WHY WE MADE THE FILM

Our love for the ocean has been behind many of the films we’ve made. The landmark PBS film series Empty Oceans Empty Nets examines efforts to advance commercial fishing practices that protect endangered marine life and ocean ecosystems. That series led to PRICELESS, our documentary that explores the origins of agrichemical pollution flowing into the Gulf of Mexico—runoff from millions of acres of commodity crops subsidized by federal farm policy. We closely examine the influence of the agrichemical industry in shaping federal farm policy.

While out at sea filming these documentaries, we found ourselves at times amidst vast gyres of ocean plastic stretching from horizon to horizon, and since then we’ve wondered how it can be—given most Americans’ love for the ocean—that we continue to generate more plastic waste per person than any other country? Why does the crisis keep worsening? Why isn’t our government able to solve it? Our search for answers takes us far upstream from the ocean—first to the giant petrochemical plants that make raw plastic, and to the expanse of natural gas drilling operations that supply them. Meeting nearby citizens, business leaders, and their state representative then led us directly to the policymaking that has enabled the unrestrained growth of these industries—policies lacking real safeguards to address the harmful pollution involved. To discover how this troubling reality continues, we take a clear look at the way these industries exert a strong influence on officeholders…and ultimately at what kind of measures might be needed to free policymakers from their obligation.