Mumbai, INDIA
Dave is curious about the situation in other countries and decides to travel to Mumbai, one of the most densely populated cities on the planet. He gets introduced to a family living and breathing the issue, and discovers they have very different perspectives compared to the experts he meets there as well. What does this tell us about how our society thinks?
Watch the following video if you are interested in visioning the gravity of this issue in Mumbai and how people are responding to it
India's Role
The fact that the creators of this documentary decided to travel to India tells us a lot about another idea they were trying to suggest to the public audience. It is unusual to explore so many contradicting perspectives that neither come to a stable solution. India is one of the main contributors to plastic pollution with an estimated 60% of their plastic reaches our oceans. Seeing it through another lens, plastic is a major contribution to climate change and global warming. It was very clever of the producers to not only include the negative impacts India was making but give us a sense of how many people and children were motivated to change and work together, very similar to what Dave started doing in his home town. This proves to us that no matter how obvious the problem is, we should facilitate solutions wherever we can.
"Two hands can do wonders"
- Portia
Multiple Perspectives
Family Living IN Plastic Pollution
Dave interviews a family of 5 living next to the most polluted river of Mumbai
The first place we get to visit halfway through the documentary is an extremely plastic polluted neighboorhood in which Dave and his team come in contact with a very poor family suffering from this crisis. Dave describes the environment as "horrific smell" and claims "the waters are following the plastic, it is everywhere, almost being part of the floor". One of the older siblings says that if they could afford something better, they would. "Who wants to live next to this..." she ends with.
Surprisingly, the 56-year-old father of this family states (speaking for his neighbors) that they don't feel the same way about plastic than people in order countries. In fact, they believe it is the government's fault as they lack garbage collectors in the whole city and "it is their duty, not ours".
This is clear evidence of the division between people and whom they decide to blame.
We throw it in the sea, and eventually she throws it back
Chinu Watrao (2018)
