Plastic Pioneers | Storyteller

[NOTE: Plastic Pioneers available until July 17, 2023.]

Plastic Pioneers - from eminent scientists, campaigners on the front line, to the innovators and designers are working on solutions to solve a global crisis that’s fueling the climate emergency. This film takes audiences on a journey to deep sea coral reefs, basking shark hotspots and huge seabird colonies, to discover first-hand the extreme danger of plastic that’s engulfing every aspect of their lives. Plastic Pioneers is an urgent wakeup call and a film that inspires action.

Director’s Statement

By Mike Wafer

As a child, I could walk across any beach in Liverpool and never see plastic bottles, straws, bags – something my children will never know. This tragedy inspired me to make this film.

Plastic pollution is at the heart of the climate crisis with 23 million metric tons of plastic ending up in our rivers, lakes, and oceans each year, and scientists believe it will double by 2025 if nothing is done to stop it. It’s an environmental crisis now so pervasive, it affects us all. Every day more and more is being discovered about the impacts on humans, wildlife and the environment.

Motivated to want to create meaningful and urgent change, I was drawn to the people who are trying to stop this environmental time bomb from wreaking further havoc; scientists, campaigners, politicians - those dedicating their lives to a cause that most of us tend to ignore.

I wanted the audience to go away understanding the science so that there is no doubt that there are consequences to our actions as humans living the lives we live. I also wanted them to feel inspired to create positive change for the future and my children’s future.

Mike Wafer is an award-winning documentary filmmaker who spent the last 20+ years directing critically acclaimed films and landmark series for the BBC, National Geographic and Discovery Channel. Mike is a passionate advocate in fighting pollution, since first encountering it in remote subarctic environments whilst filming polar bears.

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