey of three different plastic bottles after you throw them away, shedding light on the dangers these disposables present to our world. Plus, three things you can do to put a cap on our plastic problem. This is an episode of TED Climate, another TED Audio Collective podcast. For more, find the podcast wherever you're listening to this. You can read the full text transcript for this episode at go.ted.com/TC1
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Ted Audio Collective. So, Chris Duffy here. We are still on summer break here at How to Be a Better Human, but as always, we don't want to leave you hanging. |
| 0:17.0 | So I want to share a new podcast from the TED Audio Collective here with you. |
| 0:21.2 | It's a show that I find extremely important and extremely interesting, which is a great combo. I mean, one of the top combos there is if you're going to get two things, extremely important and extremely interesting, very good. |
| 0:33.4 | This show is called Ted Climate. |
| 0:35.2 | It can be a little daunting to dive into the climate crisis, I think. |
| 0:38.8 | I mean, I certainly feel like that. |
| 0:40.7 | But this show does it so well in a way that's not just informative, but also genuinely entertaining and fascinating. |
| 0:46.2 | I think that you are going to love it. And if you do love it, you can hear more episodes of Ted Climate wherever you're listening to this. |
| 0:53.8 | We're going to have that episode for you in just a moment right after this quick ad. |
| 0:58.4 | Hello and welcome to Ted Climate, a podcast from the TED Audio Collective. |
| 1:02.7 | I'm your host Dan Kortler, and on this show, we're going to be staring straight into |
| 1:06.6 | the abyss of the climate crisis. |
| 1:08.6 | Don't worry though, we're not going to bum me out too much. |
| 1:11.1 | Each episode of this season will look at two different sides of the same issue. So we'll explore big questions like could we transition to only renewable energy and what would happen if every human just disappeared, |
| 1:23.4 | but will also dig into the smaller things that actually affect your day-to-day life. |
| 1:27.4 | Hopefully, these stories will reveal some small changes you can make |
| 1:31.5 | to feel like you're actually doing something |
| 1:34.6 | instead of just, you know, dumbling towards inevitable doom. |
| 1:39.1 | This week's topic, Plastic. |
| 1:41.1 | So, Plastic. Which bag should I use? Plastic, paper, or cloth? Cities around the world have actually begun moving away from single use plastic bags. |
| 1:58.5 | These are the thin flimsy bags that you might see stuck in a tree or blowing through the wind? |
| 2:03.9 | But what exactly is the environmental impact of using a plastic bag as opposed to another kind of |
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