Plastic Warriors – a fight against plastic pollution

Published 6 years agoon August 4, 2020

Filmmaker Lavado Stubbs & Environmental Scientist Kristal ‘Ocean’ Ambrose release PLASTIC WARRIORS, a film that follows Kristal’s fight against plastic pollution.

The Bahamas, a country internationally recognized for its stunning seascapes and wealth of fauna and flora, is a true paradise on Earth. However, this paradise is polluted by plastic. The marine litter concentrations for The Bahamas and the wider Caribbean is nearly three times the global average, with an accumulation rate of up to six hundred million metric tonnes of plastic by 2025 for The Bahamas.

Plastic Warriors follows Kristal Ambrose, also known as “Kristal Ocean”, a marine and environmental scientist who grew up loving the oceans surrounding her island home of The Bahamas. After sailing across the Pacific Ocean to study an oceanic “garbage patch”, she returned home to affect change by inspiring both the government and its citizens to move towards creating a plastic free Bahamas through her non-profit organization Bahamas Plastic Movement (BPM). Using her unique approach to education and activism, Kristal connects Bahamian youth to the marine environment and empowers them to use their voice to protect the natural environment and create legislation aimed at its protection-these are the plastic warriors. In 2020, The Bahamas passed a law banning select single use plastics, a monumental law brought forward by the plastic warriors.

Shot with vintage anamorphic lenses to exalt the beauty of The Bahamas landscapes’, Plastic Warriors is a documentary that follows Kristal’s fight to battle plastic pollution in The Bahamas and highlights the possibilities of change to protect the environment through youth empowerment.

You can watch the trailer here.

In just 24 hours of the world premier, Plastic Warriors exceeded 40,000 views. Following the premier a panel focused on legislative changes on small islands. Some featured panelists included moderator Danni Washington, Kristal Ambrose (Founder of BPM), Lavado Stubbs (Director, Conch Boy Films), Dyson Chee (Project O.C.E.A.N.), Kiana Liu (Maui Huliau Foundation), Abby Ramnarine (BPM), William Simmons (Space 2 Create), Jackie Nunez (The Last Plastic Straw), Tarryn Johnson (BPM), Jaclyn Johnson (Kokua Hawaii Foundation), and Lyndee Bowe (Ministry of Environment).

You can find a recording of the film premiere on the Bahamas Plastic Movement’s Youtube. To host your own screening you can find the screening kit on their website.

Nick and Caroline Robertson-Brown

Nick and Caroline (Frogfish Photography) are a married couple of conservation driven underwater photo-journalists and authors. Both have honours degrees from Manchester University, in Environmental Biology and Biology respectively, with Nick being a Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society, a former high school science teacher with a DipEd in Teaching Studies. Caroline has an MSc in Animal Behaviour specializing in Caribbean Ecology. They are multiple award-winning photographers and along with 4 published books, feature regularly in the diving, wildlife and international press They are the Underwater Photography and Deputy Editors at Scubaverse and Dive Travel Adventures. Winners of the Caribbean Tourism Organization Photo-journalist of the Year for a feature on Shark Diving in The Bahamas, and they have been placed in every year they have entered. Nick and Caroline regularly use their free time to visit schools, both in the UK and on their travels, to discuss the important issues of marine conservation, sharks and plastic pollution. They are ambassadors for Sharks4Kids and founders of SeaStraw. They are Dive Ambassadors for The Islands of The Bahamas and are supported by Mares, Paralenz, Nauticam and Olympus. To find out more visit www.frogfishphotography.com