Dianna Cohen: Tough truths about plastic pollution

Prevoditelj: Dubravka Hrastovec Recezent: Tilen Pigac - EFZG

I'm a visual artist,

Likovna sam umjetnica,

and I'm also one of the co-founders of the Plastic Pollution Coalition.

i suosnivačica Koalicije protiv onečišćenja plastikom.

I've been working with plastic bags,

Radim s plastičnim vrećicama,

which I cut up and sew back together as my primary material for my artwork

kao sirovinom za moja umjetnička djela, koje režem i spajam

for the last 20 years.

posljednjih 20 godina.

I turn them into two and three-dimensional pieces

Pretvaram ih u dvodimenzionalne i trodimenzionalne radove,

and sculptures and installations.

skulpture i instalacije.

Upon working with the plastic, after about the first eight years,

Radeći s plastikom, nakon približno prvih osam godina,

some of my work started to fissure

neki od mojih radova počeli su pucati

and break down into smaller little bits of plastic.

i raspadati se u manje komadiće plastike.

And I thought, "Great.

Pa pomislih, "Sjajno.

It's ephemeral just like us."

Pa to je efemerno, prolazno kao i mi."

Upon educating myself a little further about plastics,

Naučivši nešto više o plastici

I actually realized this was a bad thing.

zapravo sam shvatila da je to loše.

It's a bad thing that plastic breaks down into smaller little bits,

Loše je to što se plastika raspada u manje komadiće

because it's always still plastic.

jer je još uvijek plastika.

And what we're finding

I vidimo da je

is that a lot of it is in the marine environment.

mnogo plastike u morskom okružju.

I then, in the last few years,

I potom sam u posljednjih nekoliko godina

learned about the Pacific garbage patch and the gyre.

saznala za plastičnu juhu u Pacifiku i vrtlog.

And my initial reaction --

I moja prva reakcija -

and I think this is a lot of people's first reaction

a mislim da je to i prva reakcija mnogih ljudi

to learning about it --

kad saznaju za to -

is, "Oh my God!

bila je, "O Bože!

We've got to go out there and clean this thing up."

Moramo otići tamo i to počistiti."

So I actually developed a proposal

Tako sam zapravo razradila prijedlog

to go out with a cargo ship

odlaska teretnim brodom

and two decommissioned fishing trawlers,

i dvjema rashodovanim ribarskim kočaricama,

a crane, a chipping machine

s dizalicom, strojem za rezanje

and a cold-molding machine.

i strojem za hladno prešanje.

And my intention was to go out to the gyre,

Moja je namjera bila otići do vrtloga,

raise awareness about this issue

podići svijest o tom problemu,

and begin to pick up the plastic,

i započeti sakupljati plastiku,

chip it into little bits and cold mold it into bricks

rezati je na male komade i hladno prešati u opeke

that could potentially be used as building materials

koje bi se mogle koristiti kao građevni materijal

in underdeveloped communities.

u nerazvijenim zajednicama.

I began talking with people

Počela sam razgovarati s ljudima

who actually had been out to the gyre

koji su već isplovili do vrtloga

and were studying the plastic problem in the marine environment

i izučavali problem plastike u morskom okružju.

and upon doing so,

Učinivši to,

I realized actually that cleaning it up

zapravo sam shvatila da bi čišćenje

would be a very small drop in the bucket

bila tek sićušna kap u moru

relative to how much is being generated

u odnosu na količinu otpada koja se

every day around the world,

svakodnevno stvara u svijetu

and that actually I needed to back up and look at the bigger picture.

te da se zapravo trebam vratiti i sagledati problem iz šireg kuta.

And the bigger picture is:

A širi kut je ovo:

we need to find a way to turn off the faucet.

trebamo pronaći način da zavrnemo slavinu.

We need to cut the spigot

Trebamo presjeći slavinu

of single-use and disposable plastics,

plastike za jednokratnu upotrebu

which are entering the marine environment every day

koja dospijeva u morsko okružje svakog dana

on a global scale.

na globalnoj razini.

So in looking at that, I also realized that I was really angry.

I sagledavajući to tako, shvatila sam da sam vrlo ljuta.

I wasn't just concerned about plastic

Nisam bila samo zabrinuta zbog plastike

that you're trying to imagine out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean --

koju pokušavate zamisliti tamo usred Tihog oceana -

of which I have learned there are now

za koju sam saznala da sada

11 gyres, potentially, of plastic

potencijalno sačinjava 11 vrtloga

in five major oceans in the world.

u pet glavnih svjetskih oceana.

It's not just that gyre of plastic that I'm concerned about --

Nisam zabrinuta samo zbog tog vrtloga plastike,

it's the gyre of plastic in the supermarket.

već zbog vrtloga plastike u trgovinama.

I'd go to the supermarket and all of my food is packaged in plastic.

Odem u trgovinu i sva hrana koju kupujem zapakirana je u plastiku.

All of my beverages are packaged in plastic,

Svi moji napitci zapakirani su u plastiku,

even at the health food market.

čak i u trgovini zdrave hrane.

I'm also concerned about the plastic in the refrigerator,

Zabrinuta sam zbog plastike u hladnjaku,

and I'm concerned about the plastic and the toxins that leach from plastic

zbog plastike i toksina koji prodiru iz plastike

into us and into our bodies.

u nas i naša tijela.

So I came together with a group of other people

Stoga sam se sastala sa skupinom ljudi

who were all looking at this issue,

koji su razmatrali taj problem

and we created the Plastic Pollution Coalition.

i tako smo osnovali Koaliciju protiv onečišćenja plastikom.

We have many initiatives that we're working on,

Radimo na brojnim inicijativama,

but some of them are very basic.

ali neke od njih su ključne.

One is: if 80 to 90 percent

Jedna od njih: ako plastika čini 80 do 90 posto

of what we're finding in the ocean --

onoga što nalazimo u oceanu -

of the marine debris that we're finding in the ocean -- is plastic,

morskog otpada koji nalazimo u oceanu,

then why don't we call it what it is.

zašto to ne nazovemo pravim imenom.

It's plastic pollution.

To je onečišćenje, zagađenje plastikom.

Recycling -- everybody kind of ends their books

Recikliranje. Svi otprilike završavaju svoju priču

about being sustainable and greening with the idea of recycling.

o održivosti i ekologiji s idejom recikliranja.

You put something in a bin and you don't have to think about it again.

Stavite nešto u kantu za otpad i o tome više ne morate razmišljati.

What is the reality of that?

A kakva je stvarnost?

In the United States, less than seven percent of our plastics are recycled.

U SAD-u reciklira se manje od sedam posto plastike.

And if you really look into it,

I kad bolje pogledate,

particularly when it comes to plastic bottles,

osobito kad se radi o plastičnim bocama,

most of it is only down-cycled,

većina završava u tzv. "downcyclingu,"

or incinerated, or shipped to China.

ili se spaljuje ili otprema u Kinu.

It is down-cycled and turned into lesser things,

"Downcycling," najniži stupanj povrata materijala u manje vrijedne predmete.

while a glass bottle can be a glass bottle again

Dok staklena boca ponovno može biti staklena boca,

or can be used again --

ili se može ponovno upotrijebiti,

a plastic bottle can never be a plastic bottle again.

plastična boca nikada ne može ponovno biti plastična boca.

So this is a big issue for us.

Stoga to je velik problem za nas.

Another thing that we're looking at and asking people to think about

Druga stvar koju razmatramo i za koju navodimo ljude na razmišljanje

is we've added a fourth R

je to što smo dodali četvrti R

onto the front

na početak slogana

of the "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle," three R's,

Smanji-Ponovno uporabi-Recikliraj,

and that is refuse.

a to je Odbij ("Refuse").

Whenever possible, refuse single-use and disposable plastics.

Gdje god je moguće, odbijte plastiku za jednokratnu upotrebu.

Alternatives exist;

Alternative postoje.

some of them are very old-school.

Neke od njih vrlo su tradicionalne.

I myself am now collecting these cool Pyrex containers

Osobno sada sakupljam staklene posude "Pyrex"

and using those instead of Glad and Tupperware containers

i koristim ih umjesto posuda "Glad" i "Tupperware"

to store food in.

za čuvanje hrane.

And I know that I am doing a service

I znam da činim uslugu

to myself and my family.

sebi i svojoj obitelji.

It's very easy to pick up a stainless-steel bottle

Vrlo je lako ponijeti termosicu od čelika

or a glass bottle,

ili staklenu bocu,

if you're traveling and you've forgotten to bring your stainless-steel bottle

ako putujete i zaboravili ste ponijeti termosicu,

and fill that up with water or filtered water,

te je napuniti vodom, ili filtriranom vodom,

versus purchasing plastic bottled water.

umjesto kupnje vode u plastičnoj vodi.

I guess what I want to say to everybody here --

Ono što vam svima ovdje želim reći -

and I know that you guys know a lot about this issue --

a znam da svi znate poprilično o problemu -

is that this is a huge problem in the oceans,

jest da je to ogroman problem u oceanima,

but this is a problem that we've created as consumers

no taj smo problem sami stvorili kao potrošači

and we can solve.

i možemo ga riješiti.

We can solve this by raising awareness of the issue

Možemo ga riješiti podizanjem svijesti o problemu

and teaching people to choose alternatives.

i podučavanjem ljudi da odaberu alternativu.

So whenever possible, to choose alternatives

Stoga gdje god je moguće, birajte alternativu

to single-use plastics.

korištenju jednokratne plastike.

We can cut the stem -- tide the stem of this

Možemo prerezati korijen - boriti se protiv struje

into our oceans

koja se ulijeva u naše oceane,

and in doing so,

i čineći tako

save our oceans, save our planet, save ourselves.

spasiti naše oceane, spasiti naš planet, spasiti sebe.

Thank you. (Applause)

Hvala vam.