At first hand, something that captured my attention is how once again the problem started by big companies that want to sell more. At the beginning plastic was meant to be a material that permitted products to last, and that’s what the companies sold to the public, but then, they realized that by selling the idea that the products were meant to be used only once and then dispose them, they could sell more. And here is one big problem, plastic is a material that is meant to last, so by making it a one use only material we end up with waste that will stay in this world for a long time. So why we still use it for this kind of products?

I think as designers we have the responsibility to create products which are well thought. As mentioned earlier, everything starts with choosing a material, we must select the one that better fits but also think about what will happen after the user finishes using the product. I think there shouldn’t be more room to put the responsibility on others so that it becomes someone else's problem. We have to be involved in every aspect of the life cycle of our products and be really honest with the public about the products we sell. Also to speak up when we know that there are materials that are causing more damage than any good or to come up with ideas for using new materials. Every product should be considering the impact that it will have on the environment and not only consider the economic impact, this also includes not over producing and only creating what is necessary. Because as it is discussed in the documentary, companies pass the responsibility to the public to manage the waste, but the public doesn't put things in correctly and pass the problem to someone else and so it goes. This problem should be solved from the beginning and that is during the design process

 

To be a designer has a large responsibility in what we create and I was sure that the answer to the question "How to be an activist" was to design things that don’t generate a lot of trash or designs that use sustainable materials but now I'm thinking it's a lot more difficult than that. I learned that we can’t trust in labels that assure sustainability because probably it’s a lie. I learned that even if we change our ways of living and stop generating trash, it doesn’t make a real difference in the world so what can I do individually to help? 

To talk more about what the film tells us, the big problem it’s in the way people make things, thinking in the easiest way possible and the cheapest way as well as forgetting about the impact on the environment, the violence and the repercussions they make. I think this is the problem in each industry, not only the fishing one. 

So to answer the question, I can be an activist first, by changing my ways of living, stop consuming, not only seafood, but the things I know that involves all these bad things behind it’s production and yes, continue living in a “sustainable way” reducing trash, reutilizing, reduce consumerism, etcetera. But as a designer, I think it's more difficult than that. It is not about designing with sustainable ways, we are past that, I think that, to make an attempt of changing things, I can use my abilities to create worldwide campaigns, to think about designs that help to solve this kind of problems instead of just designing with recycled things and, at last, try to make a change in everything I do, even if it’s the difficult way. 

I don't think we can force humanity to stop eating fish overnight. The main problem is the activity right? So how about we change the way of fishing? The change can be made by designing a new form of fishing keeping in mind to always protect the sea's wildlife and its ecosystem. While changing how we fish the act of eating fish will no longer have repercussions so there is no need to stop consuming it. 

Another important aspect is that big companies lie in their packages because they said that they obtain the fish in an ethical way, but in the majority of the cases is a lie.

Its surprising how the ONG´S say the people that are affecting the ocean by using plastic and they have to recycle or buy other material or products that substitute the use of plastic, but there is not  only one solution to this problem,  association does not say that one of the biggest problem is the excessive consumption of marine animals.

In this film, we can see the social and environmental costs of industrialized agriculture and the global circulation of these foods, affecting carbon dioxide in the world. The negative effects of globalization is something that not so many people are aware of and is not talked about enough nor studied. For instance, many rural communities in India and Peru have been affected with negative impacts by globalization when they were pressured to modernize their system of agriculture, leading to economic and cultural issues in the communities. It is something to think about that needs sustainable alternatives. 

Globalization is an inevitable result of economic growth in a world as fast as it is now. However, we need sustainable economic growth with strategies to improve value culture and community within these places that have and grow these local products. As a designer, it is part of my labor to study these kinds of cases and get well informed to understand them as a whole, and then, being able to propose a sustainable solution and get involved. Design can be implemented as a solution in any part of these issues. I just need to properly understand the problem or the necessity by implementing a methodology for proper investigation. In this case, what are the necessities of these rural communities? What can we do to help these communities with something as inevitable as globalization? How can we treat the matter in a holistic way? Can globalization really be sustainable? Is it possible to live in a land where there is a social, cultural and economic positive balance? Can products just stay local or is globalization really an impossible concept to deny? Would it be better if they just stayed local?

I first I thought it was gonna be a narrative documentary, however there’s barely any description on the video. Nonetheless, the few words that appear are very concise, blunt and convincing. Those words are the following ones: 

That’s it, nothing else needed… I like how in the video it seems as if ashes were falling down from the sky and everything was being covered with dust, when in reality the scenes were filmed in the ocean and there’s tones of trash and the objects taht ended up down there have grown algae. Even tho it was filmed in balck&white format, everything looks death and colorless. 

The video pretty much just gives you the time to reflect on the impact that our cosumption habits have on the environment, makes you realize that it is time for us to take action in the matter. I like how the vid closes with the 4 quotes that I mention at the beginning. It is no just that we can do better, it is the fact that we can do something and we’re barely doing anything. 

For the second quote, I think it is important to have in mind that we are no independent from nature, on the contrary, we depend completely on it. We should invest more time and efforts in taking care of it, inasmuch as we take care of nature, we will be taking care of ourselves. Sounds cheesy but I do believe we are one, humans and nature.