Movie Over Plastic

Plastic, that incredibly noxious substance that Dustin Hoffman was told was the future. It pervades our existence at every turn and in a perverse way we rely on it for almost everything while it continues to degrade everything from our political structures to our environment.

Plastic requires petroleum for production. It is a superstructure that, while easily scratched and dented (note today's automobiles in a high school parking lot) it is not readily deconstructed to its original substance. I both loathe and love plastic, the same way I both loathe and love Dustin Hoffman. "Rain Man" annoyed me. Not because of the high functioning, developmentally disabled man who could count a million toothpicks before they hit the floor but because the creepy statistics that leapt from his mouth filled me with fears of flying. Yeah, like driving with a Scientologist with the top down is safer? Aliens could have sucked them out of that car with relative ease. I loathed Dustin Hoffman in that movie. However, I loved him in "The Graduate" with Anne Bancroft.

Mr. McGuire: I want to say one word to you. Just one word.
Benjamin: Yes, sir.
Mr. McGuire: Are you listening?
Benjamin: Yes, I am.
Mr. McGuire: Plastics.

People were so cavalier about plastic in 1967. Is that because nuclear destruction lay at hand and a stupid turtle fruitlessly told children to duck and cover? Plastic probably didn't seem nearly as destructive. We now take a much dimmer view of both plastic and the stupid turtle's advice.

As I reflect on plastic in this season of renewal and Earth Day, my favorite piece of wisdom has become removing plastic from the entertainment equation by NOT buying or renting movies or music on cd's, DVDs or Blu Rays and campaigning heavily for all media to come in an earth friendly, package free, wirelessly delivered, on demand format. We should forego further pollution and contributing to wasteful practices by buying our next movie in video on demand (VOD) format rather than picking up an impulse DVD purchase at the store.

Done properly, on demand music and movies can save many resources that would have been wasted in the production of a plastic cd or DVD. Think about the anti-theft packaging of the disc, then the artwork, the container and finally the disc itself. And then, what do you do with that product once you have watched Ernest Goes to Camp 5 million times and the disc is either unusable or just not funny anymore? Are you recycling your DVDs? All of the artwork or just throwing it away. We may be getting better about our plastic bags and bottles but are we thinking about our other plastic purchases?

Hosting a device to deliver VOD does consume energy. We are dependent on media companies like Netflix and Amazon to do the right thing and use energy efficient means to deliver the media. For example, these companies should be looking to virtual server devices to fulfill their customer demands. How do we know they are doing this? Go to the websites of the big hypervisor providers like VMware and see who their clients are. Check out the energy efficient server options out there and see who is using what. Believe me, if a big name like Netflix is running VMware on HP Blade servers, somebody will have a write up about it on their website. If you are using a device to stream media to your television or computer, use your powers responsibly. When you are on vacation, unless you need to capture a Teen Titans marathon, unplug your TiVo.

If this hasn't convinced you, I pay about $15 per month for my Netflix account. I get two movies at a time and unlimited on demand from my instant queue. That means I can have Twilight New Moon at home for myself, my husband can have something "good" for himself and we can stream "Kipper the Dog" for the kids ANY hour of the day. When I want a new movie, rather than going to the store and buying it for $20 I spend half that and buy it for about $10 from Amazon and just stream it to Mr. TiVo (with whom I am having the greatest affair of my life.) If I rent a movie for $3.99 I have 2 days to watch it from the time I start the movie or 30 days to start the movie. If I buy the movie, Amazon keeps a record of the movie and I can re-download it anytime I want. The savings are real.

This really does make a difference in terms of our plastic consumption, dollars spent and shelf space consumed in our house. The bonus is that your kids aren't going to ruin your copy of "Pee Wee's Big Adventure" by using it as a floor sander.